Fort Lupton Press 071422

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 28

WEEK OF JULY 14, 2022

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 , 2020

VOLUME 117

THE SEASON FOR SHARING

Median home values haven’t fallen in Colorado

ISSUE 48

But list prices for a new house have

BY TAMARA CHUANG, BRAMMHI BALARAJAN AND MARVIS GUTIERREZ THE COLORADO SUN

In the world of 9-year-old Vaniecia Barron, nothing beats a slide through the water at Fort Lupton’s Fourth of July party at the city PHOTO BY STEVE SMITH recreation center. The Fort Lupton Fire Department provided the slide and the water. See more photos on page 4.

Ian Silverii, a Democratic political strategist whose wife, state Sen. Brittany Pettersen, is running in the 7th Congressional District, disagrees with Engen’s analysis.

Silverii points out there were no contested statewide Democratic primaries this year, while there were fierce battles for the Republican nominations for U.S. Senate, governor and secretary of state. Simply put, the GOP primaries were more competitive, and that could be why so many more unaffiliated voters decided to cast Republican primary ballots this year.

Or is it?

There’s still job news below, so scroll down if local housing costs aren’t a concern. See below for … robot jobs!

On June 27, the average list price for a house for sale in Denver was $742,773. Three days later it dropped 2.9% to $721,517, according to multiple listing data provided

by Opendoor. Meanwhile, during the same three days, the median closing price fell $26,000, or 4%, to $619,000.

But pay close attention homeowners: The $619,000 price tag in June is still 13.6% higher than median closing prices a year ago in June. And, added a spokesperson for Opendoor, “It’s important to note that the median price hasn’t changed.”

SEE PRIMARIES, P16

SEE HOMES, P21

Unaffiliated voters cast most-ever ballots in GOP primaries In some counties, unaffiliated voters cast more than half of the ballots

BY JESSE PAUL AND MARVIS GUTIERREZ THE COLORADO SUN

Unaffiliated voters in Colorado, who make up 45% of the state’s electorate, have been able to cast ballots in partisan primaries for three election cycles.

But they have never voted in a

Republican primary as they did in 2022.

More than 231,000 unaffiliated voters cast Republican primary ballots this year, about 100,000 more than chose to vote in the GOP primary in 2020 and 130,000 more than voted in the 2018 GOP primary.

Ben Engen, a conservative political strategist, said the script flipped this year from 2018.

Engen said that could be an indication that unaffiliated voters are leaning toward GOP candidates heading into November. “We all know how Republicans fared among unaffiliated voters and in the elections of 2018,” he said.

As average 30-year fixed mortgage rates continue to hover around 6%, there’s an expectation that prices of homes for sale will fall. It’s only been a few weeks since the Fed increased interest rates so it’s too soon to see the impact.

Evergreen Jazz Festival

Dancers Welcome!

Free Parking!

Every year before Thanksgiving, First United Methodist Church in Fort Lupton and the Fort Lupton Food and Clothing Bank provide community 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, another organization that helps with the food drive. See more on Page 2.

July 29, 30 & 31

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303-697-5467

Big Talent! Small Venues! Great Setting!

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2 Fort Lupton Press

July 14, 2022

Our Family Helping Your Family

24-Hour Phone Lines 303-654-0112 • 303-857-2290 Brighton: 75 S. 13th Avenue Obituaries, Arrangements and Resources Online at

taborfuneralhome.com

FALCON

Madelyn Falcon

July 22, 1946 - May 8, 2022

Madelyn Falcon, 75 passed away May

husband, Marty Marquez, 5 sisters; Rachel,

8, 2022 in Glendale, Arizona. Madelyn

Gloria, Kris, Patrica, and Regina, and many

graduated from Ft Lupton High School in

nieces and nephews. Graveyard services will

1964. She went on to be an accomplished

be held at Hillside Cemetary in Ft Lupton,

hair stylist. She will be sadly missed by her

July 22, 2022 at 2:00 PM.

Memory In Loving

Place an Obituary for Your Loved One. 303-566-4100 obituaries@coloradocommunitymedia.com Self placement available online at TheBrightonBlade.com

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Fort Lupton Press 3

July 14, 2022

LeBlanc steps down from Fort Lupton chamber

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Cody Leblanc, Fort Lupton chamber of commerce executive director, stepped aside at the end of June, according to a news release.

Leblanc joined the chamber in July 2021 but announced to the chamber board June 15 that he would be stepping down to care for his 89-year-old grandmother with medical issues.

“Cody has done so much for our

chamber in a year as executive director. He researched and integrated new technology to help run the chamber efficiently, “ said Jen Bell, president of the Fort Lupton chamber.

“In addition, cleaning up loose ends that were not clear. Cody LeBlanc and employee Lindsay Louis created a training tracking system. He worked countless hours and donated

his time to get the new chamber office running,” During the transition, Louis will continue to be at the chamber office Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through July 21. Fort Lupton Chamber of Commerce Vice President Francis LeBarbera will take turns answering the chamber phone with Bell.

Also, chamber board members Mariann Johnson, Mary Ellen LeBlanc, Kristel Acres, Chris Cross, Matt Houston, Gabriel Saucedo,

Gloria Carpenter and Brian Biehm will help with emails and returning calls.

“I’m personally very grateful to Cody for his dedication to our Fort Lupton community. He loves his town and the people. He always works to better Fort Lupton and bring the community together. I hope my kids grow up to be hard working and responsible as Cody,” Bell said.

Bell will also be available by cell phone at 720-686-6524.

Fort Lupton approves parts of Flats at Lupton Village plan Final approval pending answers to maintenance responsibility questions

BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Fort Lupton City Council approved two of three items related to the Flats at Lupton Village development during a July 5 meeting.

Council OKed a rezoning of the property and a preliminary and planned urban development plan for the 13-acre parcel near Denver Avenue and Weld County Road 12.

Eventually, there will be more than 100 single-family homes — complete with two-car garages — plus a

general commercial lot on the land.

There will also be a picnic area and a playground.

According to planning commission notes, the applicant, Mitch Nelson, with Baessler Developments, worked with staff to address commission concerns, such as increased landscaping.

Council delayed approval of the final plat, though, because of questions dealing with on-property maintenance. The land is part of an existing metro district, which gives the district the responsibility for such things as snow removal. Nelson told the planning commission the metro district would take care of the playground and accessibility, but he thought the public would have access.

The next council hearing is set for Aug. 2, the same night as National

Night Out in Koshio Park.

OK for plats for Cottonwood Greens Council also approved preliminary and final platting for the last six sections of the Cottonwood Greens development at Ninth Avenue and Weld County Road 31.

According to planner Clay Hartley, the project will include more than 400 single-family detached homes and more than 130 single-family attached homes, plus trails and other infrastructure on 173 acres of land.

“Will there be safety measures about the ditch on the property?” asked Mayor Zo Stieber-Hubbard.

“We’ve created additional space.

We have a trail system that runs along the district,” said Kristin Turner, a representative for Arbor Capital Partners. “Beyond that, the

sidewalk system will drive people internally. We won’t place anything out there to draw residents (to the ditch).”

Mayor’s mom’s former house OKed for short-term rental Council also approved a special use permit for a short-term rental arrangement at 711 Denver Ave. The permit applies to the second-floor bedrooms and unused space and limits occupancy to 10 persons.

The address has special meaning for the mayor.

“My mother was born there,” Stieber-Hubbard said. “it’s been a long time since I’ve been in there.”

Both the Fort Lupton Fire Department and United Power had no objections, according to letters submitted to the city.

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4 Fort Lupton Press

July 14, 2022

Fort Lupton celebrates Independence Day The city celebrated July 4 a few days early with a traditional Independence Day celebration July 2, featuring a waterslide and food vendors.

Fort Lupton OKs trial run for new employee insurance

BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Christal Manning has a visitor inside the Two by Two Petting Zoo enclosure at Fort Lupton’s July 4 party. The event was July 2 at the Fort Lupton Recreation Center.

Five-year-old William Fernandez manages to get out of the way of some of the bubbles from a bubble machine at Fort Lupton’s Fourth of July party.

Nathaniel Lopez steadies himself on a ropes course at Fort Lupton’s Fourth of July PHOTOS BY STEVE SMITH party, which was July 2 outside the city recreation center.

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Fort Lupton City Council approved a trial run for a new employee insurance plan during a July 5 meeting.

The cost of the deal with Amaze Health, a three-year-old firm that provides telemedicine, concierge services and a digital health gateway, is $4,650 for the balance of the calendar year. The start date is Aug. 1.

During a study session in late June, Human Resource Director Laura Howe and Amaze account manager Elizabeth Fineberg stressed that Amaze wanted to be a resource for health questions and “to not send people to a doctor if they didn’t have to.”

The city’s present insurance provider for employees, Humana Health, came under criticism during that study session.

More money matters Council seemed ready to pull out of a direct funding settlement offering money related to the nation’s opioid crisis.

Instead, councilors said they favored directing the money — about $22,000 over the next 18 years — to a regional body within the county.

City officials would still have access to the funds, according to city staff.

“There is no need to tax our finance department with another thing to administer,” said Mayor Zo Stieber-Hubbard. “This is absolutely appropriate.”

Almost $200 million is available to the state of Colorado. During an October study session, City Attorney Andy Ausmus said most cities were opting to let their respective counties disburse the money.

Wastewater funding Council officially took care of some housekeeping business as it pertains to the city’s new wastewater treatment plant.

Council approved a resolution to allow certain members of city staff, including the finance director and the city administrator, to act on behalf of the city during negotiations for grants and plant funding.

“We would be acting on behalf of the city for the application process,” said Budget Director Leann Perino. “You are authorizing us to apply.”

Fort Lupton Press 5

July 14, 2022

Full house at Riverdale Animal Shelter Staff thinks financial stress adding to annual summer increases

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Riverdale Animal Shelter officials are seeing an uptick of animals this year due to the housing crisis and financial stress people are experiencing.

“The most common trend we see is that financial stress is one of the top reasons. It seems situations are changing, having to move in with other relatives or getting a job somewhere else or being out of a job or housing issues,” said Stephanie Wilde, director of the county’s shelter.

‘We are seeing an uptick beyond the busy summer season, and other shelters we communicate with are increasing too – almost 35% higher intakes year to date from last year,” said Angel Williams, deputy director of the shelter.

The shelter also sees lost animals without microchips, tags or collars.

To help reduce the number of pets dropped off at a shelter, they recommend making sure pets are wearing a collar with an ID tag and that microchip contact information is updated.

Also, if it’s not urgent to give up a pet, call the shelter first. Officials, there could help with other resources, Wilde said. If it’s an emergency, the shelter can help.

Wilde said summers are always busy in animal shelters because many lost pets come in, so they expect to see some increases.

“There are more outdoor gatherings where that pet can slip out the gate, and dogs? They get lost a lot,” Wilde said.

Williams said their busy season usually begins in late March. They call it “kitten season.”

“Animals are looking to breed, so we receive a lot of litters and puppies too, “ she said.

“You have animals running around that are not spayed or neutered enjoying the sun and reproducing during the spring and summertime. Fourth of July into August is typically for most animal shelters is the busiest time due to the season.”

There are other standard reasons why people have to give up a pet, she said. They may need to surrender an animal because some situation has changed, such as a new baby, allergy, or an illness in the family or an older adult that has had to go into elder care.

But this year, room at the shelter is at a premium, Wilde said. Riverdale Animal Shelter is a no-kill shelter, meaning they do not euthanize an animal for space.

“But sometimes animals come in that no longer have a quality of life; we want to make sure animals not suffering. Those are the only circumstances in which we euthanize but never because they re

Scout is a one-year-old female bull terrier border collie mix. She needs a forever PHOTO BY BELEN WARD home.

taking longer to be adopted,” Wilde said. “Another reasons we would euthanize is public safety, the pet is not safe, or something severe as a medical case.”

They are making efforts to let people know. The shelter tries to make changes to highlight long-term pets’ uniqueness with cute videos to bring attention to them.

Fostering an option The shelter often needs foster parents until a pet finds a permanent home, as well.

Foster care gives a pet a break from living in a shelter that could be stressful. During the spring and summer, young kittens and puppies benefit from foster parenting.

Williams said it’s a safe home environment, and they engaged in socialization. Also, they collect behavior information and cute things they do in the home that you don’t see in the shelter, which is helpful when they get adopted.

“We send those pets to foster care to see how they behave outside of the shelter. “If you work from home or retire, those are great things to know to be a foster parent with us,” she said.

Riverdale Animal Shelter was built in 2020 with full-service care for pets. They have a medical team with veterinarians and technicians to treat and save all kinds of animals in the shelter.

“The clinic has a dental suite and surgery suite for the sheltered animals. They take care of the pets that come in that are injured or ill,” Williams said.

Last year, Riverdale spayed and neutered 2,300 animals and vaccinated more than 7,000 others between the animals that come in and those that serve through the low-cost clinics.

“The shelter was built to serve pets people in the community so we look at the synergy of serving in that way through all those lenses,” Wilde said.

Riverdale Animal Shelter is at the south end of Riverdale Regional Park in Brighton at East 120th Avenue and Park Boulevard. They provide safe shelter and care to more than 6,000 animals per year.

The shelter also offers low costs, vaccinations, and animal microchips every Wednesday. The website is updated every 30 minutes with new pets up for adoption.

6 Fort Lupton Press

S

LOCAL

Who do we trust?

he was considered one the greatest leaders in business. She received praises for all of the work she did in helping to build the people WINNING personally and WORDS professionally in the company and how she set standards that were perfectly communicated.

Her ability to set expectations, inspect what she expected, Michael Norton and hold people accountable was never heavy-handed with many in the company sharing how much they respected her, trusted her, and would remain loyal to the organization because of her.

Over time her reputation grew and people from all over the world were looking to be a part of her company. And the more talented and committed people joined the organization, they in turn attracted others who would join as well. The company grew, expanding into many new regions around the globe.

With a leadership style that encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit while recognizing and rewarding personal contributions and performance, her following continued to grow larger and faster than anyone in the company expected. It was awesome as each department and team knew they had her total support, they invited her into their meetings, and one of the things the people loved most about her was that she gave everyone the freedom and autonomy to make daily decisions, trusting they would do what was best for the team, the company, and the community.

If people did make mistakes, she always offered grace and forgiveness, explaining how to fix the situation or move forward on the best path possible and forgetting the sins of the past. As a leader, her ability to give people second, third, fourth and fifth chances became legendary.

As the company grew, meeting with tremendous success, the competition started working hard to take away their market share.

They went after her employees and customers and did so in a very underhanded way. They offered promises they could not deliver, and yet some employees and customers started falling for the empty promises.

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VOICES

As others started following those exiting, they believed the grass was greener on the other side and couldn’t resist the temptation leaving as well. As a leader she remained unfazed, although she was heartbroken each time someone left, she maintained her integrity and stood firmly on the principles she established. She showed each person in her care just how much she loved them.

Additionally, when someone did leave, she would do everything she could do to bring them back to the company. Although heartbroken if they did not return, she let them know that the door would be open when they are ready to return.

Things began to deteriorate each day. People started to take her love and kindness as a sign of weakness or not needed. They began rebelling against the standards and values that she had established. Teams even stopped inviting her into meetings and decisions. They also stopped communicating with her, ignoring her emails, and never listening to voicemail messages. Certain managers did whatever they could to keep her words of hope and encouragement out of their communications. Although she never stopped being the most loving and awesome leader that ever lived, eventually the company went under because too many people abandoned her, feeling like they could do anything on their own.

As we look around at our world and ask ourselves why hostility exists, why so much division, why fear has replaced hope, and why we are so broken, it’s because we have kicked God out of our families, schools, communities and businesses. Yet we wonder why the tragedies are happening while still asking, “Where is God in all of this?” God is right where we left him, and He is waiting for us to come back to Him. And I believe that when we do, we will start to live without fear, replace anger with compassion, have less division and more unity, and find a way to love and respect one another. I would love to hear your thoughts at mnorton@xinnix. com and when we can answer the question who we trust with, “In God we trust,” it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is the grateful president of XINNIX, a personal and professional coach, and a consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator to businesses of all sizes.

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Why this energy investment rivals that of I-70 and DIA

C

olorado will soon embark on a change with few rivals in the last 100 years. Think of the dismantling of geography by construction of Interstate 70 through the tunnels, over Vail Pass, and through GUEST Glenwood Canyon. Think COLUMN of Denver International Allen Best Airport. Think of the arrival of electricity to farms and small towns in the 1930s and 1940s.

Within a decade, Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electrical utility, will retire all its coal plants, convert one to burn natural gas, and add massive amounts of wind on Colorado’s eastern plains and solar generation, some of it in the Western Slope’s Grand Valley, as it pursues a mid-century goal of net-zero carbon. Combined with potentially 740 miles of new transmission lines looping around eastern Colorado, this investment in new generation could hit $9 billion to $10 billion. Xcel will likely get its final green light from state regulators in the next month, maybe two.

This has repercussions beyond Xcel Energy, which sells more than half the electricity in Colorado. It also delivers wholesale sales to some municipalities and cooperatives, including Holy Cross Energy, Yampa Valley Electric, and Grand Valley Power.

Is this money well spent? If you’re a climate hawk - as I am, convinced we must dramatically reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases - this represents a giant step forward. We must immediately reduce emissions from electrical generation and also displace fossil fuels in transportation and buildings.

True, China’s emissions keep growing.

But Colorado can lead the United States by example, and the United States can lead the world.

Some people, even champions of this transition, disagree with the precise pathway.

For example, if demand were shaved through energy efficiency and other programs, less investment in new generating resources be needed, says Western Resource Advocates, an environmental group.

From Colorado eastern plains, already dotted with wind turbines, come other complaints about cluttered skylines.

This is not universal. Other plainsmen (and women) welcome the property taxes local governments will realize and the lease payments to landowners.

Nuclear power represents another question. Colorado’s lone experiment with nuclear power, at the St. Vrain plant near Greeley, went seriously awry.

But now come efforts with presumably smaller and hence lower-risk modular

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July 14, 2022

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T

reactors, such as are being planned in Idaho and also Wyoming. Cost, more than safety, is the fulcrum for the debate.

Nuclear has had exorbitant cost overruns. Will this new technology be better?

Comanche 3, a coal plant in Pueblo, has become the symbol for this energy transition. It was approved 18 years ago by Colorado regulators, a $1 billion investment (in today’s dollars). Utilities had been building ever-bigger coal-fired coal plants, abetted by natural gas plants to meet peak demands, for a half-century.

Few were willing to give credence to the vision of renewable energy. I remember in about 2008, a geologist in Meeker who still hoped for the dream of milking hydrocarbons from the oil shale of northwestern Colorado. “We can’t run a C civilization on windmills,” he fumed.

P We still can’t. And as somebody @ pointed out to me, even wind turbines C need oil and grease and so forth. But we can do far, far more than Xcel or most A others thought just 18 years ago. @ This has come in increments. Almost O simultaneous with approval of Coman- C che 3 came Colorado’s first renewable energy mandate. Xcel fought it. Then it set out to comply. Costs of wind tumbled T @ dramatically, and then so did solar.

R Something of the same thing is now happening with lithium-ion batteries.

It’s not yet possible on a large scale to B affordably eliminate all emissions. But B also note this. In 2005, when Xcel began @ building Comanche 3, about two-thirds R of its electricity came from coal plants. 9 Within a decade, it will be close to zero.

We’ve moving fast, because we can and because we must.

Will there be adverse consequences beyond altered prairie vistas on the Great Plains? Quite possibly. With I-70, what once was close to a full-day journey from Grand Junction to Denver was shortened to a long morning. But the highway has made mountain valleys a little less lovely and far noisier.

This course correction in our energy foundation may also prove to have flaws that may require further altering.

And in 18 years we may look back and wonder if we should have held off just a little longer for a technological breakthrough instead of making Colorado’s eastern plains look like Paul Bunyan’s playground for Erector Set creations.

What we cannot afford is to do nothing. Given what we know today, about the cost of energy and the cost of climate change, this massive investment soon to happen looks to be the wisest path forward.

Allen Best produces Big Pivots, an e-zine from which this was drawn. See BigPivots.com.

Columnists & Guest Commentaries Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Press. We welcome letters to the editor. Please include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

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8 Fort Lupton Press

July 14, 2022

Fort Lupton council green lights first step for new car wash

BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Fort Lupton City Council took the first steps toward approving a new car wash during its July 5 meeting.

The council unanimously approved a building and development plan and a baseline engineering request for the car wash’s special use permit. The Champion Xpress car wash is near state Highway 52 and Copper Place.

“The special use permit is a onestep process and was fully approved last night (pending any conditions of approval),” planner Maria Lancto

said. “They will move on to the building permit process.”

During the council meeting, Lancto said the business would take up less than an acre of land. Staff comments said the facility will consist of a 4,360-square-foot, drive-through tunnel. It won’t include a customer service lobby.

Staff also noted commercial land uses surround the proposed car wash to the north, south and west.

“Within the Vincent Village subdivision, there are other auto-oriented uses, including a gas station and Auto-Zone,” the notes said.

There were no council questions

and no public comments.

United Power credits Mark Gabriel, United Power’s new chief executive officer, stopped by the July 5 council meeting to present more than $8,000 in capital credits, or refunds, to the city.

Gabriel said since 1997, the co-op has returned more than $148,000 to its members.

“This is the best part of my job,” he told council. “We aren’t like many utilities. You own us. It drives how we think about the world.”

Members who buy electricity from United Power are eligible the follow-

ing year. The co-op’s board determines how much to return based on such things as impact on electrical rates and the co-op’s financial strength.

Fireworks apology Before the July 5 meeting began, Mayor Zo Stieber-Hubbard issued an apology for the lack of a fireworks show during the city’s Independence Day party at the recreation center.

“A lot of things went wrong,” she said. “A lot of things are going to go right. I feel confident we are going to do it right. Thank you for your patience.”

FORT LUPTON POLICE BLOTTER

Here are the police reports for June 25 to July 1 to the Fort Lupton Police Department. Not every call made to the police is not listed on this report.

Here are the police reports for June 25 to July 1 to the Fort Lupton Police Department. Not every call made to the police is not listed on this report.

June 25 Police arrested a Fort Lupton man, 35, for robbery in the 100 block of Denver Avenue. He was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

A Fort Lupton woman, 31, was issued a summons for speeding at First Street and Grand Avenue.

Police issued a summons to a Fort Lupton man, 21, for causing a careless driving traffic accident at Weld County Road 10 & South Rollie Avenue.

June 26 Police arrested a Fort Lupton man, 26, at U.S. Highway 85 and mile marker 239 on a Fort Lupton warrant for failure to appear for a traffic offense. He was released on a personal recognizance bond.

June 28 A Fort Lupton man, 19, was issued a summons

for causing a careless driving accident in the 100 block of First Street.

A Fort Lupton man, 26, reported his white 2002 Saturn L100 stolen in the 200 block of First Street. The case was under investigation.

Police issued a summons to a Loveland man, 19, at U.S. Highway 85 and mile marker 241 for driving with expired plates, no insurance and fictitious plates.

June 29 A Loveland man, 43, reported vandalism to a newly constructed building in the 300 block of Josef Circle. The case was under investigation.

A Fort Lupton woman, 53, reported her catalytic converter stolen from her car in the 300 block of Fourth Street. The case was under investigation.

Police issued a summons to a Fort Lupton woman, 30, for shoplifting in the 200 block of South Rollie Avenue. She was also arrested for a warrant out of Adams County for failure to appear in court. She was held on bond at the Adams County Detention Center.

Police took an Erie man, 48, into custody in the 2900 block of Ninth Street on a Weld County warrant for failure to appear on a domestic violence assault charge. He was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

A 38-year-old man, address listed as transient, was issued a warrant in the 400 block of Harrison Avenue for stealing a car from Thornton and fleeing police.

Police arrested a Fort Lupton man, 29, at U.S. Highway 85 and State Highway 52 for eluding, driving while license is suspended, resisting arrested, obstructing a police officer and not having insurance. In addition, he had a Weld County warrant for failure to appear on a DUI charge. He was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

A transient, 61, was arrested in the 1100 block of Dexter Street on an Aurora warrant for failure to appear on a public peace violation. He was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

June 30 A project manager for Baessler Homes reported a theft in the 500 block of Bonneville Avenue. The theft was under investigation.

July 1 Police arrested a Thornton man, 37, in the 60th block of South Grand Avenue for causing an accident, DUI, driving while license is suspended, failure to report an accident and multiple traffic offenses. He was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

A Thornton man, 22, reported his backpack stolen with $400 worth of items in the 100 block of Denver Avenue. The theft was under investigation.

Police arrested a Fort Lupton woman, 28, in the 1300 block of Second Street on a Weld County warrant for eluding, reckless endangerment and possession of a controlled substance. She was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

FORT LUPTON BRIEFS Movie night The Fort Lupton Recreation Center will be the scene for a pool party at 7 p.m. Friday, July 15.

There will be a DJ by the pool, followed by a movie night featuring “Finding Nemo” on the pool patio starting at dusk. It’s free. Kids under 6 cannot swim without an adult in

the pool.

Photography class Take a “Get to Know your Camera” class Saturday, July 16, and Saturday, July 23, from noon to 2:45 p.m. The instructor Andrew Moline, and the cost is $89. Classes are at the Fort Lupton campus of Aims Col-

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lege, 260 College Ave., Room 111.

The cost is $89.

Call 970-667-4611.

FLHS registration Registration for Fort Lupton High School students in 10th, 11th and 12th grades runs from 1 to 4 p.m.

Wednesday, July 27, at the school, 501 Reynolds St.

Incoming freshmen can sign up for classes from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 28.

Free breakfast and lunch With school out for the summer, Weld Re-8 district will be serving SEE BRIEFS, P10

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL TOY RUN &

All Car Cruise

Saturday JuLY 23RD 2:00 - 6:00 PM

Fundraiser for

Children’s Hospital Colorado Bring new, unwrapped toys or cash donations.

Food and Beverages will be available for purchase from Serafini’s and other local restaurants.

Showcase your classic car or just enjoy a day of cars and friends!

SERAFINI’S PIZZERIA 2414 E. Bridge St., Brighton, CO 80601

Fort Lupton Press 9

July 14, 2022

Three towns get infrastructure boost from block grants New sidewalks and trails in Hudson, Keenesburg and rehab projects in Firestone

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Three Weld County towns— Hudson, Keenesburg and Firestone — will see a community development boost with a share from federal grants.

“By facilitating these projects, the CDBG program is helping Weld County communities and the county become better,” said Weld County Commission Chairman Scott James.

“It’s been exciting to see the improvements in progress from the projects selected last year, and we know these four will add more richness, efficiencies, and vibrancy to our county.”

Weld County’s Community Development Block Grants Advisory Com-

mittee selects three town projects for improvement to continue to help towns and cities across Weld County with infrastructure repairs.

The CDBG committee held a community meeting in February, encouraging Weld County residents to give feedback on improvements in their communities. The committee purchased targeted advertisements seeking the same information.

The result is the 2022 Action Plan which includes the input from the communities. The Weld County Commission approved the 2022 Action Plan on June 20, calling for improvements for the towns of Hudson, Keenesburg and Firestone.

Hudson walks and overpass Hudson received approval for two infrastructure projects, an accessible walking path for low-income older adults and people with disabilities around the Hudson Prairie View Apartments and a pedestrian overpass.

Currently, the residents have no safe way to walk from the apartment complex to a local grocery store, post office, Town Hall, library, and other nearby services. The residents must walk next to State Highway 52 and cross a busy street that is a non-ADA complaint crossing.

The plan is to construct a sidewalk along the north side of State Highway 62 and build an ADAcompliant crosswalk at Beach Street, so older adults and the disabled can safely walk across. The total cost of $160,500.

Keenesburg sidewalk This town’s plan would help residents of two assisted living facilities by adding wheelchair-accessible sidewalks and ramps. Currently, elders and people with disabilities live in areas where sidewalks don’t exist or are too narrow for a wheelchair.

There are two-assist living facilities and Timberland Apartments, a low-income complex near the

proposed project. The cost would be $212,500 to construct and reconstruct ADA-compliant sidewalks and ramps in these neighborhoods, so the residents have safe access to services.

Firestone rehab projects Brothers Redevelopment Inc. is developing a single-family housing rehabilitation program to help lowincome owner-occupied homes to make repairs. It will help residents with limited resources to improve and maintain their homes. It would cost $250,000.

According to officials, more than $1.04 million in funds were awarded to the county from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help pay for these projects and administrative costs from now until March 23, 2023.

For more information about Weld County’s CDBG program, visit https://www.weldgov.com/Government/County-Programs/Community-Development-Block-Grant.

Fort Lupton chooses new athletic director

BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Richard Jacoby, former athletic director at Bennett High School, is the new athletic director at Fort Lupton High School.

Jacoby earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture education

Jacoby

from Colorado State University in 2000 and spent 19 years teaching agriculture education. He’s also spent time as an advisor for Future Farmers of America, which included mentoring, counseling and “often parenting the students in what Jacoby calls ‘his kids,’” according to a

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10 Fort Lupton Press

BRIEFS FROM PAGE 8

free breakfast and lunch through July 29.

Kids and under 18 can receive a free meal at the Fort Lupton Middle School, 201 S. McKinley Ave., weekdays.

Breakfast is available from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., and lunch is available from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For more information contact Mary Carmen, food services director, at 303-857-3200.

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.

Summer supply drive The Fort Lupton Recreation Center, 203 S. Harrison Ave., is hosting a summer supply drive throughTuesday, Aug. 30.

Donations of canned foods (beans, pasta, tomatoessauces/fruit), beverages (boxed milk, juices, protesin drinks), meals (chunky soups and mac and cheese),

July 14, 2022 dry foods (cereal, crackers, pasta, rice) and snacks (chips, fruit snacks, granola) are welcome.

Donate three or more items and get a free goodie bag from the recreation center. Bring donations to the center. Call 303-857-4200 w/questions.

weekend of the month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Individual tours outside of the first weekend of the month are available by contacting the society at lancaster.lupton@spvhs.org or calling 303-857-9360 and leaving a message.

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.

For more information, email tracykilgore71@ gmail.com.

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 303-857-6694

ONGOING Hours change at historical park The South Platte Valley Historical Park will be open for public visitation the first

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 303-718-4440.

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 openings Fort Lupton has openings for several of its citizen advisory committees. Visit https://www.fortluptonco. gov/966/I-Want-To-Applyfor-a-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 720-466-6128.

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 303-8574200, ext. 6166.

Coffee group Fort Lupton’s weekly coffee group sessions are at 8 a.m. Wednesdays. Call 303857-4200.

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.

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877-381-5080 INTERNET OFFER: Subj. to change and may be discontinued at any time. Price for Internet 100 for new residential customers & is after $5/mo. autopay & paperless bill discount. Pricing for first 12 months only. After 12 mos., then prevailing rate applies. Autopay & Paperless Bill Discount: Discount off the monthly rate when account is active & enrolled in both. Pay full plan cost until discount starts w/in 2 bill cycles. Must maintain autopay/paperless bill and valid email address to continue discount. Additional Fees & Taxes: AT&T one-time transactional fees, $10/mo. equipment fee, and monthly cost recovery surcharges which are not government-required may apply, as well as taxes. See www.att.com/fees for details. Installation: $99 installation for full tech install, plus tax where applicable. Credit restrictions apply. Pricing subject to change. Subj. to Internet Terms of Service at att.com/internet-terms. ^AT&T Smart Wi-Fi requires installation of a BGW210, 5268AC, or NVG599 Wi-Fi Gateway. Standard with Internet plans (12M or higher). Whole home Wi-Fi connectivity may require AT&T Smart Wi-Fi Extender(s) sold separately. ††Internet speed claims represent maximum network service capability speeds and based on wired connection to gateway. Actual customer speeds are not guaranteed and may vary based on several factors. For more information, go to www.att.com/speed101. ©2021 DIRECTV. DIRECTV and all other DIRECTV marks are trademarks of DIRECTV, LLC. AT&T and Globe logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property.

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12 Fort Lupton Press

LOCAL

July 14, 2022

LIFE

Volunteers and researchers study one species’ response to a warming climate. The results might surprise you.

O

n a nice July day, you might find Jennifer Zedalis up in the Alpine, with her 16-year-old daughter Sophie. Zedalis is lucky because she has a teenager who likes to wake up early — a necessity when you’re hiking above tree line in the Colorado summers prone to thunder and lightning.

But the two aren’t storm searching or taking photographs or even out for a hike. Instead, they’re volunteers on a mission, looking for pika on behalf of a community science initiative studying the small mammal species.

Zedalis and her daughter are volunteers with the Colorado Pika Project, an initiative founded in 2010 in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declining to list the American pika as an endangered species. The project is just one entity helping to research this tiny, temperaturesensitive Alpine mammal and trying to understand the species’ outlook in a rapidly changing climate.

For creature lovers, pikas may hold value on the basis of their “unrelentingly cute” looks alone. But on a more consequential note, researchers say pikas act as an indicator species and hold clues to the health of our alpine ecosystems and even the water resources we depend on.

The bad news? Pika are disappearing from parts of the western U.S. landscape. Temperature changes due to climate change likely play a major role but perhaps not in the way you might think.

Volunteering in the Alpine For those unfamiliar, American pikas are small, territorial, herbivorous mammals that most often live in the high Alpine on the rocky, mountainous steppes above tree line. The species finds its range throughout many western U.S. states as well as parts of Brit-

BY RYAN ERNSTES SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

ish Columbia and Alberta.

These tiny creatures are most closely related to rabbits and hares and are covered head to toe in the same rich, insulating fur. Unlike their cousins, they have small, rounded ears and weigh in around just 4.5 to 7.1 ounces — somewhere between one-quarter and less than half of a pound. If you’ve ever hiked to high elevation and heard a high-pitched squeak, it’s likely you encroached into the territory of one of these feisty mammals, ready to sound the alarm of an intruder.

Back when the Colorado Pika Project first began, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claimed there was insufficient evidence regarding how climate change would affect the species. So the Denver Zoo and the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Wild teamed up to start the project, which now sends some 150 volunteers out in the field each year to collect data about these miniscule mammals.

With the help of volunteers like the Zedalis duo, the Colorado Pika Project conducts surveys at nearly 100 locations each summer, primarily in Rocky Mountain National Park and the White River National Forest. A typical survey takes around an hour, during which volunteers use both auditory and visual clues to figure out whether pikas are inhabiting an area.

Zedalis, who has been volunteering with the project since 2019, recalls a particularly memorable surveying experience back in the summer of 2020. Outside of Eagle, she and her daughter hiked to two survey locations on

twin peaks referred to as New York High and New York Low, names referencing the elevation.

“It’s absolutely beautiful up there — Alpine scenery with fantastic views,” Zedalis said.

On New York High, the pair didn’t see much. But on New York Low, Zedalis estimates they saw 15 pikas.

Even when pikas aren’t spotted, surveyors can use clues to understand if pikas used to inhabit the area. And there’s one clue in particular that really sticks around: scat.

In extreme cases, “there is scat that has been found that’s over 100 years old,” said Alex Wells, co-director of the Colorado Pika Project. “But generally volunteers might find scat that is a decade or two old.”

Volunteers with the project tend to take part for one of two reasons.

“The entire group really does like hiking, and some people just enjoy being able to hike with a purpose,” Wells said. “Other folks are really explicitly concerned about climate change,” and working with us “is kind of a way to feel like you’re doing something.”

Why are the pikas disappearing?

Depending on the survey location, the Colorado Pika Project now holds between three to 10 years worth of data on pikas but project leaders aren’t yet ready to draw conclusions about the results of their findings. However, veteran scientific researchers outside of the project can lend insight into how pikas are faring in today’s climate. One such researcher is Dr. Chris Ray, a population biologist with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Ray has been researching pikas for over 30 years. One of her primary goals is to better understand the pika’s response to a changing climate. To do so, Ray spends several weeks each summer in the Alpine, trapping pikas, administering anesthesia and taking measurements before releasing the individuals back into their territories. She and her students used to capture around 48 pikas each summer, but in recent years have averaged closer to 24 to 36. She has seen SEE FREEZING, P13

Fort Lupton Press 13

July 14, 2022

Tap into the power of cinematic storytelling at Anythink

G

etting started on creative endeavors young is a fantastic way to ensure young people discover their passions early. And while that most often covers things like music or painting, Anythink Huron Street library and SeriesFest is providing free opportunities to get teenagers interesting in filmmaking this summer.

“Storytelling is what sets us as humans apart,” said Luke Sorge, generalist guide at the library. “Being able to discuss and analyze this with young people is a very powerful thing.”

SeriesFest’s Mobile Cinema Lab will be at the Huron Street location, 9417 Huron St. in Thornton, from 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays, July 19 and 26 and Thursdays, July 14, 21 and 28. The series is only open to teens, who are encouraged to attend as many sessions as they’d like.

“Each class builds on the last, but if students can only make it to a couple, that’s great,” Sorge said.

“They can learn everything about the process by attending all the classes, or do it a la cart style and learn specific parts of the process.”

SeriesFest a non-profit organization dedicated to championing artists at the forefront of episodic storytelling, will help participants go through the entire filmmaking process, from writing to producing and editing their own short films and TV pilots. Instructors will use the latest film equipment and technology to help bring the stories

COMING ATTRACTIONS

to life.

“Starting filmmaking can be daunting because of everything you need, but SeriesFest is taking care of all that,” Sorge explained. “Attendees will spend time looking at movies, breaking down nonClarke Reader verbal storytelling and more. This is stuff we all know — it’s basic, human storytelling. We’ll teach them how to turn that around and employ it for their own work.”

In addition to the valuable creative skills learned, final films and pilots will be presented at a red-carpet premiere night on Wednesday, Aug. 3 at the Parsons Theatre, 1 E. Memorial Parkway in Northglenn.

“Northglenn Arts is dedicated to creating access to the arts for all and this partnership helps to achieve just that,” says Michael Sticker, City of Northglenn Arts, Culture and Community Manager, in a provided statement.

Seeing their work up on the big screen would be an undeniable thrill, but Sorge hopes that any participant will learn valuable lessons about self-expression.

“Storytelling is such a powerful exercise, so if they just come away knowing how to express themselves, that’s great,” he said. “Even if you can only make it to one day,

it’s going to be worth your while.”

Visit https://events.anythinklibraries.org/events for more information and to register.

FREEZING

habitats is they help pikas maintain viable temperataures yearround. Even in the summer, Ray says its likely pikas can get deep enough below the surface to reach temperatures near freezing. The rock piles act as a kind of chimney, letting hot air rise out the top and pooling cool air in the depths below. In colder climates, these same talus piles keep pikas warm in the winter. Where snow blankets the talus, it insulates the pikas from winter air temperatures that can fall far below freezing, and keeps the talus at a steady temperature near zero degrees.

But as with much of the environment, climate change may be throwing pika habitat for a loop.

In the Great Basin, California and Utah, snowpack is steadily declining, and some pikas may be losing their insulating snow blanket.

Without sufficient snow, pikas can die of the cold.

So in these regions, Ray said it’s likely the cold winter temperatures explain pika disappearances a little better than the warm summer temperatures.

“The irony is that pikas may be freezing to death due to global warming,” she said.

However, in regions like Colorado, where the annual snowpack is remaining more stable — or in landscapes without cold winters — summer temperatures could explain more of the story. Here, Ray has witnessed a decline in juvenile recruitment, which means fewer juveniles are born each year, or

fewer are surviving to adulthood.

One theory is that as young pikas leave their mothers to find their own territory, they could be perishing in the heat as they are forced to travel through a hotter and hotter landscape.

Once pikas disappear from a region, it’s tough for them to come back. As non-migratory animals that may live their entire lives in the same 12-meter radius, they can’t simply cross a valley and repopulate a once inhabited mountain range.

“We’ve seen the loss of whole populations” in the Great Basin, Ray said. “Once they’re empty, we haven’t seen them be recolonized.”

FROM PAGE 12

the pikas disappearing firsthand.

To theorize why, it’s important to have some base knowledge about the species. Foremost, pikas require a cool habitat. Because of their thick fur, they prefer to live in microclimates that maintain a temperature near freezing for most of the year. They lack any kind of typical cooling mechanism, like panting or heat radiation through the ears, and can die if exposed to heat for even a couple of hours.

Those who know a little about pikas might be inclined to guess that as the climate warms, the temperatures are rising too high, killing off populations at lower elevations and shrinking their viable habitat to only the very tops of mountains.

But Ray’s research indicates the truth is a little more complicated.

In fact, pikas don’t always live at high elevation. The American pika also can be found in the lava fields of New Mexico and at sea level in the Columbia River Gorge. Outside of Colorado, pikas also live in the mountains of the Great Basin, southern Utah and northeastern California. What all pika habitats have in common, however, is access to subsurface microclimates.

That is, pikas can live well below the surface, underneath piles of broken rock or in subsurface lava tubes.

What’s significant about these

Eat, drink and be merry for affordable housing Killer music, delicious food and supporting a good cause at the same time? It’s no wonder the annual Blues and BBQ Festival for Better Housing has been around for a quarter century.

The 25th event will be at Citizens Park, 5560 W. 24th Ave. in Edgewater, from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 16. During the day they’ll be all manner of tribute bands performing, with legendary artists like INXS, The Allman Brothers and Bruce Springsteen all being represented. Add mouthwatering eats and you have the perfect combination.

All proceeds will benefit affordable housing projects and Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver, so get your tickets at www.bluesnbbq. com.

Northglenn screens ‘Encanto’ There’s practically no event that isn’t made better by taking place under a summer sky, but movie screenings have to be one of the best. In that spirit, Northglenn’s Summer Movie Series is bringing some family favorites to the Festival Lawn - the grassy area between the Northglenn Recreation Center, 1 E. Memorial Parkway, and the Veterans Memorial. Movies begin

Beyond the pika — why it matters Most ecologists would likely argue that studying pikas is important in its own right — that the balance of an entire ecosystem can be thrown off with the disappearance of just a single species. But even beyond this, pikas have important implications for the wider climate and society.

First and foremost, Ray and Wells advocate that pikas can act as an indicator species for the health of our western water resources. After all, we rely on the same winter snowpack as pikas for drinking, living, and recreating.

In late summer, the same permafrost that lies under stacks of talus melts and replenishes our reservoirs.

With the current trajectory of the planet’s warming, it’s not so

at dusk.

On Wednesday, July 20, the series features one of Disney’s biggest hits in recent memory — “Encanto.” If you haven’t heard of it, frankly I don’t know how you pulled that off. It’s a beautiful film and there’s a reason it’s such a hit.

More information about the free event can be found at https://northglennarts.org/special-events/.

Clarke’s Concert of the Week — David Gray at Red Rocks For me, David Gray’s 2000 album, “White Ladder,” is still one of the great alt-rock albums of the century — the perfect blend of folk and electronic, wistful and anthemic and heartbroken and hopeful. Songs like “Babylon” and “This Year’s Love” still hit impossibly hard and never fail to send me down a beautiful path of memory.

Back in 2020 Gray was preparing to tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the record, but… well, you know. He’s finally returning to Red Rocks, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway in Morrison, at 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 21. There’s no opener for this one — instead, he’s performing a greatest hits set and then “White Ladder” in full.

This is going to be a supremely special show, so get your tickets at www.ticketmaster.com.

Clarke Reader’s column on culture appears on a weekly basis. He can be reached at Clarke.Reader@hotmail. com.

hard to imagine a world where this isn’t the case.

“Once we have no permafrost left, we won’t have any of that anymore,” Ray said. “It’s a catastrophe for us.”

In a similar vein, Wells calls pikas “a canary in the coal mines,” warning of present and future ecological damage, foreboding the effects that could have on our lifestyles, recreation and economy.

But he speculates that for some, pikas hold a more emotional significance too. Himself a Colorado native, Wells grew up hearing the squeak of the pikas in the mountains.

“For a lot of folks, pikas are really tied to the image of Colorado,” he said. “I think if pikas disappeared, that’s a little part of Colorado’s soul that is lost.”

With the environmental, economic and emotional significance of this species’ survival in mind, Wells turns toward next steps for the Colorado Pika Project. They hope to start working with the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service to turn the data they’re collecting into management action.

While he acknowledges that research is valuable, Wells now seems to be seeking a more tangible impact — one that is action oriented.

With a sense of duty and gravity, he said, “We’re really trying to figure out how to take action to help protect pikas, instead of just being the ones who get to watch them die.”

14 Fort Lupton Press

July 14, 2022

Homeless camping ban policies differ widely across Denver Other laws can affect where unhoused people may be forced to move

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

The sight of a person pushing a shopping cart full of belongings, begging for money on major streets or sleeping outdoors is common in many places around the Denver metro area, and the laws that dictate where unhoused people can’t rest differ across the many cities and towns in the region.

At least several jurisdictions have no formal camping ban on the books, and Aurora’s new camping ban, which could push people into other areas, illustrates the complexity of laws that affect the unhoused: Whether a person gets moved doesn’t just come down to whether a city has a formal ban or not.

Meanwhile, several cities in the Denver suburbs continue to take steps to address homelessness while a pattern of increasing homelessness in the Denver metro area continues.

“Camping bans do absolutely nothing to resolve homelessness,” said Cathy Alderman, spokesperson for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. “They may eliminate the visibility of homelessness for a period of time, but they certainly don’t help people get out of the situation of homelessness.”

Some cities make an effort to connect unhoused people with services that can help them, but whether a city extends that hand alongside potential law enforcement can be unclear.

Here’s a look at camping ban policies across many parts of the metro area — and what some cities are doing to help the unhoused.

Enforcement in Aurora unclear After the Aurora City Council passed the city’s camping ban ordinance March 28, questions have remained about whether people in camps would always be connected with services in tandem with enforcement of the ban.

“There must be a shelter option available for every individual in the camp on the date of an abatement or the abatement of the camp cannot take place,” says an Aurora policy document, using a term for the removal of camps.

The May 19 Aurora policy document, called a “business policy memorandum,” also outlines the city’s homelessness outreach team can offer transportation for people who want shelter.

But Aurora’s process of contacting a person at an encampment — involving providing verbal notice and a written notice that camping is not permitted — could cause some people to immediately move due to fear of police enforcement, meaning they could be gone before outreach workers can arrive or provide services.

The city is not required to do anything to ensure people don’t

Tents and other materials sit in an open field March 1 near the Aurora-Centennial border.

move from a camp before city staff or the city’s homeless outreach team can arrive and provide resources, including transportation to a shelter, Ryan Luby, an Aurora spokesperson, confirmed to Colorado Community Media.

The city is not required to inform campers that they can remain at the encampment for up to 10 days until the day of abatement, Luby said.

But in practice, Luby said, community partners offer transportation to resources and shelter “well before an abatement occurs.”

“Staff and community partners provide campers with information about shelter options and other resources from the outset,” Luby said. “That is the expectation.”

Non-police city staff are “almost exclusively” the ones who enforce the camping ban ordinance, according to Luby.

The way Aurora’s camping ban is written appears to leave open the possibility that police can give a verbal “move on” order to tell campers to leave, regardless of whether the city plans to “abate” — meaning “clean and restore” — a camp area.

But in practice, Aurora police and other city staff do not give “verbal or written orders” for people to move from encampments without offering them shelter space, according to Luby.

“Staff’s priority is to connect people in encampments with community partner resources and sheltering options,” Luby said.

If the city has offered a person a shelter space and the person refuses to go to the shelter option or move to another area, the person could see legal consequences.

People who have experienced homelessness told Colorado Community Media in recent years they’ve had concerns that led them to avoid shelters, including worries about safety or being separated from a companion. The advocacy group Denver Homeless Out Loud has also expressed those concerns.

“If someone in an encampment refuses to move after they have been given a verbal or written order to leave an encampment in accordance with policies and the ordinance, they could face a citation or arrest. To date, that has not

occurred,” Luby said in early July.

Shelter space at the Comitis Crisis Center and other shelters in Aurora are usually full, Michael Brannen, another Aurora spokesperson, said in March.

Aurora’s new camping ordinance has garnered much attention, but it wasn’t the start of Aurora removing homeless encampments on public property.

Aurora had enacted a policy memorandum in September that outlined when the city can remove encampments on public property based on existing law at the time.

The policy memo was written last summer, when a previously proposed camping ban ordinance did not pass a city council vote in August.

Under the policy memo, Aurora had already been able to abate unauthorized camps as long as there was a shelter option for all the individuals in each camp.

Denver in 2012 banned staying in an outdoor place with a tent, sleeping bag or other shelter, a policy that advocates for the homeless have said may be pushing more homeless individuals into the suburbs.

Alderman in March pointed to what she called “the unproductiveness of having competing camping bans between cities,” arguing that camping bans will push people back and forth across city and county lines.

Adams County areas Part of Aurora sits in Adams County, not far from several other suburbs with their own varying rules.

Northglenn City Council in 2013 passed a camping ban that applies to public property, such as streets, alleys, sidewalks, park or other recreation areas, or other public property.

Northglenn’s camping ban outlined that police officers can’t issue a citation, or ticket, or make an arrest unless the person has been given a warning order and the officer “attempts to ascertain” whether the person is in need of mental health treatment or homelessness service assistance.

If so, the officer must make “reasonable efforts” to contact an outreach worker who will assess the person’s needs.

PHOTO BY ELLIS ARNOLD

Asked whether Northglenn police are instructed to always wait until a worker, or “co-responder,” has spoken with the person before issuing a ticket or arresting the person for camping, Northglenn spokesperson Diana Wilson said they are not.

“All staff, whether coresponder or police officer or another department, respond as is appropriate to the situation,” Wilson said. But she said in practice, a coresponder generally will respond to the camper.

“Due to Northglenn’s creative approach with the (city’s) temporary housing program, we have been able to offer a place to go when letting the person know they cannot be camping outside,” Wilson said.

Nearby, Thornton doesn’t have a camping ban ordinance, but its city code says: “No tents or any other types of shelters or structures shall be erected upon any park, parkway, city-owned open space or recreation facility,” except as part of a city-approved activity.

But Thornton Police Department “does not write many summonses” for the tents ordinance, according to the city.

“We have officers who … serve on the Thornton HOT (Homeless Outreach Team) Team that work to get resources to those experiencing homelessness,” Officer Jesus Mendez said through a city spokesperson.

To the east, Commerce City does not have an overall camping ban ordinance but may be looking into issuing one.

“The topic was discussed at the April 18 city council meeting this year, and staff was directed to explore an ordinance for our council to consider,” Travis Huntington, city spokesperson, said in early July. “Staff is currently researching language and regulations from other municipalities, but no proposed ordinance has been drafted or brought to the city council as of yet.”

Up north, Brighton bans camping in open space and parks. But its city code also prohibits maintaining any structure, encroachment or “obstruction of whatever SEE BAN, P15

Fort Lupton Press 15

July 14, 2022

HOMELESS

“Although we may eventually issue citations to people who repeatedly violate these ordinances, we are always willing to work with people first,” Small said. “We have both a coresponder — mental health professional who can come out with our officers and determine if they are in need of some kind of mental health services — and the city also has a housing navigator who can connect them with housing options. Issuing a citation is a last resort.”

FROM PAGE 14

nature” on any public property, right-of-way, sidewalks, parks and other public places.

Asked how the city code provisions affect people who are sitting or lying along rights-of-way or other public property, the city provided a statement from the Brighton Police Department that said: “Generally speaking, our approach to violations of these sections would be handled initially by trying to achieve voluntary compliance, issuing a warning and connecting them with available resources to address the contributing factors.”

Westminster does not have a camping ban, according to spokesperson Andy Le. A large portion of Adams County immediately north of Denver is “unincorporated,” meaning it is not within a city or town.

Adams County does not have a camping ban in unincorporated areas, according to county spokesperson Christa Bruning. But the county does have regulations prohibiting obstruction of the public rights-of-way, such as the street, sidewalks or alleys.

“This includes all obstructions — trees, bushes, basketball hoops, large landscaping boulders, etc. — and is not specific to people experiencing homelessness,” Bruning added.

Adams County prohibits all camping in its park areas, Bruning said.

Arapahoe County areas In Arapahoe County, Centennial’s law bans camping on cityowned roads, sidewalks, trails, parks and city buildings or other city property.

The ban also applies to property overseen by the Southeast Metro Stormwater Authority — often called SEMSWA — which generally manages waterways in Centennial. That includes creeks, streams and other drainage areas.

Many park and open space areas in Centennial aren’t city property and still operate under their own rules.

An ordinance banning camping in the City of Sheridan was passed in 2012, according to Arlene Sagee, Sheridan city clerk.

Englewood doesn’t have a camping ban for public property in general, but the city’s parks and open space rules say overnight camping is prohibited in all parks and areas that are designated for park usage. That includes parking vehicles, trailers or campers used for overnight parking. Parks are closed between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Finn Todalen, left, and Danielle Schneider sit with a dog in late March at an encampment near the Aurora-Centennial border. Several tents and other encampment materiPHOTO BY ELLIS ARNOLD als lie in the area.

Littleton has no specific “nocamping code,” but that city enforces certain codes — meaning laws or regulations — to the same effect on public property, city spokesperson Kelli Narde said in an April statement.

But if a person is lying or sleeping with a blanket or a backpack in a park area, they generally wouldn’t be breaking Littleton city code until the park closes at night, Littleton City Attorney Reid Betzing confirmed in April.

Aside from a rule about countymanaged open spaces, Arapahoe County does not have a camping ban that applies to all types of public property in unincorporated areas in general, said Luc Hatlestad, county spokesperson.

For open spaces managed by Arapahoe County, a resolution approved in 1996 by the county commissioners says it is unlawful to camp or park a trailer or camper for camping purposes in areas that are not specifically designated for camping.

“We do not have any specific ordinances about sidewalks and alleyways, of which there are relatively few in the unincorporated areas,” Hatlestad said.

Jefferson County areas Lakewood does not have a citywide camping ban, but other city policies can still affect the unhoused.

“Rather than a camping ban, Lakewood has an ordinance addressing obstructing sidewalks, building entrances and similar locations used for public access. The city also has other ordinances that address other issues or behaviors

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such as trespassing,” said Stacie Oulton, city spokesperson.

Camping is prohibited in all areas of parks except for designated locations such as Bear Creek Lake Park’s campground, which also requires a park entrance fee and a camping permit, Oulton added.

In Golden, a city ordinance outlined that it is unlawful for any person to camp, sleep overnight, “or in conjunction with such activities, place any tent or construct any type of living quarters or structure upon any property owned by the city.”

Golden also has a city ordinance that prohibits obstructing a roadway, sidewalk, waterway or other passageway.

But “it is the practice of the Golden Police Department to use discretion when responding to calls for service regarding camping,” said Emily Gedeon, city spokesperson. “Specifically, Golden police will most often not cite an individual and instead seek voluntary compliance and provide education on the ordinances in the city and direct them to the nearest resources.”

Wheat Ridge uses a similar approach with its city codes.

A person who is sitting, lying or sleeping on a sidewalk or alley with their belongings or with a blanket, tent, tarp or other shelter would be violating city code, said Joanna Small, city spokesperson.

Similarly, a person who is sitting, lying or sleeping on any type of public property — such as, for example, a waterway or storm drainageway — in the same way would also be violating the city code, Small said.

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Douglas County areas Parker approved a camping ban in June 2018. Overnight camping on public property is not allowed in the City of Lone Tree, according to the city’s website.

The Highlands Ranch Metro District is a type of government body called a special district — not a municipality — and is located in unincorporated Douglas County, and thus has different authority than a city would.

A rule related to parks and open space says camping is prohibited without a permit. That rule was added in 2018, according to Sherry Eppers, metro district spokesperson.

The rule applies to all Highlands Ranch Metro District-owned property — that includes parks, open space, parking lots, parkways and property surrounding office buildings, Eppers said.

Castle Rock’s town code says: “It shall be unlawful to camp overnight in any recreation area, except in areas which are designated for camping.”

Similar to other municipalities, the town’s code also says: “It is unlawful for any person to obstruct in any manner any sidewalk, public highway, street or alley in the Town.”

Regarding the town’s limited camping ban, town spokesperson Melissa Hoelting said, “The town is not currently issuing citations under the provision because of continuing legal concerns.”

She added, “Castle Rock is aware of the current legal climate and the various lawsuits filed against other Front Range municipalities regarding the enforcement of criminal laws against those individuals in our communities who are experiencing homelessness … the Community Partnership Unit of our police department reaches out, when feasible, to these individuals to help ensure their safety by connecting them to available resources in our community.”

Spokespersons for Douglas and Jefferson counties did not provide comment by press time regarding policy in unincorporated areas.

Arvada and the Town of Morrison also didn’t respond for comment by press time about their policies.

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16 Fort Lupton Press

July 14, 2022

Unvaccinated Latino patients advocate for vaccinations

BY JOHN DALEY COLORADO PUBLIC MEDIA

A new study finds some unvaccinated Latino patients hospitalized for COVID-19 were motivated to encourage vaccination after their illness.

A team of Colorado researchers interviewed 25 unvaccinated hospitalized with the coronavirus and survived. Dr. Lilia Cervantes, one of the researchers, said before they got sick many felt COVID didn’t exist or they didn’t trust information about the virus.

“And after being hospitalized, felt like, ‘Wow, yes, I had COVID. I was really sick. I saw other people that had COVID and were also really sick.’ This thing is real,” said Cervantes, an associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Latinos in Colorado and nationally have lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than other groups.

PRIMARIES FROM PAGE 1

“There’s no evidence at all that primary votes with an uncontested Democratic ballot and an almost completely contested Republican ballot will have any bearing on the general election whatsoever,” he said.

The number of unaffiliated ballots cast for Republicans is expected to rise as more ballots are processed in the coming days. There were about 40,000 unaffiliated ballots across the state that still had to be tabulated as of Friday morning, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

Meanwhile, it looks like 2022 may be the year with the lowest number of Democratic primary ballots cast by unaffiliated voters.

Only about 161,000 unaffiliated voters’ ballots processed through Friday morning were cast in the Democratic primary. The previous low was in 2018, the first year unaffiliated voters could cast ballots in partisan primaries, when 179,742

Why? And do views about the vaccine change after someone gets hospitalized due to the virus?

Colorado researchers aimed to find out by asking unvaccinated Latino patients hospitalized with COVID-19 how their views changed and if hospitalization inspired a change of heart about vaccine shots.

One of the survey respondents described being scared they were going to die after hearing hospital staff discuss bringing in a machine to intubate them.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to die.’ I didn’t believe in COVID,” the patient told researchers.

But catching a bad case of the virus changed the patient’s views, encouraging them to get the vaccine.

“My opinion changed for the best, because I said, ‘I’ll protect myself with the vaccine.’”

The team conducted the survey interviews at Denver Health, a public safety-net hospital that provides healthcare for people regardless of

their insurance status. The patients’ perspectives offer insight into what shaped their views before and after getting sick.

“The majority do end up getting vaccinated because they don’t want to experience near death again,” Cervantes said.

Some got motivated to share positive vaccination messages with friends and family After hospitalization, 18 of the people surveyed received the COVID-19 vaccine. Others in the Latino survey group were in the process of scheduling them, were undecided or declined to get the vaccine.

Cervantes says before they got sick many of the Latinos in the survey group felt COVID didn’t exist or they didn’t trust information about the virus.

Many, but not all, were motivated to encourage vaccination to their friends and families.

“Because so much of this information is word of mouth, they wanted to sort of engage in their own advo-

cacy in sharing positive information,” she said.

Cervantes said until now, the hesitancy question had been little studied in the Latino community.

The new research was published in JAMA Network Open. It details an array of familiar explanations people had for opting out of vaccines and reveals their reasoning for deciding whether or not to get one after being hospitalized due to the virus.

The question is an important one since less than half of Colorado’s Hispanics are vaccinated, according to the state’s vaccine dashboard.

That is worse than it is for other major demographic groups. More than two-thirds of white, Black, American Indian and Asian Coloradans are now vaccinated with two doses. Hispanics also lag behind for booster shots, state data show.

Latino individuals in the U.S. have higher rates of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths than non-Latino white individuals.

voted Democratic ballots.

In some counties, unaffiliated voters cast more than half of all GOP primary ballots Unaffiliated voters were the deciding factor in some counties’ GOP primaries, accounting for more than half of all the Republican primary votes cast.

San Miguel County, for instance, had the highest percentage of Republican primary ballots cast by unaffiliated voters, at 70%. Of the 1,191 GOP primary votes cast this year in the county, 836 were cast by unaffiliated voters.

Ouray County came in second at 60% of the GOP primary votes being cast by unaffiliated voters, while Pitkin and Gunnison counties weren’t far behind, at 59% each..

All of those counties are in the 3rd Congressional District, where there was a loosely organized effort to get Democrats to switch their voter affiliation to unaffiliated to cast ballots in the Republican primary for state Sen. Don Coram as part of an unsuccessful effort to block U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert from winning a second term.

In Denver, a liberal stronghold,48% of all the Republican ballots cast were cast by unaffiliated voters.

Even Boulder County, considered the most reliably Democratic part of Colorado, saw a large portion of its unaffiliated voter electorate — 44% — cast ballots in the Republican primaries.

Turnout was uneven in congressional districts A total of 1,204,528 ballots were cast in this year’s primaries, resulting in a 32% turnout among active, registered voters.

The congressional primary this year with the largest number of ballots cast was the Republican contest in the 3rd Congressional District.

More than 128,000 ballots were cast in the race in which Boebert easily fended off Coram.

The 4th District GOP contest came in second, with more than 120,000 ballots cast. In that race, U.S. Rep. Ken Buck secured a big victory over Bob Lewis, an Elbert County real estate broker.

Interestingly enough, the Republican primary with the fewest ballots

cast was in the new, highly competitive 8th Congressional District.

Roughly 57,000 ballots were cast in that race.

The 8th District isn’t a ruby red district like the 3rd and the 4th districts, so there were fewer Republicans voting in the primary race.

The Colorado Sun has heard from some voters in the 8th District who were unaware they live in a new battleground. The district also has the fewest number of registered voters of all eight congressional districts in Colorado.

The low number is further indication that the 8th District general election race will likely hinge on turnout. There is expect to be a very big voter registration and get-outthe-vote push in the district over the summer and in the fall.

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

July 14, 2022

Sheriffs who denounced Colorado’s red flag law now use it

BY MARKIAN HAWRYLUK KAISER HEALTH NEWS

Dolores County Sheriff Don Wilson never expected to use Colorado’s red flag law when it was passed in 2019. He thought the law made it too easy to take a person’s guns away.

The statute allows law enforcement officers or private citizens to petition a county court to confiscate firearms temporarily from people who pose an imminent threat to themselves or others.

“All it is one person’s word against another,” said Wilson, whose sparsely populated territory is in southwestern Colorado near the Utah border.

Then, in August 2020, a Dove Creek man threatening to kill his neighbors and himself pointed a semi-automatic rifle at a deputy.

Wilson petitioned for and was granted an extreme risk protection order to remove the man’s weapons, though the sheriff said his mistrust of the red flag law has not changed.

“If a gentleman pulls a rifle on my deputy and then comes and threatens to shoot up my courthouse and kill me, kill the judges, and kill the district attorney,” Wilson said, “I’ve got a problem with that person having a gun.”

The Uvalde, Texas, school shooting prompted a bipartisan gun control agreement in Congress that could provide funding to encourage more states to pass red flag laws.

But in response to conservative objections, the bill Congress passed included funding for crisis intervention to states whether or not they establish red flag laws.

Similar opposition was seen in Colorado, where Dolores County and at least 36 other counties declared themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” after the red flag law was introduced.

But two and a half years later, those declarations appear to have had little effect on whether protection orders based on the law are filed or enforced. Petitions for protection orders have been filed in 20 of the 37 sanctuary counties, often oby the very sheriffs who had previously denounced the law, according to a KHN analysis of the petitions

obtained through county-by-county public records requests.

“These are sheriffs and law enforcement who were originally saying, ‘We want nothing to do with this law,’” said Lisa Geller, state affairs adviser for the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

“But in practice, they are using it, and this is not something that’s unique to Colorado. Law enforcement ended up realizing, ‘Hey, this is the best tool we have to protect ourselves.’”

Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., have implemented some form of red flag law while, according to the website SanctuaryCounties. com, more than 62% of U.S. counties are now covered by either state or county Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions.

Research shows red flag laws save lives. Duke University researchers found that for every 10 gun removals, one death is prevented.

An analysis from the University of Indianapolis found similar reductions in suicide rates after red flag laws were passed in Connecticut and Indiana.

Another analysis, by researchers with the Injury & Violence Prevention Center at the Colorado School of Public Health, found that in the first year of the Colorado red flag law, 85% of protection orders granted by judges had been filed by law enforcement.

“A lot of that is because the law enforcement petitions may have been more complete,” said Dr. Marian Betz, an epidemiologist and deputy director of the center. “They had the information that judges needed to move forward with it.”

Studies in California, Oregon, and Washington state also found the majority of petitions are filed by law enforcement. Although California’s red flag law has been in effect for more than five years, two-thirds of the Californians in a 2020 survey had never heard of it.

Betz and her team found the same hurdle in Colorado. “I hope there will be some improvement in awareness and education, both for the public and also for law enforcement,” she said, “making it easier for people to understand how they

work and when you might want to get one and how you would do that.”

In Colorado counties where sheriffs have declined to use the red flag law, protection orders have been filed by other law enforcement agencies. Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams has been one of the more vocal critics of the law and made national news saying he’d rather go to jail than enforce it. Nonetheless, 12 petitions were filed in Weld County, including two by municipal police departments.

“My stance is still the same,” Reams said. “Under no circumstances am I going to take someone’s guns in violation of their constitutional rights.”

Reams describes the law as “shallow” and doing nothing to address the mental issues that might contribute to violence. “Our goal is to address the person and try to figure out how to get the person the help they need,” he said.

The process for citizens to file extreme risk protection order petitions can be challenging. Many of those reviewed by KHN showed filers didn’t understand the red flag law, including one petition that was filed in the wrong county.

Prisoners in county jails filed petitions against their sheriff jailers, including one who accused the sheriff of slavery. A Larimer County woman falsely claimed she had a child in common with a police officer in a bid to have his guns taken away.

But judges rejected all those petitions, bolstering supporters’ argument that protections against misuse are built into the law.

“We documented the rare few cases of people misusing the law, but those petitions were not allowed,” said Betz, the Colorado epidemiologist. “That shows that the system worked.”

During the debate over the Colorado bill, opponents argued that the law would allow vindictive people to take guns away from others for no good reason.

“We’re just really not seeing that,” said Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle. “What we are seeing is that law enforcement has a tool to use in cases where someone is truly a

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risk to themselves or others and shouldn’t have a firearm.”

Even before the Colorado law was passed in 2019, Alamosa County’s Board of County Commissioners passed a Second Amendment sanctuary resolution reinforcing the county’s commitment to the right to bear arms. Afterward, Sheriff Robert Jackson issued a statement in support of the resolution, saying the red flag bill lacked due process, didn’t address mental health concerns, and would put his deputies at increased risk.

Since then, Alamosa County judges have granted two petitions under the law, one from the county sheriff’s office and one from the Alamosa Police Department.

Jackson said his concern was over the ability of private citizens to file for protection orders. Law enforcement, he said, files only after looking into the facts.

Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock, one of the most outspoken proponents of the Colorado law, said his office filed four protective orders in the first year of the law.

“Most of the time when we have people who have extreme mental health crises, unfortunately, there’s an outcome of either suicide or homicide,” he said. “The four cases that we’ve done, all four of those individuals are alive today and are productive members of our society and are working toward a healthier life.”

Spurlock said many sheriffs still refuse to make use of a law that’s saved lives. He said he has asked some of them pointed questions about what it means to be a Second Amendment sanctuary, such as whether armed robbers and rapists are entitled to guns.

“Then they get pissed at me,” Spurlock said. “My number of friends is dwindling.”

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation).

KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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18 Fort Lupton Press

July 14, 2022

988: A new phone number for people to call during a mental health crisis

BY DANA KNOWLES ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

For 54 years, 911 has been the number for Americans to call for all emergencies. Starting July 16, people across the country, including Colorado, will be encouraged to call a different three-digit number for mental health emergencies — 988.

“What we’ve learned and seen over the years is that having the training and support to be able to respond to calls for emotional stress and mental health or substance abuse, you need someone with that training,” said Kelly Bowman, the director of Colorado’s new crisis response line 988.

The idea is to get people to call or text 988 instead of the police when they are experiencing emotional distress.

“What’s really great is that the suicide hotline [1-844-493-8255] has always been a suicide prevention resource. 988 is intended to be a crisis support for any source of crisis that comes in, and it’s really embracing self-defined crisis,” Bowman added.

She says self-defined crisis can be anything and everything from waking up and feeling mildly depressed or anxious to having suicidal thoughts.

“Sometimes it’s hard to take that step and say you know what?

It was a rough day and I just need to connect with someone, and that power of human connection

can make all the difference in the world and 988 is really about increasing that access and making it easy to remember,” Bowman said.

Last year the state of Colorado passed legislation that would allow for a surcharge of 18 cents on cell phone bills to pay for 988, which will be overseen by the Colorado Department of Human Services. At any point during the day, there are 25-40 team members trained in everything from crisis intervention, suicide assessment and response; to substance use and crisis, grief, trauma and more.

“There’s not a one size fits all solution for someone going through struggle and so that’s what’s great about how our counselors are trained,” Bowman explained.

Children’s Hospital Colorado saw an alarming increase of emergency room visits for a mental health crisis over the past two years. Photo courtesy of Children’s Hospital Colorado.

This change comes at a time when Colorado along with much of the country is facing a mental health crisis. Just among our youth, Children’s Hospital Colorado pediatric system reported last fall that emergency visits for a mental health crisis were up 73% over the same time period two years prior. Studies have also shown that Colorado has the highest rate of adult mental illness in

the nation and one of the lowest rates of access to care. A collaborative investigation among Colorado news organizations showed some of the state’s 17 communitybased mental health providers have failed to provide treatment to the toughest and most expensive behavioral health cases while avoiding competition. To address this mental health crisis, this year Colorado lawmakers passed a bill to reform the delivery network for mental health care in the state.

[Related: Bill for new behavioral health agency seeks sweeping safety-net reforms] Still legislative changes can take time to implement and this enactment of 988 has been years in the making. After the time and energy spent of activism, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, establishing 988 was signed into law in October 2020.

Despite this incredible step forward, the system has room for improvement. For example, when someone calls 988 they’ll be connected to a counselor in the state where their phone’s area code is from; meaning that if you live in Denver but have a 310-area code attached to your phone, your call to 988 would go to California.

Bowman hopes the Federal Communications Commission will step in and fix that.

“While we work on whether or not we’ll get support from the FCC for geolocation to route calls to an in-state call center, we’re

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going to work to build trust in our communities and be clear about the message behind 988, which is that no one is left behind and no one feels like they can’t call,” she said.

Bowman also said regardless, people should still call 988 when it’s up and running later this month.

“It’s important now more than ever. We’ve seen increased rates of suicides and deaths of despair with overdoses. We know our kids are struggling and so to be able to offer a resource and say, ‘It’s okay to not be okay’ and ‘I see you and I see you struggling and there’s someone here to talk to. You’re not alone.’ We don’t heal in isolation, and I think we can all come to an agreement that that’s a hard lesson we’ve learned over the last few years.”

Resources: If you have an immediate mental health crisis, call Colorado Crisis Services at 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255.

Or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-2738255. You can also chat with the Lifeline.

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.

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Fort Lupton Press 19

July 14, 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 has the most islands?

2. AD SLOGANS: Which product is advertised with the slogan “The snack that smiles back”?

3. MOVIES: Which animated movie features more than 10,000 balloons?

4. TELEVISION: Who did Jim Halpert marry in the longrunning sitcom “The Office”?

5. HISTORY: Which country sold Alaska to the United States (1867) for $7.2 million?

10. ANATOMY: What is also known as the voice box in human anatomy?

Answers 1. Sweden 2. Goldfish crackers 3. “Up” 4. Pam Beesly 5. Russia

6. MUSIC: Which rock group had an album titled “Dark Side of the Moon”?

6. Pink Floyd

7. LITERATURE: Which novel introduces a character named Lisbeth Salander?

Tattoo”

8. SCIENCE: What is the name for magma after it has erupted?

9. U.S. STATES: Which state was the first to join the union after the original 13 colonies?

7. “The Girl with the Dragon

8. Lava 9. Vermont 10. Larynx (c) 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.

Crossword Solution

20 Fort Lupton Press

July 14, 2022

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AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF FORT LUPTON, COLORADO, AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE VI, SECTION 5-185. – PROCESS; CHAPTER 15, ARTICLE I, SECTION 15-7 CONCEPT LAND USE PLAN STANDARDS. AND CHAPTER 18, ARTICLE I, SECTION 18-9 - REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL WIND ENERGY SYSTEMS OF THE FORT LUPTON MUNICIPAL CODE INTRODUCED, READ, AND PASSED ON FIRST READING, AND ORDERED PUBLISHED this 7th day of June 2022.

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CITY OF FORT LUPTON, COLORADO Zo Stieber-Huabbard, Mayor ATTEST: Maricela Peña, City Clerk Approved as to form: Andy Ausmus, City Attorney Legal Notice No. FLP660 First Publication: July 14, 2022 Last Publication: July 14, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press Public Notice ORDINANCE NO. 2022-1145 INTRODUCED BY: BRUCE FITZGERALD ADOPT AN ORDINANCE REZONING LAND LEGALLY DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT A, AND KNOWN AS THE FLATS AT LUPTON VILLAGE CHANGE OF ZONE, TO THE PUD PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT ZONE DISTRICT. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT LUPTON, COLORADO: WHEREAS, under the procedures detailed in Section 16-9 of the Fort Lupton Municipal Code, the Applicant, Baessler Development Group, submitted a request to rezone 13.315± acres of land more particularly described in Exhibit A. WHEREAS, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the zone request on June 23, 2022, and has provided City Council with Resolution No. P2022-012 recommending approval of the rezoning of land described in Exhibit A to the PUD Planned Unit Development Zone District, with all the uses-by-right allowed in said district.

WHEREAS, the City Council, after public notice and hearing, and consideration of the Planning Commission recommendation, declares that the official zoning map be amended to reflect the change of zone on the property described in Exhibit A of this Ordinance to the PUD Planned Unit Development Zone District, and that this Ordinance is hereby approved.

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CITY OF FORT LUPTON, COLORADO Zo Stieber-Hubbard, Mayor ATTEST: Maricela Peña, City Clerk Approved as to form: Andy Ausmus, City Attorney Legal Notice No. FLP661 First Publication: July 14, 2022 Last Publication: July 14, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

Vendor Payment Amount

06/17/2022 71805 ADAMS COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS 287.35 06/21/2022 71806 ADAMSON POLICE PRODUCTS 215.97 06/21/2022 71807 AMAEZING ENTERTAINMENT! 500 06/21/2022 71808 AUSMUS LAW FIRM PC 1200 06/21/2022 71809 BADGER METER 209004 06/21/2022 71810 B U R N S & M C D O N NELL ENGINEERING CO INC 181781.51 06/21/2022 71811 CHURCHICH RECREATION LLC 33992.7 06/21/2022 71812 CITY OF FORT LUPTON 5714.75 06/21/2022 71813 COMCAST CABLE COMM, LLC 150.69 06/21/2022 71814 COUNTERTRADE PRODUCTS INC 3623.3 06/21/2022 71815 DELL MARKETING LP 1898.08 06/21/2022 71816 FORT LUPTON PACK & SHIP 26.97 06/21/2022 71817 FRONT RANGE INFLATABLES 1075 06/21/2022 71818 LUKUS DREUX 40 06/21/2022 71819 MARSHA MORRISON 65 06/21/2022 71820 MEDICAL CENTER OF THE ROCKIES 4237.76 06/21/2022 71821 NORMAN’S MEMORIALS INC. 120 06/21/2022 71822 OFFICE DEPOT 22.47 06/21/2022 71823 PRAIRIE MOUNTAIN MEDIA 1507 06/21/2022 71824 PRECISION PUMPING SYSTEMS 637.5 06/21/2022 71825 SUPER-TECH FILTERS 482.76 06/21/2022 71826 TDCJ - TEXAS CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIES1914.5 06/21/2022 71827 THE CONSOLIDATED MUTUAL 169.94 06/21/2022 71828 TIME CLOCK PLUS 9953.4 06/21/2022 71829 ULICES PURECO 44 06/21/2022 71830 UNITED SITE SERVICES 680.36 06/21/2022 71831 WELD COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY IT 310 06/28/2022 71832 AMAZON.COM 201.66 06/28/2022 71833 AUSMUS LAW FIRM PC 13770 06/28/2022 71834 BUCKEYE CLEANING CENTER 2553.56 06/28/2022 71835 CIVICPLUS 752.46 06/28/2022 71836 COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA 174.72 06/28/2022 71837 COMCAST BUSINESS 2177.78 06/28/2022 71838 COMCAST CABLE COMM, LLC 220.04 06/28/2022 71839 ELIDIA GALLEGOS 570 06/28/2022 71840 EWING IRRIGATION PRODUCTS INC 26.38 06/28/2022 71841 FASTENAL COMPANY 01COFTL 80.99 06/28/2022 71842 GERARDO CONCRETE 41637 06/28/2022 71843 HUMANA HEALTH PLAN INC 87288.01 06/28/2022 71844 LL JOHNSON DISTRIBUTING 1124.2 06/28/2022 71845 MATIAS MARK PACHECO IV 18.23 06/28/2022 71846 MOUNTAIN WEST PRODUCTION GROUP 2660 06/28/2022 71847 OFFICE DEPOT 372.91 06/28/2022 71848 PINNACOL ASSURANCE 18294.77 06/28/2022 71849 PLAINS EAST MECHANICAL SERVICES LLC 1444.9 06/28/2022 71850 STANDARD INSURANCE CO. 5557.98 06/28/2022 71851 SYNERGETIC STAFFING LLC 100 06/28/2022 71852 TODD HODGES DESIGN, LLC 6502.5 06/28/2022 71853 TOSHIBA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS 1632.5 06/28/2022 71854 TOSHIBA FINANCIAL SERVICES 2042.9 06/28/2022 71855 TYLER TECHNOLOGIES 10636.95 06/28/2022 71856 UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD CO 3115.94 06/28/2022 71857 UNITED SITE SERVICES 236.35 06/28/2022 71858 USA BLUE BOOK 771.02 06/28/2022 71859 WASTE CONNECTIONS OF COLO, INC 1508.6 06/28/2022 71860 AFLAC 2218.18 06/28/2022 71861 AMERITAS LIFE INSURANCE CORP 6576.96 06/28/2022 71862 COLONIAL LIFE 105.96 07/01/2022 71863 ADAMS COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS 287.18 07/05/2022 71864 AAA AUTO PARTS INC 329.06 07/05/2022 71865 ADAMSON POLICE PRODUCTS 334.76 07/05/2022 71866 ADT SECURITY SYSTEM 133.41 07/05/2022 71867 AGFINITY INC 480 07/05/2022 71868 AMANDA THIEMAN80 07/05/2022 71869 BADGER METER 3090.3 07/05/2022 71870 BRANDING BY BRE 2750 07/05/2022 71871 BRENDAN REED 4030 07/05/2022 71872 BROADCAST MUSIC INC

391 07/05/2022 71873 CARLOS BARRON 233.2 07/05/2022 71874 CHRISTOPHER CROSS 60.12 07/05/2022 71875 CINTAS FIRST AID & SAFETY 522.7 07/05/2022 71876 CITY OF FORT LUPTON 100 07/05/2022 71877 CLAUD HANES 303.27 07/05/2022 71878 CLIFTONLARSONALLEN LLP 27960 07/05/2022 71879 COLORADO ANALYTICAL LAB 48 07/05/2022 71880 COLORADO ASPHALT SVCS 1739.1 07/05/2022 71881 COMCAST BUSINESS 2075.59 07/05/2022 71882 COMCAST CABLE COMM, LLC 254.25 07/05/2022 71883 COMMERCIAL FITNESS SOLUTIONS INC 5809 07/05/2022 71884 CORE & MAIN LP 2366.28 07/05/2022 71885 E-470 PUBLIC HIGHWAY AUTHORITY 6.65 07/05/2022 71886 ELIDIA SANDOVAL 65 07/05/2022 71887 ELSIE HOMYAK 40 07/05/2022 71888 ERICA ARELLANO 105 07/05/2022 71889 ESRI INC 15000 07/05/2022 71890 FARIS MACHINERY COMPANY 376.8 07/05/2022 71891 FRP APPAREL 484.75 07/05/2022 71892 GERARDO CONCRETE 12352 07/05/2022 71893 HALO BRANDED SOLUTIONS INC 1320.52 07/05/2022 71894 HIGH PLAINS NEW HOLLAND 821.65 07/05/2022 71895 IMA, INC 100 07/05/2022 71896 INSIGHT PUBLIC SECTOR INC 2837.66 07/05/2022 71897 JACQUELINE CHAVEZ 121.68 07/05/2022 71898 JACQUELYNN ANN VAN WATERMEULEN 66.93 07/05/2022 71899 JOHNSON CONTROLS SECURITY SOLUTIONS 196.93 07/05/2022 71900 LEANN PERINO 72.54 07/05/2022 71901 LEVI CONTRACTORS, INC 1500 07/05/2022 71902 LL JOHNSON DISTRIBUTING 94.99 07/05/2022 71903 MELISSA NELSON 1242 07/05/2022 71904 NEWMAN TRAFFIC SIGNS 2185.84 07/05/2022 71905 NORTHWEST PARKWAY LLC 12 07/05/2022 71906 O’REILLY AUTO PARTS 195.27 07/05/2022 71907 PREMIER EARTHWORKS & INFRASTRUCTURE INC 1500 07/05/2022 71908 TOSHIBA FINANCIAL SERVICES 283.52 07/05/2022 71909 UNITED SITE SERVICES 1208.46 07/05/2022 71910 USA BLUE BOOK 873.94 07/05/2022 71911 WAGNER EQUIPMENT CO. 135 07/05/2022 71912 WELD COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY IT 135.62 07/05/2022 71913 WELD COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE 29.71 07/05/2022 71914 WILLIAMS EQUIPMENT LLC 1467.84 06/17/2022 DFT0001968 VALIC_1 612 06/17/2022 DFT0001969 IRS 104.04 06/17/2022 DFT0001970 CO DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 108 06/17/2022 DFT0001971 BANK OF COLORADO 6429.54 06/17/2022 DFT0001972 BANK OF COLORADO 675.83 06/17/2022 DFT0001973 VALIC_1 36967.11 06/17/2022 DFT0001974 I R S 64391.09 06/17/2022 DFT0001975 CO DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 11980 07/01/2022 DFT0001976 BANK OF COLORADO 6129.54 07/01/2022 DFT0001977 BANK OF COLORADO 675.83 07/01/2022 DFT0001978 VALIC_1 33113.24 07/01/2022 DFT0001979 I R S 62076.66 07/01/2022 DFT0001980 CO DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 11574 Legal Notice No. FLP659 First Publication: July 14, 2022 Last Publication: July 14, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

Metropolitan Districts Public Notice NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING THE ORGANIZATION OF SPECIAL DISTRICT IN RE THE PROPOSED COTTONWOOD THERMO METROPOLITAN DISTRICT, CITY OF FORT LUPTON, COUNTY OF WELD, STATE OF COLORADO PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that, pursuant to § 32-1-204(1), C.R.S., a service plan (the “Service Plan”) for the proposed Cottonwood Thermo Metropolitan District (the “District”) has been filed with the City of Fort Lupton, Colorado (the “City”). The Service Plan is available for public inspection in the office of the City Clerk.

NOTICE IS HEREBY FURTHER GIVEN that the Fort Lupton City Council (the “City Council”) will hold a public hearing at 6:00 p.m. or soon there-

after, on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, at the City Hall located at 130 South McKinley Avenue to review the proposed Service Plan, and to form a basis for a resolution approving, disapproving or conditionally approving such Service Plan. This meeting will be conducted both remotely and in-person.

Members of the public are invited to attend and may join in person or remotely by registering at: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/851983253.

The City Council may, in its own discretion, continue the hearing to a subsequent meeting.

summons upon you. Service of this summons shall be complete on the day of the last publication.

A copy of the complaint may be obtained from the clerk of the court.

The District is located entirely within the City limits of Fort Lupton, and includes property generally described as a parcel containing approximately 41.1 acres located at the southwest corner of WCR31 and WCR14-1/2 (14th Street).

This is an action to quiet title to the following described real property:

The District is proposed to be organized as a metropolitan district to undertake the planning, design, acquisition, construction, installation, relocation, redevelopment, financing, and limited operations and maintenance of the public improvements needed for the Cottonwood Thermo development and will have the authority to impose mill levies for repayment of debt and for limited administrative, operation and maintenance purposes. For debt service, the maximum mill levy that may be imposed by the District upon taxable property within the District’s boundaries shall not exceed 55.277 mills; however, this maximum shall not apply when the total amount of debt is equal to or less than fifty percent (50%) of a District’s assessed valuation if end users (as defined in the Service Plan) cast the majority of votes taken by the Board of Directors to impose a higher mill levy for the payment of debt. The maximum operation and maintenance mill levy that may be imposed by the District upon taxable property within the District’s boundaries shall not exceed 55.277 mills provided, however, that the combined mill levy for both debt service and operations and maintenance shall not exceed 70.000 mills. If the method of calculating assessed valuation is changed by law, the maximum mill levies may be increased or decreased to reflect such changes.

NOTICE IS HEREBY FURTHER GIVEN that any protests or objections to the proposed Service Plan must be submitted in writing to the City Council at or prior to the hearing, or any continuance or postponement thereof, in order to be considered.

All protests and objections to the Service Plan shall be deemed waived unless presented in writing at the time and manner specified above. Any person owning property in the proposed District may request that such property be excluded from the District prior to approval of the Service Plan and shall submit such request, in writing, to the City Manager no later than ten days prior to the public hearing.

BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT LUPTON Legal Notice No. FLP654 First Publication: July 14, 2022 Last Publication: July 14, 2022 Publish in: Fort Lupton Press

Summons and Sheriff Sale Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, WELD COUNTY, COLORADO Court Address: 901 9th Avenue Greeley, CO 80631 Case No.: 2021CV30645 Plaintiff: PATRICK M. GROOM and KENT A. NAUGHTON as Successor Co-Personal Representatives of the Estate of Anna Mae Sieg, Deceased v.

Defendants: JOHN R. LEFEBVRE, Jr., solely in his official capacity as WELD COUNTY TREASURER; BRENDA DONES, solely in her official capacity as WELD COUNTY ASSESSOR; BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, WELD COUNTY, COLORADO; UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY; PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF COLORADO; COMMUNITY DITCH AND RESERVOIR COMPANY; UNITED POWER, INC. f/k/a UNION RURAL ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION, INC.; WESTERN SLOPE GAS COMPANY; COORS ENERGY COMPANY; FRONT RANGE LANDFILL, INC. f/k/a SANIFILL OF COLORADO, INC.; and ALL UNKNOWN PERSONS WHO MAY CLAIM ANY INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS ACTION Attorney for Plaintiff Karsh Gabler Call PC Ivan M. Call, #30178 Fred Gabler, #8978 1658 Cole Blvd, Bldg. 6, Suite G10 Lakewood, CO 80401 Phone: 303.759.9669 E-mail: icall@karshgabler.com fgabler@karshgabler.com

If you fail to file your answer or other response to the complaint in writing within thirty-five (35) days after the date of the last publication, judgment by default may be rendered against you by the court for the relief demanded in the complaint without further notice.

A parcel of land located in the Northeast ¼ of Section 33, Township 1 North, Range 68 West of the 6th P.M., County of Weld, State of Colorado, described as follows:

Considering the West line of the North ½ of the Northeast ¼ of said Section 33 to bear South 00°30’26” East, being monumented on the North end by a 2 ½” pipe with 3 ¼” aluminum cap, PLS 4846, and on the South end by a ¾” rebar with 2 ½” aluminum cap, PLS 37971, and with all bearings contained herein relative thereto;

Beginning at the North ¼ corner of said Section 33; thence South 00°30’26” East, coincident with the West line of the North ½ of the Northeast ¼ of said section 33, a distance of 1303.10 feet to the Northwest corner of that parcel of land described in Quiet Title order recorded July 7, 2009 as Reception No. 7421046 in the records of the Clerk and Recorder for Weld County, Colorado; thence North 89°36’34” East, coincident with the North line of said parcel, a distance of 122.63 feet to the Northeast corner of said parcel; thence North 01°14’34” West, a distance of 1304.23 feet to the North line of the Northeast ¼ of said Section 33; thence South 89°04’29” West, coincident with said North line, a distance of 105.89 feet to the True Point of Beginning. County of Weld, State of Colorado.

Karsh Gabler Call PC /s/ Ivan M. Call Ivan M. Call, 30178

Attorney for Plaintiff Legal Notice No. FLP651 First Publication: June 30, 2022 Last Publication: July 28, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

Misc. Private Legals PUBLIC NOTICE

Coors Energy Company (PO Box 4030, Golden, CO 80402) has filed an application for a Phase I bond release work completed at the Keenesburg Mine with the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety (DRMS, permit C-1981-028, approved November 3, 1981). The Phase I bond release application requests release of bond and liability for successfully completing backfilling and grading in Areas 35 through 38 and 42 through 45 within the mine site. Backfilling and grading in these areas took place in 2019 – 2020 and has been shown to meet the approved post-mining topography for the site. Phase I bond release is sought for approximately 102 acres at the site. The current bond is a corporate surety of $1,201,563.00 prior to the proposed release and the amount requested for release is $574,531.00.

The areas proposed are located within Section 25, Township 3 North, Range 64 West of the Sixth Principal Meridian, Weld County, CO. Coors Energy Company is the surface owner of the property for which bond release in being requested. The permit area is located 7 miles north of Keenesburg, CO and is accessed by Weld County Road 59. A copy of the bond release application is available for public review at the Weld County Clerk and Recorder’s Office (1402 N 17th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631), the Keenesburg Town Hall, and at the DRMS (1313 Sherman St, Room 215, Denver, CO 80203). In accordance with Rule 3.03.2(3) any person with a valid legal interest which might beH adversely affected by release of the bond, or anyW federal, state, or local governmental agency withfi jurisdiction over regulated activities at the minet shall have the right to file written objections to or2 comments upon the requested release and/or file ah request for an informal conference with the DRMS( within thirty (30) days of the last publication of thisf notice, or within thirty (30) days of the completedu bond release inspection to be conducted by thei DRMS whichever is later. All comments, objec-c tions, and requests must be submitted in writingg to the DRMS at 1001 E 62nd Ave, Room 215, Denver, CO 80216.

T S Legal Notice No. FLP647 S First Publication: June 23, 2022 Last Publication: July 14, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press Public Notice

SUMMONS BY PUBLICATION THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF COLORADO TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANT: COMMUNITY DITCH AND RESERVOIR COMPANY You are hereby summoned and required to appear and defend against the claims of the complaint filed with the court in this action, by filing with the clerk of this court an answer or other response. You are required to file your answer or other response within thirty-five (35) days after the service of this

BEFORE THE OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO

T o t

D P IN THE MATTER OF THE PROMULGATIONC AND ESTABLISHMENT OF FIELD RULES TOT GOVERN OPERATIONS FOR THE NIOBRARA1 FORMATION, WATTENBERG FIELD, WELDD COUNTY, COLORADO CAUSE NO. 1 DOCKET NO. 220500095

Fort Lupton Press July 14, 2022 * 1

Fort Lupton Press 21

July 14, 2022

HOMES FROM PAGE 1

Things are moving so quickly, said Nicole Bachaud, a senior economist at housing site Zillow.

“We had this huge acceleration, this huge boost in spring of 2020 that continued into 2021 that was the strongest year for housing that we’ve really ever seen,” Bachaud said. “Now we’re coming to this period where things are going to cool down really fast as well. And that’s going to look like whiplash for a lot of buyers and sellers in the market.”

However, she added, “the markets are not going to crash, we’re not going to see this huge drop in home values across the board. But it’s gonna look very different than it did in December of 2021.”

And why is that? There’s still demand from consumers to buy a house. Also the number of new homes getting started has dropped off. “What we really need in order to curb this home-price growth is more homes,” she said. “And (would-be) sellers are feeling locked into their current interest rate. If you refinanced at 3%, selling and buying at a 6% rate doesn’t seem like such a good deal right now.”

Price cuts in for-sale houses have been happening for weeks, months and even years in Colorado, according to Zillow data. Even when sales were the strongest last year, there were still houses that cut their price for one reason or another, likely because they were asking too much.

Zillow data for the Colorado Springs, Denver and Fort Collins markets do show that there’s been a sharp increase in the number of houses that cut the list price within the past month. The chart below shows that in early June, 9.17% of the homes for sale in Denver dropped their price in the past month, while 9.1% did in Colorado Springs and 3.37% did in Fort Collins: Those price discounts in Denver rose to a median of $19,000 in early June, nearly double the amount in January. Colorado Springs price

cuts weren’t as sharp and had dropped to $11,050 in early June, while Fort Collins hit $19,201.

Consider it an interest rate silver lining for house hunters forced to save their money after getting outbid on every house in the past year.

But it’s not like house prices are falling. They’re just not growing as fast as last year and the real estate industry already expects that the days of multiple offers on a house are over for now.

6%? Bah! Interest rates have been higher “My first house mortgage was at 14%,” Craig Aberle, a reader who wrote this week in response to last week’s story that renting is cheaper than buying. “It was still a good deal financially.”

Aberle, who lives in Denver, pointed out the many benefits of owning a house today even as interest rates rise. There are tax deductions, equity and loan refinancing when rates do fall, as they did last year when they dipped below 3%.

“Rates at 5% or 6% are modest,” he said.

This isn’t the first time in recent history that mortgage rates hit 6%.

A notable period for mortgage rates were the 1980s, when rates were super high — in the teens, according to the Federal Reserve economic data. The peak of 16.64% in 1981 makes today’s 6% a bargain. For people who bought homes in 2018 or earlier, current interest rates are just a return to earlier times.

However, new budgets and increasing housing prices make buying homes for new homeowners nonetheless inaccessible. Housing prices have gone way up in the past five decades.

“Homes were a lot cheaper back then. So a 16% interest rate was maybe the difference of tens or hundreds of dollars a month, and not thousands of dollars a month,” Bachaud said. “A home is a very different type of purchase than it was decades ago.”

The typical Colorado home value of $126,900 in the 1980s is drastically different from the typical home value of $604,065 reported in May Zillow data. That’s a 376%

increase. After running it through a quick inflation calculator, that $126,900 home would be roughly $408,057 now considering recent inflation — a relative steal in a housing market seeing prices upward of $700,000.

Historic developments in homeownership add another dimension to the story. In the years after the hike in interest rates in the 80s, homeownership rates in Colorado dipped to a historic low of 58.6%.

That’s little more than half of tracked Colorodans living and owning a home according to U.S. Census data.

The most recent data show homeownership rates slowly rising to a rate 64.9% in 2020. With how volatile the housing market has been recently, and as many communities are unable to catch up with zooming home prices, we’ll see how homeownership rates change in coming months.

The benefits of owning are certainly more than what the monthly mortgage payment is. But buyers may not see those for several years, said Bachaud, with Zillow.

“If you’re going to buy something or rent something for two years, the cost of purchasing and selling real estate is pretty high.

You’re dealing with transfer taxes, real estate taxes, closing costs and buyer and seller commissions. All of those things make it really expensive,” she said. “For the short term, renting is cheaper.”

Workers are being priced out of their homes, according to a recent report by the Regional Economic Development Institute at Colorado State University, which measured workers’ abilities to afford twobedroom apartments without becoming rent burdened. That’s when individuals need to spend more than a third of their income to pay for rent. Thanks to Kendall Stephenson, one of the authors of the report, for sending this along!

Workers in Fort Collins, a city with a population of around 170,000, have become increasingly rent burdened over the past decade. In 2010, 36% of all occupations could not afford fair market rent. Now, as of 2020, it’s 52%.

In particular, food preparation and serving occupations face

A hike in mortgage interest rates has not brought down prices of existing homes SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE yet.

one of the greatest disparities in keeping up with fair market rent.

Waiters and waitresses in Fort Collins have a median hourly wage of $12.01. If they wanted to afford rent at fair market prices, they’d need to make almost double their current wages, or $23.92 per hour.

Conversely, in 2010 waiters and waitresses would have needed only an hourly increase of about $2 to afford fair market rent.

Health care support occupations are another group that saw a hit at housing affordability. Not only that, but women are disproportionately impacted. Over 70% of people within these jobs are female, and employees would need to see raises of about 50% to be able to afford fair market rent in Fort Collins.

Fort Collins workers’ wages are not keeping up with the increase in fair market rent, and as a result many low-wage earners are forced to commute into Fort Collins for work, the REDI report showed. Although workers are able to save on housing, skyrocketing fuel prices take a toll on their expenses.

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 TYPE: GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE

PERSONS: July 5, 2022

NOTICE OF HEARING

Any interested party who wishes to participate formally must file a written petition with the Commission no later than the deadline provided above.

Please see Commission Rule 507 at https:// cogcc.state.co.us, under “Regulation,” then select “Rules.” Please note that, under Commission Rule 510.l, the deadline for petitions may only be continued for good cause, even if the hearing is continued beyond the date that is stated above.

Pursuant to Commission Rule 507, if you do not file a proper petition, the Hearing Officer will not know that you wish to formally participate in this matter and the date and time of the hearing may change without additional notice to you. Parties wishing to file a petition must register online at https://oitco.hylandcloud.com/DNRCOGExternalAccess/Account/Login.aspx and select “Request Access to Site.” Please refer to our “eFiling Users Guidebook” at http://cogcc/documents/reg/Hearings/External_ Efiling_System_Handbook_December_2021_Final.pdf for more information. Under Commission Rule 508, if no petition is filed, the Application may be approved administratively without a formal hearing.

H&A Mineral Holdings, LLC (“H&A”) and South Weld Holdings, LLC (“South Weld”) (“Applicants”) filed an Application with the Commission pursuant to Rule 503.g.(10) for an order to deny nine Form 2, Applications for Permit to Drill (Form 2) for nine horizontal wells, filed by Verdad Resources LLC (Operator No. 10651) (“Verdad”), to be drilled from an existing location in a drilling and spacing unit established by Order No. 407-2473, on lands identified below. This Notice was sent to you because the Applicant believes you may own oil or gas (“mineral”) interests within the unit.

APPLICATION LANDS Township 1 North, Range 65 West, 6th P.M. Section 29: S½ Section 32: All DATE, TIME, AND LOCATION OF HEARING (Subject to change) The assigned Hearing Officer will hold a hearing only on the above referenced docket number at the following date, time, and location: Date: August 3, 2022 Time: 9:00 a.m.

Place: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission The Chancery Building 1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 801 Denver, CO 80203 PETITIONS DEADLINE FOR PETITIONS BY AFFECTED

Any Affected Person who files a petition must be able to participate in a prehearing conference during the week of July 5, 2022, if a prehearing conference is requested by the Applicant or by any person who has filed a petition.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION For more information, you may review the Application, which was sent to you with this Notice.

You may also contact the Applicant at the phone number or email address listed below.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if any party requires special accommodations as a result of a disability for this hearing, please contact Margaret Humecki at Cogcc.

Hearings_Unit@state.co.us, prior to the hearing and arrangements will be made.

OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO By: Mimi C. Larsen, Commission Secretary Dated: May 24, 2022 H&A Mineral Holdings, LLC South Weld Holdings, LLC c/o Steven Louis-Prescott Morgan L. Simpson Hamre, Rodriguez, Ostrander, & Dingess, P.C. 3600 S. Yosemite Street, Suite 500 Denver, CO 80211 303-779-0200 sprescott@hrodlaw.com msimpson@hrodlaw.com Legal Notice No. FLP645 First Publication: June 16, 2022 Last Publication: July 14, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

Weld County, Colorado on or before November 7, 2022, or the claims may be forever barred.

Notice to Creditors PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of BARBARA ANN HAGEL, a/k/a BARBARA A. HAGEL, a/k/a BARBARA HAGEL, Deceased Case Number: 2022 PR 30403 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Weld County, Colorado on or before November 14, 2022, or the claims may be forever barred.

Ellen Toomey-Hale Attorney for Bryan Haffner, Personal Representative Hale Law Office, LLC PO Box 1008 Platteville, CO 80651 303-907-7598 Legal Notice No. FLP657 First Publication: July 7, 2022 Last Publication: July 21, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Elvira Margaret Baca, deceased Case Number: 2022PR164

Ginger Ann Hagel Coatman 4512 Romney Lock Drive Windsor, CO 80550

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 October 30, 2022, or the claims may be forever barred.

Legal Notice No. FLP662 First Publication: July 14, 2022 Last Publication: July 28, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Clifford James Haffner, a/k/a Clifford J. Haffner, a/k/a Clifford Haffner, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR30319 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of

Scott Bussell Personal Representative 124 Grand View Drive Pooler, GA 31322 Legal Notice No. FLP658 First publication: July 14, 2022 Last publication: July 28, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

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22 Fort Lupton Press

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July 14, 2022

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No Experience Necessary. Rotating Shifts.

Forklift Knowledge, Mechanical Skills, Basic Math a plus.

Medical and Sick Pay after probation period, 401(k) plus Vacation after one year.

Jeff 303-210-1900

APPLY IN PERSON Mon- Fri 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Chemical & Metal Industries, Inc. 23465 ChemTech Ave, Hudson, CO 80642

Garage Sales Party & holiday supplies, plus miscellaneous items.

537 Eastern Ave., Brighton. Fri.Sun., July 15 - 17, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

DEADLINES CLASSIFIED LINE ADS: MONDAY, 10 A.M. SERVICE DIRECTORY: THURSDAY, 5 P.M. LEGALS: THURSDAY, 3 P.M.

303-566-4113 classifieds@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Help Wanted

Careers Work Wanted

SERVICE DIRECTORY

CLASSIFIED AD SALES

Buildings, Metal

Roofing & Siding

GREAT PRICES ON SIDING AND ROOFING Hail Damage Repair

METALBUILDING

Local Brighton Contractor

OUTLET CORP.

Call today to schedule a free estimate

LOCAL BUILDINGS FOR 30+ YEARS! · SHOPS & GARAGES · EQUIPMENT STORAGE · SELF STORAGE · BARNS & AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS · EQUESTRIAN FACILITIES · COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS · AND MORE...

Gary’s Siding 720.496.3146 Tree Service

303.948.2038

METALBUILDINGOUTLET.COM

30 Years Experience

Buildings, Metal

Protect your home from pests safely and affordably. Pest, rodent, termite and mosquito control. Call for a quote or inspection today 844394-9278

Tree & Shrub Pruning, Removal, Stump Grinding

HughesNet – Finally, super-fast internet no matter where you live. 25 Mbps just $59.99/mo! Unlimited Data is Here. Stream Video. Bundle TV & Internet. Free Installation. Call 866-499-0141

BBB+ Licensed & Insured

Call 303.833.5212

Miscellaneous

aandrtreeservices.com Lost and Found

FR

E EstimE ates

Service Directory Tree Service

4 by 6 foot digital sign from Daktronics.

The sign comes installed and with 24/7 monitoring from the company.

If you have a business on a busy road and want to get your message out this is the sign you want.

The sign comes with a computer and training to easily update your message.

Paid $55,000 for the sign 6 years ago and am now asking only $14,800 installed.

The sign is PERFECT for a liquor store, car dealership, car repair clinic, wellness center or chiropractic clinic--but any business would benefit. Call Alan at 303-378-7537

Miscellaneous

Pets

DISH Network. $59.99 for 190 channels! Blazing fast internet, $19.99/mo. (where available) Switch & get a $100 Visa gift card. Free voice remote. Free HD DVR. Free streaming on all devices. 1-866-9794029

Dogs

The Generac PWRcell solar plus battery storage system. Save money, reduce reliance on grid, prepare for outages & power your home. Full installation services. $0 down financing option. Request free no obligation quote. 1-877-539-0299 AT&T Internet. Starting at $40/ month w/12-mo agmt. 1 TB of data/ mo. Ask how to bundle & SAVE! Geo & svc restrictions apply. 1-855-3643948

A-1 Stump Removal Stump grinding specialist

Most stumps $75.00 and up $55 Minimum.

Free estimates. Call or Licensed & Insured. Text 41 years experience.

10% off when coupon presented A father and son team!

Doodle Puppies

Terry 303-424-7357 Corey 720-949-8373

Golden Doodles and Bernedoodles Home-Raised Heath Tested and Guaranteed Standard and Mini Size available Schedule a visit today!

(970)215-6860 www.puppylovedoodles.com

TO ADVERTISE CALL 303-566-4100

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July 14, 2022

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July 14, 2022