September 10, 2021
FREE
DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
ParkerChronicle.net
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 24
VOLUME 19 | ISSUE 41
As COVID cases rise, local hospital ICUs fill up ‘Vast majority’ of hospitalized virus patients are unvaccinated BY THELMA GRIMES TGRIMES@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Inside are six photos showing the faces of men who died during or as a direct result of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
As COVID-19 cases continue to go up across the metro area due to the highly-transmissible delta variant, hospitals are admitting more patients to ICU beds, and UCHealth is postponing non-urgent medical procedures. According to the Tri-County Health Department, as of Sept. 1, hospitals in Douglas County had reached 95% capacity for ICU beds. Inpatient beds were exceeding 85%. In neighboring Arapahoe County, ICU beds were at 83.4% capacity to start the month of September. Adams County increased to 91.3% capacity. As hospitals are dealing with the increase in cases, UCHealth made the call last week to postpone nonurgent surgeries as the system faces the highest number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients since January, when cases neared 500. At the start of September, UCHealth reported more than 260 hospitalizations due to confirmed or suspected COVID patients. UCHealth has 12 hospitals. In the Denver metro area, UCHealth has
SEE TRIBUTE, P30
SEE COVID, P8
Parents joined the protest on Sept. 1 alongside their children at Legend High School.
PHOTO BY JESSICA GIBBS
Students walk out in anti-mask protest Hundreds urged personal choice as mandate went into effect BY JESSICA GIBBS JGIBBS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The Sept. 1 walkout started when three students emerged from
Legend High School in Parker and meandered toward a nearby park. Two more followed shortly after, and for a moment the small group was the only sign of protest.
Then came dozens, and within minutes, hundreds of students and parents had amassed across the SEE WALKOUT, P4
Parker man bikes across U.S. in 9/11 tribute Cycling route stretches from Los Angeles to New York BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
During long days of cycling
REMEMBERING 9/11 COMRADES Memorial Stair Climb pays tribute, raises funds P14
across the United States, Buck Buchanan sometimes peeks down at a small container attached to his bike handle.
CROSSTOWN CLASH ThunderRidge faces Mountain Vista in softball
P24