April 9, 2015 VO LUM E 12 6 | IS S UE 37 | 7 5 ¢
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WHAT’S INSIDE
Fires spark heroism, heartbreak
New chapter: The Tattered Cover moves in to its new Littleton location. See Page 2
Pay attention: Officials are using this month to bring awareness to the problem of distracted driving. See Page 11
Who made it? Find out who is on our All-South Metro Boys Basketball Team. See Page 20
Smoke pours from four units damaged in the April 3 fire at the Verona apartment community, just across Federal Boulevard from the Terra Vista apartments, where there was a fire on March 30. Photos by Jennifer Smith
Several residents displaced in blazes four days apart at Littleton apartment complexes By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@colorado communitymedia.com
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When fire broke out in his apartment building, Steve Shore tried to save his neighbor’s beloved pets by kicking in her door, but he burned his bare feet in the process. “The flames were already up to my knees and coming through the floorboards of the balcony,” he said as his neighbor, Kimbrelle Heninger, hugged him. “He’s my hero, and I love him for that,” she said. “He tried to save my girls.” The April 3 fire was the second in four days at two different apartment complexes on a small stretch of Federal Boulevard just north of Bowles Avenue in Littleton. The fires, causes of which are under investigation, are not related, Littleton’s fire chief said. Heninger was at work when, according to Chief Chris Armstrong, the flames erupted in a vacant unit
below hers at the Verona apartment complex. A construction crew was using it to store materials needed to remodel the apartments. “There are things like paint and varnish in there that is making it difficult to extinguish,” said Armstrong after his crews had been on scene about two hours. They got the call about noon, he said, and responded in roughly seven minutes. Firefighters couldn’t reach the inside of Heninger’s unit because the stairs going to it had collapsed, and they told her it was a total loss. She cried as she mourned her four pets — two small dogs, a cat and a white dove named Heaven. The dove was a gift after her older sister died, she said. “They were my kids,” she said as she watched firefighters try to quell the smoke pouring from her roof. “This just killed everything I had, and has broken my life into pieces.”
PHONE: 303-566-4100
Kimbrelle Heninger talks about the loss of her four pets in the April 3 fire at the Verona apartment community.
A legal newspaper of general circulation in Englewood, Colorado, the Littleton Independent is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO and additional mailing offices.
School board approves Davis arbitration plan
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Parents of slain Arapahoe High student agree not to sue, make all findings public By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com The Littleton Public Schools Board of Education has unanimously voted to give Claire Davis’ family all the information it can about the circumstances surrounding the death of the Arapahoe High School student. “This will be the next of many steps already taken in the last 15 months to examine and improve processes and procedures,” said Jack Reutzel, board president. “We have already implemented changes in the district as a result of the tragedy, and we continue to want to learn how the district can make meaningful and
thoughtful improvements for the benefit of all students.” While the Davis family was not in attendance at the April 2 board meeting, they offered a quote for the official LPS statement. “We’ve developed a process that meets our shared goal of making schools safer,” said Michael Davis, Claire’s father. “We Claire Davis very much appreciate LPS’ willingness to partner with us.” In a separate statement issued through their spokesperson, Katy Atkinson, the family reiterated support for two bills pending in the state Legislature that could soon be heard on the floor. The first provides a narrow definition of the circumstances in which a suit can be brought against a school for breaching its responsibility to keep students safe, and sets a
Fire continues on Page 4
cap on the damages that can be recovered. The second would create a permanent committee on school safety and mental health and charge it with examining ways to improve how schools and the mental-health system deal with troubled youths. “Without the full picture, no one can adequately address the underlying problems that could lead to yet another tragedy like this,” reads the family’s statement. As part of the agreement, the Davises agree not to sue the district and waive their right to seek damages — meaning no financial settlement. “This isn’t about the money, it never has been for the Davises,” their attorney, Michael Rooche, said in a press conference outside the LPS administration building after the vote. “The Davises are not interested in assigning blame.”
Davis continues on Page 4