Parker Chronicle 020223

Our in-depth look at the housing crisis

Douglas County School District preps for school closures

Highlands Ranch has biggest drop

BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Douglas County School District is preparing to consolidate elementary schools in the Highlands Ranch area in 2026 due to declining enrollment, while looking to build new schools in surrounding neighborhoods.

Superintendent Erin Kane and district sta presented plans to the school board on Jan. 24 addressing the drop in elementary school students in Highlands Ranch, an area of the district that is aging and seeing declining birth rates. e plan also elaborates on the need for new schools in developing parts of the district.

Kane said the district is in the unique position of having an area experiencing a drop in enrollment surrounded by developing neighborhoods that require new schools, which will likely result in consolidation and construction at the same time.

“Our hope is to begin to communicate to our community the challenge we’re facing with growth and decline,” Kane said.

At this point in time, no speci c schools have been identi ed for consolidation and the district is promising there will be no job loss.

Dealing with decline

High home prices, lack of supply sever metro residents from communities

summer, he felt like he’d won the lottery. After more than a decade of chasing the cheapest rent across the metro area, the Littleton bartender nally has a house to call his own.

middle-income people live where they work. But as cities and towns contend with historically high home costs and a lack of supply, residents like Laney have struggled to live in their communities.

Across the district, enrollment is expected to be down to 62,431 students in 2023 from 63,401 in 2022, according to projections from Western Demographics Inc. Both district schools and charter schools saw slightly decreased enrollment between 2021 and 2022 and are expected to see further loss next year.

Data from Western Demographics shows that the biggest loss of students will be the north planning area, which covers Highlands Ranch and is predicted to lose around 2,300 students over the next ve years.

BY ROBERT TANN COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

“I almost feel guilty that I have it,” said Laney, 49.

Laney is one of a handful of residents who have secured housing through a subsidized program aimed at helping lower- and

“I’ve always felt like I was just passing through instead of living somewhere, putting down roots,” said Laney. He has worked

“We have stay-in-place communities, such as Highlands Ranch, where people moved and came here 20 or 30 years ago, they’re still here and their kids have grown out of our system

When Chris Laney moved into his new three-bedroom home last

Low- and middle-income people struggle to live where they work

STEM to try AI-enhanced metal detectors for school safety

BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

An AI-enhanced metal detector technology will soon be rolled out at STEM School Highlands Ranch in a school security pilot program, funded by a grant from Douglas County.

On Jan. 24, Douglas County commissioners approved a $961,504 grant to STEM to support the implementation of smart-tech scanners from Evolv and a security personnel contract with Johnson Controls to run the system.

In the 2-1 vote, Commissioner Lora omas voted against granting the funding because of concerns about the e ectiveness of the technology.

Evolv’s detectors use machine learning and sensors to distinguish weapons from other metal items, like keys or a cellphone, when people walk through the scanners. e technology allows users to avoid separate scanners for bags and backpacks while simply walking through the machine.

According to Evolv’s website, the technology has been deployed in hundreds of locations, including schools, stadiums, entertainment venues and government facilities.

However, omas cited reporting from the American Civil Liberties

Union that found Evolv exaggerates its e ectiveness and doesn’t always spot common weapons. omas said she believes there are better ways to address school safety.

“I have grave concerns about this project,” she said. “ ere are personnel that will be involved with this innovation, and they told me that those personnel would be more e ective — if they’re going to be funded — to be deployed throughout the school instead of that just one point.”

STEM’s board chair, Kelly Reyna, told Colorado Community Media that the school is aware the technology isn’t perfect, but said they believe it could be an innovative way to keep the school safer.

Reyna said STEM plans to soft launch the entryway scanners at the entrance to the athletic building around spring break, so the school can troubleshoot before the scanners are installed at all three of the schools’ entrance.

“I don’t think that it’s perfect, but I think there’s de nitely some room for improvement,” she said. “We’re equipped to take on the experiment, if you will. It’s not necessarily that we know it’s the best t, we’re going to gure out if it could be.”

Reyna said Commissioner Abe Laydon pitched the smart-tech detectors

to the STEM board in November 2021 and they have been looking into it since. O cials from STEM and Douglas County visited the Denver Center for Performing Arts, which uses Evolv detectors, last year to see how the technology works.

Reyna also spoke with people in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District in North Carolina, which implemented Evolv detectors in early 2022, about their experience. A Vice report on the Evolv scanners in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools found there was di culty with scanners setting o when laptops and metal-ringed binders were detected.

“ ey pointed me to some of the things the schools were working through with the challenges they were having and honestly, I sat there and thought ‘heck, I think we can do this better and I think we can innovate di erently,’” Reyna said.

During the Jan. 24 meeting, Laydon called Evolv the “most vetted physical school security concept that this county has undertaken.”

“ is particular innovation … it’s at Disney World, it’s at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, it’s at Coors Field, it’s used at the Super Bowl, it’s used at the Academy Awards and if it’s good enough to protect kids and adults in the private sector, it’s good

enough for our kids in our county,” Laydon said.

While the technology will only be at STEM for now, Reyna said the ultimate goal is to nd ways to make the scanners successful across the Douglas County School District.

STEM has created the Evolv Implementation Committee to oversee the pilot program and engage students, sta and the community about their experiences with the system.

“Our main goal, really, is to see if it’s viable on a scaleable level,” she said.

Douglas County School Board member Mike Peterson said the school district isn’t currently interested in the Evolv technology because of a lack of funding and having other security priorities, like improving law enforcement communications capability across the district.

He added that the district supports STEM’s pilot program and will be receptive to what the school learns.

“As one of our district charter schools, we would look at the pros and cons and any assessments in the future … and consider if it would be appropriate for additional schools, but frankly we just don’t know that at this time,” Peterson said.

Reporter Haley Lena contributed to this story.

Commissioners vote to expand community response program

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Douglas County commissioners focused on increasing citizen safety as they approved expanding the Community Response Team program on Jan. 24.

In the only unanimous vote of the meeting, commissioners approved the contract with the Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice, O ce of Behavioral Health for the Multidisciplinary Crime Prevention and Crisis Intervention Grant to fund three law enforcement o cer positions to sta new community response teams at the Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce, the Castle Rock Police Department and the Parker Police Department. e expanded program will cost $520,740.

According to sta representative Maggie Cooper, the goal of the Multidisciplinary Crime Prevention and Crisis Intervention Grant Program is to support and provide communitybased multidisciplinary approaches to crisis intervention strategies and crime prevention.

e grant will allow the Community Response Team to grow from six to nine teams. e expansion will include seven community teams and two additional teams focused on youths seven days a week.

Part of the Mental Health Initiative, the Community Response Teams are co-response teams that pair law enforcement with mental health clinicians to go out into the community to assist those that are in crisis.

e grant will also provide an increased wellness bene t for clinical sta and a supportive parenting group for parents of children served by the community response teams.

e teams will provide special-

ized training for clinical sta to serve Douglas County high needs populations including LGBTQ youth, the elderly and parents.

In other business

e commissioners voted 2-1 to approve Sterling Ranch LLC, Sterling Ranch Community Authority Board and Dominion Water and Sanitation District’s request to extend the deadline for the subdivision improvement and intergovernmental agreements to start various park construction on July 1, 2024.

A motion was made by Commissioner George Teal and second by Lora omas. Abe Laydon and Teal vote for the approval. omas voted against the measure.  Commissioners questioned how desired changes to the community were captured and the need for a reservation system.

In addition, commissioners voted 2-1 to approve a funding agreement between Douglas County and the STEM School of Highlands Ranch. STEM School of Highlands Ranch requested $961,504 from Douglas County’s innovative fund to increase safety at school. Details of the innovation project remain con dential.  e Innovation Funding Agreement was approved as Laydon and Teal voted in favor of the agreement. omas voted against the agreement.

Representatives from STEM School of Highlands Ranch spoke about what steps they have taken in the process to implement innovative technology and the support they have received for the project. Commissioners questioned and discussed the e ectiveness of the technology.

In another 2-1 vote, commissioners appointed Stephen Allen to the Douglas County Planning Commission.

Commissioners George Teal, Abe Laydon and Lora Thomas lay announce ARPA fund investments during the annual State of the County event. PHOTO BY THELMA GRIMES

Momentous treaty coming to Denver

2023

OFTHE BEST BEST

BEST OF THE BEST VOTING STARTS

BY SONYA ELLINGBOE SELLINGBOE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transformed what is now the western United States, and pages of that document will arrive at History Colorado Museum, 1200 N. Broadway, Denver to accompany the exhibit called “Borderlands.”

e document came from the National Archives in Washington and will be exhibited only until May 22, because the paper is old and fragile. e treaty’s arrival in Denver is timed for Feb. 2, the 175th anniversary of its signing.

I visited this exhibit in Pueblo when it opened there several years ago and had a chance to see the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo then. It really is a good experience to see those actual old documents instead of settling for a photo!

e treaty was signed on Feb. 2, 1848, marking the end of the Mexican-American War. By shifting the U.S. borders south from the Arkansas River to the Rio Grande and west to the coast of California, Mexico relinquished 525,000 square miles of territory to the United States.

e land became all or part of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, as well as a large part of western and southern Colorado. Present borders were taking shape then. Redrawing

boundaries did not change linguistic, ethnic or geologic boundaries that were in place prior to the treaty. is exhibit, rst presented at the Pueblo History Museum several years ago, will be of interest to history bu s of all ages. It includes maps, documents and numerous related artifacts, including clothing, guns, kitchenware, photographs of those early hardy types, items that will interest children of all ages, as well as their parents..

A number of early southern Colorado residents were Mexican citizens, who eventually lost their lands and wealth. And Mexican women lost many rights they had under Mexican law, since American women could not own land at that time.

Dawn Di Prince, History Colorado’s executive director, said: “In some ways, it is hard to fathom that old handwritten pages would wield such power over the lives and lands of so many in this part of the world, but this treaty dramatically altered the lives of many families who call southern Colorado home today. “ e document is also connected to the displacement of indigenous tribes and has been referenced in hundreds of court cases ranging from international border disputes to water and mineral rights claims.”

IF YOU GO

History Colorado is at 1200 N. Broadway in Denver. Parking is available across the street in the garage attached to the Denver Art Museum. Admission charges vary. 303-HISTORY, HistoryColorado.org.

These homes sat atop Pueblo’s Goat Hill, or Smelter Hill, an area of Colorado that was adjacent to Mexico until the border shifted after the Mexican-American War. This William Henry Jackson photo dates to 1900. COURTESY OF HISTORY COLORADO

Historic document ending war with Mexico created much of American West

CLOSURES

and are not being replaced,” Kane said.

There are 18 elementary schools in the Highlands Ranch area, while only seven elementary schools serve Sedalia, Sterling Ranch, the Canyons, Castle Pines, Roxborough Park and Ridgegate East.

With those numbers in mind, Kane said the district is beginning to analyze where it might be appropriate to combine elementary schools, with a timeline of consolidation in 2026.

“We know that we have to do this with our community, not to our community, and we have to do it not in a huge hurry,” Kane said. “Really what we’d be looking at is marrying two elementary schools into one for the long-term.”

Decisions about how to use leftover buildings will come after consolidations are finalized, Kane said. Potential uses included special education programming, office space, professional development space or career and technical education.

Kane said some of the concerns with under-enrolled schools are a lack of academic, extracurricular and special education programming, as well as combined classrooms and staffing challenges.

Growth still happening

Shavon Caldwell, district planning manager, said the enrollment projections showed an overall decline, but noted pockets of growth and overcrowding still exist because neighborhoods

ABOUT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Colorado Community Media welcomes letters to the editor. Please note the following rules:

• Email your letter to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com. Do not send via postal mail. Put the words “letter to the editor” in the email subject line.

• Submit your letter by 5 p.m. on Wednesday in order to have it considered for publication in the following week’s newspaper.

• Letters must be no longer than 400 words.

• Letters should be exclusively submitted to Colorado Community Media and should not submitted to other outlets or previously posted on websites or social media. Submitted letters become the property of CCM and should not be republished elsewhere.

• Letters advocating for a political

within the district that don’t currently have schools are now being being developed.

According to Shannon Bingham from Western Demographics, Crystal Valley Ranch, Sterling Ranch and the Canyons all experienced a baby boom last year.

“All of these areas that have a three- or five-mile radius where there are no schools, we’re seeing the effects of the new housing that’s coming online in those areas,” Bingham said.

To meet demand in the growing areas of the district, the district will need voters to approve a bond, Kane said. If voters approve a bond in 2023, the soonest the district could open new schools would be 2026.

Currently, to deal with overflow issues, the district has bused students to existing schools and changed school boundaries, but Kane said those strategies are becoming more difficult.

“Right-sizing our elementary schools through the method of busing children to other geographic regions is really challenging and we haven’t historically done that in Douglas County,” she said. “It’s very reasonable for families moving into Douglas County to expect a community elementary school to be in the vicinity.”

Overcrowded schools face issues with not having enough space for special education programming, staff challenges, large class sizes and mobile classrooms.

The school board directed staff to move forward with creating a detailed timeline and engagement plan for both growth and decline in the north planning area.

candidate should focus on that candidate’s qualifications for o ce. We cannot publish letters that contain unverified negative information about a candidate’s opponent. Letters advocating for or against a political candidate or ballot issue will not be published within 12 days of an election.

• Publication of any given letter is at our discretion. Letters are published as space is available.

• We will edit letters for clarity, grammar, punctuation and length and write headlines (titles) for letters at our discretion.

• Please don’t send us more than one letter per month. First priority for publication will be given to writers who have not submitted letters to us recently.

• Submit your letter in a Word document or in the body of an email. No PDFs or Google Docs, please.

Reminder: first half property tax payments due

First half payment is due by the last day of February, second half payment due by June 15, or full payment due by April 30. For more information, please visit douglas.co.us/treasurer or douglascotax.com

Skip the trip - motor vehicle services just a click away

Renew your driver license or motor vehicle registration and more from the convenience of your smartphone, tablet, desktop or laptop. You can also renew vehicle registrations at MVExpress kiosks. Find information at DouglasDrives.com

Are you ready if disaster hits?

It takes a matter of seconds for disaster to strike and change your life forever. Thankfully, it also takes only seconds to sign up for free emergency notifications at DouglasCountyCodeRED.com ensuring that you will be in the know if dangerous circumstances are foreseen or happening near you.

Live Town Hall meetings

Did you know Douglas County offers Live Town Hall meetings, inviting you to engage in the local issues of importance to you and your neighbors? Register at douglas.co.us/townhall to ensure you are contacted about all future Live Town Halls – it’s always your choice whether or not to participate. Registering will also allow you to receive surveys so that you may share what topics YOU want to hear more about.

Keeping Your County Healthy…

You can help keep your community healthy. The Douglas County Health Department investigates communicable diseases. You can help by reporting infectious diseases along with animal bites that break the skin. To report, visit douglas.co.us and search Health Department

A map of Douglas County School District’s north planning area shows where schools are located, as well as capacity levels based on student demand predictions. With declining enrollment in Highlands Ranch, the district is creating a plan to combine elementary schools in the area.

Stories on Stage features Peter Heller

Stories on Stage will present an afternoon with Denver author Peter Heller at 2 p.m. on Feb. 19 at Su Teatro, 721 Santa Fe Drive, Denver. Allison Watrous and Tim McCracken will read stories from Heller’s books and the author will read from his novel “ e Dog Stars.” Tickets cost $24 at storiesonstage.org or at the door. A virtual performance will be streamed beginning Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. Ticket holders for the virtual performance will receive a link and it can be watched at any time thereafter. Tickets cost $24 and are available at storiesonstage.org or by calling 303-494-0523.

Art at Town Hall

“Romance in the Air” is the title of the next Littleton Fine Arts Guild exhibit at the Stanton Gallery in Town Hall Arts Center, 2450 W. Main St., Littleton. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and during performances. 303-794-2787.

United Auditions 2023

Colorado eatre Guild presents United Auditions 2023 on April 23, noon to 8 p.m. and April 24, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Curious eatre Company (must be a eatre Guild member to attend). Producer requests to attend: open now until lled. Actor submissions: Open Jan. 9-March 10. uni eds.coloradotheatreguild.org.

Buntport Theater

Buntport eater’s newest original play,

“Death of Napoleon,” plays through Feb. 18. Friday/Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 12 at 3 p.m. 717 Lipan St., Denver. Name your price for tickets, buntport.com.

Exhibit at church

“International Art Show” at St. Andrew UMC, 9203 S. University Blvd., Highlands Ranch. Starting on Feb. 11. Free. Reception on Feb. 12, 10 a.m. to noon.

History presentation

Highlands Ranch Historical Society meets from 7-8:30 p.m. on Feb. 20 at the Southridge Recreation Center, 4800 McArthur Ranch Road. Presentation on George and Martha Washington by Mary Sudman Donovan. Register: thehrhs.org/WP/ event/ rst-family-the-lifelong-romanceof-martha-and-george-washington.

Littleton Museum

Littleton Museum is showing “Nature’s Blueprints: Biomimicry in Art and Design” through March 15. Mingles art and design with environmental science using artifacts, artworks and photography, Interactive leaning stations. Free. 303-795-3950.

Englewood Arts

Englewood Arts Presents Colorado Symphony String Quartet performing quartets by Borodin and Dvorak at 2 p.m. on Feb. 25 at Hampden Hall, Englewood Civic Center, 1000 Englewood Parkway. Tickets: englewoodarts.org.

Town Hall Arts Center

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” opens Feb. 17 at Town Hall Arts Center, 2450 W. Main St. in Littleton. 303794-2787, ext. 5, townhallartscenter.org.

Denver author Peter Heller’s stories will be center stage at a Stories on Stage event Feb. 19. COURTESY PHOTO

Colorado has a new minor political party

It’s all about No Labels

BY ALEJANDRO A. ALONSO GALVA COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO

e Secretary of State’s o ce has certi ed the “No Labels Party” as the state’s newest political party.

It gained minor party status by submitting more than 10,000 signatures from potential supporters, making No Labels Colorado’s sixth minor party.

e designation means Colorado voters can register with the party. It also means the No Labels-ers will be able to place nominees on Colorado’s general election ballots without candidates having to individually petition on each campaign cycle.

e national group behind the party says it’s attempting to gain access to general election ballots in all 50 states ahead of the 2024 presidential season.

Where the No Labels Party stands on the big issues

No Labels promotes itself as moderate with cross-partisan appeal. On its national website, a list of policy statements includes balancing the national budget, reducing regulation, shifting federal programs to the states and ensuring energy security, in part by increasing fuel e ciency standards.

On immigration they push for expanding guest worker programs and creating a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants “who meet strict conditions such as learning English, paying back taxes and passing rigorous background checks.”

On health care they advocate for purchasing health insurance across state lines, allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies and expanding the use of nurse practitioners “and other mid-level health care workers providing a wider scope of medical services, such as writing prescriptions.”

No Labels has some history in Colorado e group has been active in previous Colorado elections, including supporting former Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in 2014.

No Labels also created a minor controversy during last year’s midterms when it sent out emails inviting supporters to a private event at Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper’s house featuring Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

No Labels also invited GOP U.S. Senate candidate Joe O’Dea — who was running against Hickenlooper’s fellow Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet — to the event, according to the O’Dea campaign.

Hickenlooper’s o ce denied ever being involved with the No Labels event.  e political action committee associated with the party did not contribute to any Colorado candidates in the last election.

How No Labels got its minor party status, and what’s next

To gain its minor party status, No Labels submitted 18,046 signatures, of which the Secretary of State’s o ce deemed 11,821 valid — meaning they came from registered Colorado voters. e Secretary of State’s o ce approved No Labels’ petition Nov. 4, 2022, and the group submitted their signatures Jan. 4.

In order for No Labels or any minor party to maintain their status in Colorado at least one party nominee for statewide o ce must receive 1 percent of votes cast in the last two general elections or it must have at least 1,000 registered voters a liated as members. Colorado has ve other minor parties: the American Constitution Party, the Approval Voting Party, the Green Party of Colorado, the Libertarian Party of Colorado, and the Unity Party of Colorado.

A voter drops o a ballot the morning of the Nov. 8 election. PHOTO BY CHANCY J. GATLIN-ANDERSON

CU’s Street Medicine team assists homeless patients

Care providers meet people where they are

BY DANA KNOWLES, LINDSEY FORD, WILLIAM PETERSON ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

Health care is often a low priority in a person’s life if they are experiencing homelessness; surviving hour to hour is their main concern, explained 53-year-old Guy Neiderwerfer.

He lost his job, his apartment, and has been surviving on the streets for several days. “When you’re looking for medication even, you’ve got to go through so many steps just to get help,” Neiderwerfer said. is is not the rst time Neiderwerfer has been in this situation.

“It feels like there is no hope, and it makes you feel doom and gloom. You feel lonely and you feel hopeless,” he said. “It’s a common loop to walk around and feel like ‘What am I doing and what kind of help can I get?’”

Neiderwerfer said that access to food, medical care and employment is often so spread out that without access to transportation, seeing a health care provider moves to the bottom of the to-do list.

CU Street Medicine’s mobile health care clinics aim to eliminate some of the barriers to health care for the unhoused by literally meeting people where there are.

Scott Harpin is the co-faculty advisor for the program and an associate

professor of nursing at the CU College of Nursing.

“ e CU street medicine program is a grassroots students group that organizes around meeting the medical needs of people experiencing homelessness in our community, speci cally rough sleepers and people who have to survive in locations like this, like parks and bikeways, and trails and downtown on the sidewalks,” Harpin said.

Nearly 7,000 people are currently unhoused across the state, according to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. After working for the Coalition and then graduating from CU College of Nursing, Kiera Connelly decided to volunteer for the CU Street Medicine Program.

“It’s extremely important for us to be out here because people experiencing homelessness have more co-morbidities and a higher risk for pretty much everything than the the housed population,” Connelly explained. “ at being said, they also have the most barriers to accessing health care.”

Connelly frequently visits hiking trails in the Commerce City area along with other CU Street Medicine volunteers to administer health care for the unhoused. She said before o ering any kind of treatment, the team must rst build trust with the patients, which can take time.

“Once people get comfortable and open up, we will do blood pressure checks, wound care, blood sugar check,” Connelly said. “We also check and treat frost bite, and then

make recommendations for them for navigating the health care system.”

Connelly said not only is the goal is to make health care more accessible to those who might need it the most, but also to show the patients that some people are trying to help.

“As a nurse, being able to show that ‘Someone does care enough to come out here and talk to me about my

heath problems and wants me to get better or wants to help me maintain my health’ — I think that’s huge.”

is story is from Rocky Mountain PBS, a nonpro t 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.

Peak winter brings top entertainment

Once every couple months, I get completely bowled over by how much there is to do in the metro area and have to dedicate a column to celebrating the wonderful variety we all have in our backyards. Don’t let the snow and cold weather fool you — there’s all kinds of options at this time of year.

I rounded up ve great ways to spend this cold winter as we inch closer to spring - these options will all help get you there:

Clarke’s Concert of the Week — The Lone Bellow at the Ogden Theatre Brooklyn’s e Lone Bellow make the kind of folk rock you can really wrap yourself up in and use to get lost. Over the course of their ve albums, they’ve explored a sonic and lyrical landscape that is at times wry, but always deeply thought out and felt. e hilariously titled “Love Songs for Losers,” was released toward the end of 2022 and continued this trend, with songs like “Cost of Living” are among their strongest songs yet.

In support of their album, e Lone Bellow are playing the Ogden eatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver, at 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3. is

will be a great pre-Valentine’s Day show, so get tickets at www.axs.com.

Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with The Nathan Yip Foundation

It’s always great when you can have a fun time and learn something at the same time. at’s always been the case with e Nathan Yip Foundation’s lunar New Year Party, which will be hosted at the Grand Hyatt in Denver, 1750 Welton St., from 5 to 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 4.

e celebration of the Year of the Rabbit will include a Chino-Latino theme. According to provided information, “the evening will feature world-class performers including lion dancers, a palm reader, a Chinese calligrapher, the Colorado Mambo Orchestra and an authentic and interactive Chinese Night Market.”

Money raised at the party supports the foundation’s work supporting K-12 educational projects in rural Colorado communities. Tickets are available at https://nathanyipfoundation.org/event/chinese-new-yearparty.

The Music of Nat King Cole comes to Northglenn

Nat King Cole has one of the best and most unmistakable voices in pop music history. And there’s a reason you always seem to hear a bit more from him right around Valentine’s Day - he’s one of the best purveyors of audio romance. So, it’s

perfectly tting that the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra (CJRO) is bringing e Music of Nat King Cole to the Parsons eatre, 1 E. Memorial Parkway in Northglenn, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10. Find all the details and tickets at www.coloradojazz.org.

Secure Your Super Bowl Plans at Punch Bowl Social ere’s something about the Super Bowl that just makes people want to gather. It’s always a fun time, especially when you don’t have skin in the game. For those who want to take part in some group fun without having to cleanup after, head to Punch Bowl Social Denver e event, which kicks o at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12, allows attendees to play arcade games, get in a couple frames of bowling and get some drinks and bites. ere’s VIP options available, which include a projector viewing of the game, a beer-in-hand bu et and VIP lounge - with two complimentary drink tickets. According to provided information, activities will continue throughout the game up to last call. ere will also be live music from a local DJ at the after party. For all the details, visit https://punchbowlsocial.com/.

Guy Neiderwerfer knows from experience just how hard medical care is to come by for unhoused people. “You feel lonely and you feel hopeless,” he said.

WILLIAM PETERSON / ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

Snowplow removing snow from a street.

SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE

Unique weather patterns cause snow removal issues

County discusses strategy

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

is winter has brought a unique weather pattern along the Front Range. For Douglas County, the snow has remained on the ground for a longer period of time, creating ice packed areas.

Douglas County Assistant Director of Public Works Dan Roberts said the current road conditions are a cumulation of unusual weather events that started back in December. e late-year snowstorm was a fairly icy storm and was not for that time of the year Roberts said.

“Since then, we’ve had a combination of very cold weather, very few sunny days for January, a lot of snow events even though they are small,” said Roberts. “And the lack of sun, which is part of our snow strategy here in Colorado, leaves us with these conditions that are lingering.”

According to the National Weather Service, in the Denver metro area, January usually averages about 6.6 inches per year. In 2023, multiple storms brought more than 11 inches.

On average, March is the snowiest month, according to the weather service. January usually ranks sixth. Roberts said he hasn’t seen this kind of rare snow event since 2008. ere is a contrasting di erence in conditions between the main roads and residential streets throughout the county.

“I think that the contrast combined with the duration has led to a lot of citizen comments,” said Roberts.  Douglas County is responsible for snow removal in the unincorporated areas of the county, including roads and neighborhoods in Highlands Ranch. e Highlands Ranch Metro District is responsible for clearing community parking lots and trails.

Unincorporated Douglas County includes six snow removal districts as various parts of the county will have di erent conditions. e weather in the southeast corner of the county can be drastically di erent from the north.

During a snowstorm, there are three snow removal priorities for Douglas County: arterial roadways, collector roadways, which includes school bus routes, and local streets.

e snow removal program deploys around 55 units - snowplows and motor graders - working 12 hour shifts.

According to the Douglas County

website, the rst priority is arterial roadways. ese include major roadways with high operating speeds and high tra c volumes such as Highlands Ranch Parkway, University and Broadway.

“ e rural part of the county is great,” said Roberts. “We can plow those roads, they don’t have curbs or gutters, so we plow and we get the snow o the road.”

To not bury the sidewalks in the urban parts of the county, the main roads are cleared curb to curb.

With 834 lane miles of arterial roadways in Douglas County, snowplows will remain on these roadways until the snowstorm is over to allow emergency vehicles to pass.

Residential roads are plowed after the main roads are clear, Roberts said. In general, the plows will pass down the middle of the road once or twice to make a passable lane for emergency vehicles and for residents. However, these roads do not plow down to bare pavement.

“We don’t plow the parking areas of the road and we don’t plow curb to curb because that would just bury the sidewalks, which the residents are responsible for clearing,” said Roberts.

According to Roberts, the northern part of the county, such as Lone Tree and Parker is where most of the icing takes place due to the density. In neighborhoods like Stonegate and Highlands Ranch, the neighborhoods have more trees, which creates more shade on the roadway, leading to more icing in the street.

After roads and streets are plowed, the crews focus on ice mitigation by using de-icing materials and ice slicers.

e City of Castle Pines, Town of Castle Rock, City of Lone Tree and the Town of Parker have speci c snow and ice removal responsibilities.

Homeowner responsibilities may di er as well. e Highlands Ranch Metro District requires snow removal within 24 hours after snow has fallen, whereas all businesses and residential property owners or tenants must remove snow within 48 hours in Castle Rock.

“So with this unusual stretch of weather we’ve got, as long as this weather pattern continues, we’re gonna continue to deal with the ice,” said Roberts.

e best way to contact public works operations about snow and ice removal is by email, or go to the main snow and ice removal page or call the call center at 303-660-7480.

Playing through the pain

The game was close, there was less than two minutes to go, and the eld was a mix of snow and slush. On the previous play, his hand had been caught between two helmets as he attempted to make the tackle. When the play was over and he made his way back to the defensive huddle, he refused to look at his hand because he knew it had been broken. He didn’t want to come out of the game.

As he took up his position as an outside linebacker, the opposing team threw a pass play in his direction, and with his good hand he was still able to make a play on the ball and de ect the pass. He played through the pain.

at story was shared with me about a high school athlete who had the heart of a lion. After that last play his coach called him to the sideline as he knew something wasn’t right and he took him out of the game. And indeed, his hand was broken.

Each of us has probably lived through at least one season of life, if not many where we also played through the pain. It might have been personally or professionally, but we knew that no matter how much it hurt, we had to rise to the occasion and play through the pain for those around us.

If these last few years have taught us anything, they have taught us that things in life are broken. Education, healthcare, the economy, relationships, things at work and just about every other part of life. Some things just aren’t working the way we would want them to. And it becomes frustrating as we do our best to muddle through only to hit the wall again and again.

We think that there must be a better way. We believe that there must be someone somewhere who has the insight and intelligence to x the problems in our government, in society, in the workplace, and even at home. We ask ourselves, who is that person or where are those people who are supposed to have all the answers? And what can we do while we wait

for those in charge to come up with a better plan and get things moving in the right direction?

We start playing through the pain.

Soon enough we will realize that the people who we believe have the solutions to our problems and challenges might be struggling themselves. And it’s not that they don’t know what they are doing, it’s simply that the problems and challenges require more time, money, resources, planning and processes to get some resolutions and to turn things around for the better. And while that is going on, we need to do our very best to do what we are in control of doing, making a play, even if it means playing through the pain.

We can remain optimistic in the face of negativity and pessimism. We can look at our stack of to-do items and get after it without looking over at others who are paralyzed by the dysfunction. We can help those in our community who need help and do it generously and cheerfully knowing we are serving the greater good. Now don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean we don’t also feel the frustration and the challenges. It doesn’t mean the pain and the problems aren’t just as real for us. It just means that we have a choice to make, we can choose to get sucked into the vortex of doom and gloom, pointing to all the reasons why we cannot be successful, or we can choose to do our part in playing our position as best as we possibly can, even if it means playing through the pain at times.

We are all part of a team somewhere. At work, home, school, church, in our community and in society. And it will never be perfect and will often be frustrating. As a part of a team or family, I would love to hear your story of how you deal with staying motivated in the face of frustration at gotonorton@gmail.com. And when we can grit and smile, and play through the pain when we need to, it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

County continues discussions to allow short-term rentals

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Douglas County commissioners and Zoning Compliance Manager Michael Cairy recently hosted a town hall meeting to continue discussions on how to implement short-term rentals in unincorporated areas not governed by planned developments.

Commissioners George Teal and Lora omas said short-term rentals mean anything less than 30 days and are located in unincorporated areas of Douglas County as HOAs and planned developments have their own requirements.

“So what we decide here might not apply to a planned development like Highlands Ranch like it would for other parts of unincorporated Douglas County,” said omas.

According to Cairy, currently the two planned developments that allow for short-term rentals are in golf course communities and buildings that are considered to be a bed and breakfast.

With a bed and breakfast, one must have a special land use approval and reside in the home, renting out bedrooms, Cairy said.

Cairy said the county is considering expanding the current options to allow residents to rent out their homes to short-term vacationers, traveling nurses and similar situations.

Two options were brought to the commissioners that would allow residences to be used as short-term rentals.

One option, a Douglas County Zoning Resolution Amendment, could allow homeowners in speci c zone districts to apply for a Use by Special Review to use a property as a short-term rental.

e other option is an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals. e ordinance could possibly be applied to all residences in unincorporated Douglas County and could have the ability to establish terms, fees and manners for issuing and revoking licenses for shortterm rental units.

During the Jan. 25 town hall, the commission decided to move forward to get comments on the proposed ordinance.

“In that ordinance, it would actually require a license to operate a shortterm rental from your property that you would actually have to apply for and get from the Community Development Department,” said Cairy. “As part of that licensing process, there’s an application, additional exhibits and stu you’d have to provide with that.”

Certain requirements and standards for a short-term rental would include the number of guests that could occupy the rental, information on the septic system as it would have to be in a dwelling that has obtained a certi cate of occupancy from the building division.

According to Cairy, there would be provisions in the ordinance that would allow for a license to be denied, revoked or suspended, which then can go

through an appeal process in front of the commissioners.

For those who favor the use of shortterm rentals, many see this as a way to have a secondary income. As one caller attending the meeting mentioned, as individual property owners, they should have this right to rent their property.  ere were citizens who support short-term rentals but don’t believe the county should enforce or make more laws and regulations.

Diana Love, of Franktown, spoke on behalf of the Franktown Citizens’ Coalition opposing short-term rentals.

“Should you pass the ordinance, which we hope you don’t,” said Love. “Would that override covenants, bylaws and deed restrictions to short-term rentals?”

According to Love, like some other unincorporated Douglas County communities, Franktown does not have HOAs.

“For example, Deer eld is a corporation, it is not an HOA, so I don’t see anything in this ordinance that protects deed restrictions, covenants or bylaws at all,” said Love.

Providing a possible solution, Love proposed the county go back to 2019 when sta developed a short-term rental regulation that did not get adopted.

Love said the regulation said , “Dwellings should not be used as shortterm rentals for occupancy of less than 30 days unless expressly allowed in the zoned district.”

“ is would give every HOA, homeowner association community the ability and the exibility to make their own decisions and their own enforcement, then we wouldn’t have to go through what you were just talking about, everybody trying to change their covenants and then enforce them and still deal with the ordinance that may be stronger because it’s by state statute,” Love said..

Like Love, other residents oppose short-term rentals in the county. Among concerns is an increase in tra c.

A Parker resident said in order to get to I-25, they have to drive through and utilize unincorporated areas of Douglas County.

Other concerns include noise, trespassing, water rights, parking and how these short-term rentals are going to impact adjacent property owners.

“I don’t want to step in as a government and prevent people from being able to use their property,” said District 1 Commissioner Abe Laydon.

Laydon said he agrees that there needs to be a balance with the neighborhood and take into consideration the wastewater, noise, light pollution, crime and tra c.  e board will go into a work session once comments from this referral process has been received on Feb. 15. e nal deliberation concerning the proposed ordinance will take place at a public meeting.

Douglas County commissioners in the hearing room of the Philip S. Miller Building in Castle Rock.

PHOTO BY HALEY LENA

Thu 2/09

Cooking with Elle @ 5pm Feb 9th - Mar 2nd

Heather Gardens Clubhouse, 2888 S. Heather Gardens Way, Aurora

ARTS: Valentine Tea @ Southwest @ 6pm Denver Parks and Recreation (SOU), 9200 W Saratoga Pl., Denver. 720-913-0654

Featured

Featured

Vanimal Kingdom Duo at Lincoln Station @ 6pm

Lincoln Station Coffee/Pizza/Mu‐sic, 9360 Station St, Lone Tree

Larry & Joe: WORKSHOP: Venezuelan Strings @ 6pm Swallow Hill Music, 71 E Yale Ave, Denver

Outta Nowhere

@ 7pm Stampede, 2430 S Havana St, Aurora

Joe Troop: Swallow Hill Music Association - Larry & Joe @ 8pm Swallow Hill Music Association, 71 E Yale Ave, Denver

Fri 2/10

Dead On A Sunday @ 7pm

Moe's Original BBQ, 3295 S Broadway, Englewood

Sat 2/11

The Atomic Drifters: 105 WEST BREWING COMPANY WILL RO-C-K @ 6:30pm 105 West Brewing Company, 1043 Park St, Castle Rock

Rubblebucket @ 8pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood

Spaceface @ 9pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Rubblebucket @ 9pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Sun 2/12

Parker Parks and Recreation Love 'em or Leave 'em

Valentine's Day 5K/10K @ 10am / $40-$50

11920 Motsenbocker Rd, Parker

Halfway There Bon Jovi

Tribute: **MegaShow Alert** Bon Jovi and Journey Tributes Take Over Wild Goose Saloon @ 7pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

Super Sunday Fun Run 5K @ 10am / $20

6745 S Santa Fe Dr, 6745 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton. SarahN@ ssprd.org, 303-483-7034

RAZA COSTENA @ 9pm

Stampede, 2430 S Havana St, Aurora

Gran Baile Costeno @ 9:30pm / $55

Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

Tue 2/14

Stop Motion AnimationMackintosh Spring 2023 @ 3:45pm / $200

Feb 14th - Apr 25th

Mackintosh Academy, 7018 S Prince St, Littleton. 720-996-0894

Fitness: HIGH Fitness Valentine's Party (13+ yrs) Feb. 14 @ 11:15pm

The King Stan Band in Paradise @ 7pm

Paradise Tavern, 9239 Park Mead‐ows Dr, Lone Tree

Amor y Cumbia

@ 8:30pm / $49

Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

ARTS: DIY Valentine Card Making @ Harvey Park @ 11:30pm

Harvey Park Recreation Center, 2120 S. Tennyson Way, Denver. 720-913-0654

Cory Michael @ 2pm Wide Open Saloon, 5607 US-85, Sedalia

Kids Cooking Valentine Surprises @ 4pm PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue, Parker

YS: 3-4 Sports Experience @ Southwest @ 5:30pm Feb 11th - Mar 4th

Southwest Recreation Center, 9200 W. Saratoga Pl., Denver. 720-913-0654

Halfway There @ 7:30pm

Wild Goose Saloon, 11160 S. Pikes Peak Drive, Parker 0xxKBxx0: KBS FRIENDS TOUR: SINGLES VALENTINES @ 8pm Old Chicago, 16990 E Iliff Ave, Aurora

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

Wed 2/15

Casino - Bally's @ 2:45pm Heather Gardens Clubhouse, 2888 S. Heather Gardens Way, Aurora

Thu 2/16

ARTS: Mini Picasso @ Harvard Gulch @ 5pm

Feb 16th - Mar 16th

Harvard Gulch Recreation Center, 550 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. 720-913-0654

powered by

Average is OK

Being average is OK. I will say that again. Being average is OK.

EDITOR’S COLUMN

I recently started listening to the book “ e Subtle Art of Not Giving a F#@@.” I have to admit my husband recommended it a couple of years ago. However, the vulgar title turned me o a bit. en, recently, my brother recommended it after I was complaining about something that bugged me. He said I let too much bother me and this book might help get some perspective.

I started listening to it — and was impressed with how the author, Mark Manson, really pegs our society, our struggles and the unrealistic expectations we put on ourselves and each other.

But, as he teaches me how to maybe set realistic expectations and not care about so much that really does not matter in the big picture — the book is also great at putting in perspective how being average is OK because, frankly, the majority of us are just average.

As parents we want our children to be great at everything, have all the opportunities and succeed at everything they do. In reality, we are all good at what we are good at. We are all not great at everything we try.

I may be good at writing, but I am de nitely below average when it comes to trying to solve math problems when I help kids with homework. In college, getting a C in math was a blessing, really.

According to Manson, “Being ‘average’ has become the new standard of failure. e worst thing you can be is in the middle of the pack, the middle of the bell curve. When a culture’s standard of success is to “be extraordinary,” it then becomes better to be at the extreme low end of the bell curve than to be in the middle, because at least there you’re still special and deserve attention.”

When the expectations are set so high — How can anyone live up to them? at’s become part of society’s problem and probably a contributing factor to mental illness and depression rates skyrocketing. When we set these high expectations that we really cannot reach — We feel like failures.

When we see on Facebook and other social media how friends and family are living these amazing lives — We judge our own as failures. Never mind that in reality, people are only sharing their best days, their best moments on these social outlets. at does not matter. It only means we do not measure up.

As a society, imagine what would happen if we started being realistic in our goals and expectations. My son loves hockey. He’s not the best at it — he’s average. For me, that is OK.

My daughter is never going to be great at school. She is average. at is OK.

I am the poster child for setting too many expectations for myself. With each thing I fail at — I only work harder, set more goals and try more.

For my children, however, I have started working toward setting realistic goals. Play hockey if you love it. Who cares if you are great at it as long as you are doing your best and trying?

Try out for the school play. Who knows, you may be great at it, but just have fun.

If, as a society, we start realizing the majority of us are average — We might start feeling a lot more OK with ourselves and the world around us.

elma Grimes is the south metro editor for Colorado Community Media.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Equality, equity both needed

Intercultural competence is the capability to shift perspective and adapt behavior e ectively across cultures. Including learning how to think, act, communicate and work with people from di erent cultural backgrounds. is means you can re ect on cultural di erences, commonalities in values, expectations, beliefs, practices and build an inclusive environment. A mutual adaptation perspective environment is created, all have opportunity meet their full potential.

According to the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, intercultural competence functionality ranges from denial to adaptation. When a person pushes equality over equity without recognizing the di erence in terms, they often highlight commonality and universal values but lack recognition and appreciation for cultural di erences. What our K-12 schools need in this model is to move to an orientation of acceptance and adaptation where our schools function with understanding and recognizing cultural di erences and commonality.

Reviewing the most recent graduation rates in DCSD we see a decrease in graduation rates and a more signi cant decrease for our culturally diverse students. is highlights a continued problem and the desperate need for equity.

Equity is crucial for success and learning to work in a global economy. ose charged with developing an equity policy cannot develop it from a political agenda rooted in minimalizing di erences.

Both equality and equity are needed for success. Equality to assure all students have the same quality of resources and opportunities. Equity takes into consideration their baseline assessment, background, and any unique challenges they face. is means teachers need to be trained in how to consider each student’s situation and background. Although the terms are thrown around as the same, they have vastly di erent implications when developing policy and educational practices. Both equality and equity are needed to yield the best outcomes for students.

Our pediatric professional organizations have jointly declared a national emergency in mental health. With this declaration, they pointed to inequities in systems that contribute to a disproportionate impact on children

from diverse backgrounds, these inequities exist in DCSD.

Common ground exists, parents want best outcomes academically, socially and emotionally. For that to happen we cannot root our decisions in political agendas. We must root our actions in creating an equal and equitable K-12 learning environment. Remove politics in policymaking and use research-based evidence to develop policy. If we do not, our children lose.

Jenny Allert Highlands Ranch

Claims were misleading is letter is in response to Laureen Boll’s recent misleading letter claiming that critical race theory (CRT) and “social justice activism” was at the “doorstep” of Douglas County schools until a change in leadership.

It should be noted that Laureen Boll is the Douglas County chapter leader and state coordinator of an organization called the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR). e name of the organization is incredibly misleading as the organization is rooted in Christopher Rufo ideology, one of their founding advisory members. Christopher Rufo is well-known for his consistent and lucrative moral panic campaigns, most notably attacking critical race theory.

FAIR’s actions fall in line with Rufo’s ideology attacking equity policies in school districts and higher education and spreading misinformation about gender a rming care, cultivating the hate machine against trans and non-binary folks. FAIR uses the ruse of “parent rights” under the 14th Amendment and consistently misappropriates the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to suit these purposes.

e use of the 14th Amendment, intended to create civil liberties and justice after the horrors of centuries of slavery, and the misappropriation of Dr. King’s words is absolutely exploitative.

Dr. King’s life and legacy is about justice, which is in direct opposition with the actions of an organization like FAIR. Boll simultaneously rallying against critical race theory and “social justice activism” while working for FAIR who consistently misappropriates the words of Dr. King is completely disingenuous. It has the same note of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeting a “Happy MLK Day” within the same week of attempting to ban AP African American Studies. e reality is

that FAIR would accuse Dr. King of “social justice activism” and “woke indoctrination.”

Bernice King, one of Dr. King’s children, has been vocal of people and organizations who use false narratives about CRT while co-opting her father’s words. She has noted that this country needs a shift that “helps us understand we can’t commemorate my father on the one hand while also promoting false narratives under the banner of critical race theory.” She has added “CRT is not the problem. Racism is the problem, poverty or extreme materialism is the problem and militarism, war is the problem.”

It seems that Boll might want to study the life and work of Dr. King before perpetuating a false moral panic about critical race theory and “social justice activism.”

Constance Ingram Highlands Ranch

School taxes are worth it

I received my property tax bill Jan. 21 and was pleased that my portion to fund Douglas County Schools only re ected a modest increase from last year. My pleasure was quickly diminished when I read the lengthy letter from Dave Gill, Douglas County treasurer. It read more like postelection “sour grapes” than the informative letter it was meant to be.

When my late wife and I moved to Douglas County in January 1976, our daughter was a senior at Littleton HS. She refused to go to Douglas County HS so we bought her a car and she graduated with honors at Littleton. Two houses and 47 years later my property tax has helped educate a lot of other people’s kids. From next door kids, Mike and Michelle to Kaitlin and Allie, and a bunch of other siblings in between, it has been a pleasure to know, and watch, these kids grow up. If I’m still here to see my property tax nearly double next year, I’ll just close my 90-year-old eyes and see the smiling faces of kids instead of dollar signs.

Roy Legg Highlands Ranch

Moderation needed e World Economic Forum’s main excuse for all the world’s ills is climate change — tied to the lack of energy supply diversi cation, food shortages, and cost-ofliving increases. e pandemic and Ukrainian war are also named as contributing factors

SEE LETTERS, P13

A publication of

Call first: 9233 Park Meadows Dr., Lone Tree, CO 80124

Mailing Address: 750 W. Hampden Ave., Suite 225 Englewood, CO 80110

Phone: 303-566-4100

Web: ParkerChronicle.net

To subscribe call 303-566-4100

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

THELMA GRIMES South Metro Editor tgrimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com

HALEY LENA Community Editor hlena@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

AUDREY BROOKS Business Manager abrooks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN FRANKS Production Manager efranks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Columnists & Guest Commentaries

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

Email letters to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Deadline Wed. for the following week’s paper. To opt in or out of delivery please email us at circulation@ coloradocommunitymedia.com

Thelma Grimes

Radon: the leading cause of cancer in people who don’t smoke

GUEST COLUMN

Being a lifelong health enthusiast, health educator and tness trainer — and married to a primary care physician — my family and I were blindsided by my Stage 3A lung cancer diagnosis in October of 2018. We were shocked as I had no respiratory symptoms and I have never smoked. My cancer was found incidentally while investigating what later turned out to be a benign ovarian cyst.

It wasn’t until my son, an environmental engineer, asked me if I had ever tested our home for radon when I learned that virtually anyone with lungs can get lung cancer and that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. It is the rst leading cause of lung cancer in people who don’t have a history of smoking.

LETTERS

to “global crisis,” while irresponsible mass-money-printing is ignored.

According to WEF’s 2023 report, we are not moving fast enough toward “net zero” emissions. WEF rebukes the world for only 5% of their energy supply in wind and solar, while seemingly overlooking the earth’s biggest polluters. ey push EVs without supportive infrastructure.

Al Gore’s ranting about “boiling the oceans”— and Greta unberg’s angry diatribe of irresponsible adults stealing her future — just make my eyeballs roll out of their sockets.

e pandemic lockdown submission was justi ed by “the common good,” and we now have self-appointed billionaires telling us how we must change and live. Otherwise, we are going to extinct ourselves.

We old folks seek moderation rather than extremes, but our children are demeaned into guilt, and it’s no wonder the suicide rate has increased.

As for this crotchety lady, I’ll go green as much as I can. My recycling e orts are noteworthy, and my research for a new vehicle leans toward hybrid. But I won’t be bullied into submission. Don’t tell me to eat bugs. I’ve tried some, but they just don’t satisfy like a nice, juicy steak.

Go y a kite, you authoritarian crazies!

Linda Mazunik

Lone Tree

Avoid disinformation

In a recent letter to the editor, Laureen Boll (Douglas County FAIR chapter leader and Douglas County Libraries Foundation chair) writes how “some parents” have taken it upon themselves to purge critical race theory from DCSD and boasts about their “success.”

Boll fails to mention that she is not a DCSD parent, nor does she acknowledge that CRT has never been taught in DCSD. She also conveniently omits the fact that in DCSD, racism and dis-

Considering the risk for lung cancer is high, why aren’t people exposed to high radon levels eligible for lung cancer screening? e United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends people ages 50-80 with a 20-pack year history of smoking, or have quit in the past 15 years, get a low dose CT scan, which is painless and takes only a few minutes.

Based on the conversation with our son, we tested our home using methods recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency and discovered that the radon levels in our home were elevated above the threshold of 4 pico curies (pCi/L).

e EPA strongly advises that any radon level at or above 4 pCi/L should be reduced through a radon mitigation system. Radon mitigation needs to be done by professionally accredited operators and most health departments — including the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment — post lists of accredited mitigators. Radon is an invisible and odorless radioactive gas that can be found in many homes. It comes from the

crimination on the basis of immutable characteristics has been described as “rampant” and “systemic.” For decades, the district has been urged by multiple stakeholders to take action, to no avail, resulting in countless complaints and ongoing litigation with the O ce of Civil Rights.

e April 2021 “Making Connections Workshop” that Boll misrepresents and misquotes was voluntarily attended by many DCSD sta . e workshop consisted of sessions focused on evidence-based best practices for general education, gifted learners, special education, trauma-informed practices, classroom and behavior management, youth mental health and student perspectives. In an independent post-session analysis, only 0.03% of respondents had a negative review about the workshop. Statistically, for a professional development session, this is a screaming success.

All of this is evidence that Boll and the parent community she represents are misinformed about educational equity and its e ects on student outcomes. Yet, they continue to spread disinformation, creating con ict where none exists, thereby harming our public education, our students and sta , and by extension, our community.

I o er this advice, particularly for those in positions of power in our community, who extol colorblindness, quote MLK without context, twist and misrepresent reality and advocate to abolish systems of support in the name of “equality not equity” - Please step out of your echo chambers. Try to look beyond your personal interests and authentically engage with people who don’t share your worldview, your identity, your faith. Seek out true “diversity of thought” and try to objectively analyze how policies you make, advocate for or ght against a ect larger swaths of the community before you claim and boast about doing good while claiming to defend liberal democracy.

In hindsight, you may be doing more harm than good, sowing hatred and creating division rather than uniting the community. Creating consensus and nding common ground is what

decomposition of uranium in soil, rock and water and gets into the air you breathe. When inhaled, radon can cause serious health problems including lung cancer. About half of all homes in Colorado have radon levels above the recommended limit of 4 pCi/L.

While there is no way for me to know with certainty if radon caused my lung cancer, I want people to know it is one risk factor that can be tested for and reduced to safe levels very easily. I also want people to know that smoking and exposure to radon are not the only risk factors for lung cancer and that many people develop lung cancer despite having no known risk factors. Exposure to secondhand smoke, family history of lung cancer and air pollution are risk factors for lung cancer. Report any persistent symptoms you have to your doctor. Being young and having no known history of tobacco use does not make you immune to lung cancer, even if the risk is low.

Despite the well-known risks of radon, it concerns me that there isn’t more public health messaging about

radon, especially given its high prevalence in Colorado and many other states. e EPA estimates that radon kills approximately 21,000 people in the U.S. every year and about 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked. ese numbers may be a low estimate, as I know my doctor never asked me if I knew the radon level of my home when I was diagnosed. In fact, only a small number of family physicians transmit radon information to their patients. Please consider testing your home for radon at least every two years as recommended by the EPA because levels can change due to movement of soil, or new cracks in the foundation. Even if you have a mitigation system, testing is still recommended. A mitigation system is like any other appliance, and it can malfunction or stop working.

Learn more about radon and radon mitigation from the EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Heidi Nafman Onda is a cancer survivor and health educator

Heidi Nafman Onda

continues to de ne liberal American democracy. Anything less is fascism. Tammy Overacker Castle Rock

The most vulnerable of the housing crisis The Long Way Home

BY MICHAEL DE YOANNA MICHAEL@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Our monthlong series exploring the affordability and accessibility of housing in the Denver area takes a turn to one of the most perplexing issues facing our communities: the lives of those who have no homes. Point-in-time counts in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties find 2,000 people living unsheltered and 3,000 in emergency shelters. Most of those people were found in Denver but many live in our communities and neighborhoods.

While panhandlers and tent cities are visible across the metro area, many of the unhoused are unseen and may not even be included in the numbers because they are sleeping on a friend’s couch or a family that’s living in a relative’s extra room. e federal government includes this status in its de nition of homelessness, along with those who are at imminent risk of losing a roof over their heads.  Homelessness has long

been a problem in the metro area and the soaring housing costs that we’ve tracked in our series certainly don’t help. Typically, a family shouldn’t spend more than 30% of their wages on rent and utilities. Elsewhere in our series, we’ve found that many people across the metro area are living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to afford a place to live. Minimum wage earners might spend upward of 60% of their paychecks on rent.

Across the Front Range, rising housing costs are worsening the problem. In Littleton, south of Denver, the price of single-family homes has jumped roughly $300,000 since 2017. Lone Tree saw increases in excess of $473,000.

In Brighton, $225,000.

Apartment rents have followed in recent years, part of a trend spanning the last two decades where median prices rose faster than median household incomes “in every Colorado county and city with 50,000+ residents,” according to Denver-based Root Policy Research, which analyzes housing affordability issues.

functioning sales market.

Some of the most needy in our communities find homes through federal funding, like vouchers. But the system, reporter Nina Joss finds, is based on lotteries, where people in need of housing may wait for years before winning. Others wind up roughing it on the streets, as reporters Andrew Fraieli and Olivia Love discovered in an interview of a man who lost his legs sleeping under a highway bridge during a horrific snowstorm. There are consequences to it all, like how the mentally ill are especially vulnerable to homelessness and highly likely to find themselves in the criminal-justice system — meaning a record of police contacts for crimes connected to their situation, such as trespassing, becomes a barrier that prevents them from turning their lives around. There are costs associated with this to taxpayers, like those associated with providing more policing and beds in jails. Trends like those will be on the radar of Colorado Community Media’s newsroom in the months ahead.

munity.”

Contributors to the project include:

at Jake’s Brew Bar in Littleton since 2012.

“ is is where I want to be,” Laney said. “My friends and family are Jake’s.”

In numerous counties, residents — spanning a range of employment from the service industry to teaching — have faced the brunt of what many o cials are calling a housing crisis.  e median price of a single-family home in the metro area has roughly tripled since 2010, according to an August 2022 report by the Colorado Association of Realtors. Back in 2010, the median price was about $200,000. And wages have not kept up with home costs. Between 2000 and 2019, median rents rose at a faster rate than household incomes “in every Colorado county and city with 50,000+ residents,” according to a November 2021 report from Denver-based consulting rm Root Policy Research. e report also said that, as of June 2021, Colorado’s overall housing inventory was 13% of what is needed for a

“Quite honestly, we just don’t have enough housing, whether it’s a ordable or otherwise,” said Kelly Milliman, city council member for Littleton’s District 4 and a member of the city’s housing task force. “It’s really vitally important to the overall health of our community going forward.” e sentiment is similar for leaders in the neighboring cities of Englewood and Sheridan. ere, o cials said a ordable home options used to be more common.

“For the people that can a ord it, they have lots of choices in the metro area,” said Brad Power, Englewood’s director of community development.

“But we’re starting to see more gaps with people who are on the other side of the income spectrum.”

Devin Granberry, city manager for Sheridan, said higher home costs have driven workers out of what he described as a historically blue-collar area.

“It leads to a very transient pipeline of citizenry and workforce,” he said. “ ere’s no sense of belonging, there’s no sense of ownership, and all of those are negative impacts on a community, the well-being of a com-

Searching for a home

After leaving the house he owned near Houston, Texas, more than a decade ago, Laney knew buying a home in Denver would be a nearimpossible feat.

He was making good money at a medical diagnostics company and had been able to purchase a brandnew home in a Houston suburb for less than $150,000. But his mental health was su ering and he knew he needed a change. With friends living in Colorado at the time, Laney decided to move more than 1,000 miles north to Denver.

With his fresh start came the opportunity to dive into a longtime passion: wine. He took classes to become a sommelier — a trained wine professional. He sold wine to businesses across the metro area, worked parttime at a cozy wine bar and restaurant in the heart of Littleton’s historic downtown, and eventually landed a full-time job at Jake’s.

Laney settled on wherever he could nd the most a ordable apartment — something hovering around $1,000 per month, in places around Denver.

e ones he found in Littleton were too run-down. As rents around the region rose, Laney moved ve times in six years.

“During this whole process I knew I wanted a house,” Laney said. “I wanted something that was my own, and it’s hard to build a home in an apartment, especially when you keep moving.”

Laney’s experiences came as Littleton residents expressed less con dence that their city was a ordable. From 2012 to 2022, residents who cited a ordable cost of living as a reason for living in Littleton declined from 30% to 14%, according to biennial city-issued surveys of hundreds of residents. Over those same years, residents who said a ordable housing and rental rates were a reason for living in the city went from 20% to 9%.

Laney said he worked, saved and kept his spending habits to a minimum during those years, staying laser-focused on his ultimate prize. Credit-card debt from college “really destroyed a lot of opportunities,” he said, but he kept “working, working, working.”

Homelessness is a series of trapdoors and obstacles

BY ANDREW FRAIELI AND OLIVIA LOVE COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Jonathan Townshend Garner spent nine sleepless nights in 2017 covered in snow staring up at the bottom of a frozen overpass in Aurora. Just a few short months before, the 35-year-old was planning to purchase a condo with his girlfriend.

He never expected that a breakup would send him down a series of increasingly di cult trapdoors — without housing or insurance, each door became harder to climb through. Because of those cold nights in 2017, Garner even lost his legs.

What led Garner to homelessness is not unique. As homeless rates continue to climb in this country for people in many di erent situations, the causes can range from one lost paycheck to addiction or mental health issues with no money to support treatment.

In Garner’s case, he was in a stable housing situation that was reliant on two incomes. e loss of a girlfriend meant the loss of a second, necessary paycheck.

“I’m all of a sudden in a situation where I’ve lost half my income in regards to what’s going towards payments,” Garner said.

Homelessness a ects many types of people. It also comes in all forms from living on the streets to couch sur ng or sleeping in a car. Common among all situations that have forced someone into homelessness is the world around them not being designed to help.

According to HUD fair market rent data, rent for a studio apartment in the metro area has increased by more than $300 per month since 2019, but minimum wages have only increased by about $2.50 an hour — increasing the percent of wages needed to be put towards housing from 54 to almost 60%.

e National Low Income Housing Coalition — a nonpro t that aims to end the a ordable housing crisis through policy and data research — deems housing costing more than 30% of wages spent on rent and utilities as una ordable, placing workers at risk for homelessness.

is lack of a ordable housing acts doubly as a factor for becoming homeless and a barrier from escaping it.

Unable to deal with the breakup and loss of income, Garner said it triggered a dormant alcohol addiction.

“As soon as she left, I started drinking again too, which was probably one of the worst decisions that I made,” he said. “And I’m a hell of a drinker. It took me no time before I was drinking before work every day.”

His addiction became another trapdoor. He was evicted from his home as his costly addiction grew, losing his job within a few months, and he continued falling until he landed on the streets.

In 2017, he found himself buried by snowdrifts, numbed to the elements by frostbite and an empty bottle.

Over the next three and a half months, he was in an ICU burn unit,

where his legs were amputated for frostbite. What happened to land him there remains a blur, with Garner saying he was just lost in a blizzard of snow and substance abuse.

Garner had not looked for a shelter because he felt he deserved what he was experiencing on the street, his addiction giving him too much bluster to ask for help.

“And so when things have gotten so bad for me, I was like, ‘I guess that’s where you go when you’re at this place,’” Garner said.

But from Aurora to Lakewood, many who look for shelter have a hard time nding it — especially in winter.

The stick and carrot of winter shelter

“Police show up to tell you to leave, but don’t have an answer as to where we can go,” said Marshall Moody, who experienced homelessness in Lakewood over the summer.

He wasn’t hunting for winter shelter, but acknowledging how there were no shelter options in Lakewood, and describing how he felt harassed by police telling him to move along.

In Aurora, one of the only overnight shelter spaces is the Comitis Crisis Center.

“Comitis has, what, 30 beds? I’m sure there’s easily 200 homeless people in Aurora. Easily,” said Jason, 40, who declined to give his last name, pointing out the lack of shelter options.

Jason has been homeless since 2019, falling on hard times after breaking his back and not having the ability to a ord medical care.

Anna Miller, director of business development and public relations at Mile High Behavioral Healthcare — which Comitis Crisis Center falls under — has said before that the center has an outreach team that goes out every day working with the city and police department to inform

people on the streets about available resources. e organization was supportive of Aurora’s camping ban passed last summer.

But like the ban, these opinions are from the summer.

During the winter, many more people experiencing homelessness look for indoor shelter due to low temperatures, snow, rain and windchills causing regular, local shelters to ll up fast.  is is where short-term emergency weather shelters come in.

For much of the metro area, the “extreme weather” needed to open these emergency shelters — which vary from the Severe Weather Shelter Network across Je erson County that uses a network of churches, to opening some day-only centers for overnight stays — requires the temperature to be freezing or below with moisture, and 20 degrees or below without moisture.

In Denver, the required cuto is 10 degrees or six inches of snow — though, according to Sabrina Allie, the communications and engagement director for the Department of Housing Stability — or HOST — in Denver, the city council has asked the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, which created the cuto , to revisit these regulations.

e issue is that cold-weather injuries like frostbite and hypothermia can set in as high as 45 degrees depending on wind and moisture. is is according to doctors from Denver Health and the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, which sent a joint letter to HOST and DDPHE asking the city to raise their cuto .

“Hypothermia and frostbite may develop in minutes and often occur in the setting of risk factors for heat loss or decreased heat production including pre-existing medical conditions, exhaustion, dehydration, substance use and

malnutrition, all of which are common among people experiencing homelessness,” doctors said in the letter.

Some see winter shelter as a carrotand-stick situation though, requiring the cuto to not be too comfortable for those experiencing homelessness.

“We do not want to enable, we want to empower,” said Lynn Ann Huizingh, executive director of development at Je erson County’s Severe Weather Shelter Network. “We do the best we can to provide some good relational development, but we also want to encourage people to pursue answers that would lead them o the street, and if they get too comfortable, they just don’t have any reason to try and pursue anything else.”

However, at all times, the goal is to keep people from freezing to death, Huizingh added.

Aurora’s policy, according to Emma Knight, manager of homelessness for the city’s Division of Housing and Community Services, is to open emergency cold-weather shelters at 32 degrees during wet weather, and 20 degrees otherwise.

In Garner’s case, freezing to death almost became a reality. Instead, he left the hospital as a double amputee — disabled, homeless, and penniless.

“And I wish I could have said that that was my rock bottom as well. But it wasn’t,” Garner said.

Police interactions and laws against homelessness

Over the next nine months, Garner continued drinking and using drugs while trying to condition himself to his surroundings.

“ ere isn’t a rock bottom, there isn’t some stable ground that you hit. It is a series of trapdoors that gets progressively lower on to in nity,” Garner said.

Some of these trapdoors take the shape of police interactions and the possibility of jail time due to criminalization of homelessness. In the summer of 2022, Aurora passed a camping ban, following in the footsteps of Denver, which passed a similar measure a decade ago.

“Can’t camp, but you have only one shelter in the city of Aurora,” Jason said, referring to the Comitis Crisis Center. “ e camping ban doesn’t mean we can’t be outside — that’s really the main point — the camping ban means we can’t be safe outside.”

Terese Howard, homeless advocate and founder of Housekeys Action Network Denver, said these bans just push people around, possibly into more dangerous and secluded areas if they don’t just move a block away from where they were before.

Police harassment often comes out of these laws as well, Howard said. O cers will tell people experiencing homelessness to “move along” without o ering alternatives, according to Howard.

Denver’s camping ban speci es “shelter” to include “blankets, or any

Jonathan Townshend Garner, 35, lost his legs to frostbite after spending days covered in snow while homeless.

PHOTO BY ANDREW FRAIELI

The di culties of using housing choice vouchers

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

About a year and a half ago, David Hernandez received a call from a number he did not recognize. When he called the number back, he heard news that would drastically change his housing situation.

“I was confused,” he said. “At rst I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ She’s like, ‘You got chose (from the) lottery, so we’d like to go forward with it.’”

At the time, Hernandez was living with his grandmother in Westminster. But then, after spending years unmoored, moving between states and staying with family members, Hernandez got approved for a voucher for government-subsidized housing.

“When I got it, it was a big relief,” he said. “It was so much stress that was taken o my conscience … It was kind of lifesaving, to be honest.”

e news was a complete surprise to him. What Hernandez didn’t know is that it took ve years for that call to come. His aunt had signed him up for a housing choice voucher lottery at Maiker Housing Partners, the public housing authority in Adams County, without telling him.

anks to her action, his unknowing patience, and, some would say, his luck, Hernandez became one of 2.3 million families and individuals in the United States to bene t from a housing choice voucher program, federally funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.

Formerly, housing choice voucher programs were known as Section 8, but experts have widely replaced this language in an e ort to be more accurate about the type of rental assistance and to avoid the stigma the term carries with it.

Housing choice voucher programs, which are implemented by local authorities like Maiker, subsidize rent to help “very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled a ord decent, safe and sanitary housing,” according to HUD.

On one hand, vouchers make it possible for those without other options to have a roof over their heads. But, according to housing experts, the program is not a fast-track to housing for many people in need, as it faces a range of issues from lack of funding to scarcity of units.

Eligibility

Within housing choice voucher programs, vouchers may be earmarked by local authorities for di erent types of rental assistance.

For example, some public housing authorities o er vouchers speci cally for veterans or for families whose lack of adequate housing is the primary cause of the separation of a child from their family.

Another type is what HUD calls “project-based” vouchers. ese offer rental assistance that can only be used for speci c properties approved by the public housing authority. is is the type of voucher Hernandez received.

Hernandez said the voucher helped him nancially, emotionally, physi-

cally and mentally, but being tied to one apartment complex has its downfalls. If he could choose, he said, he would rather live in a place with di erent management. In his complex, he feels like he and his neighbors are treated poorly, partially because they have low incomes.

But the most common type of housing choice voucher allows a recipient to choose where they want to live among properties in the private market. A HUD senior o cial told Colorado Community Media in a call that after 12 months, participants in the project-based voucher program can typically request to have this type of voucher, which is more open-ended.

Properties for a typical housing choice voucher must meet standards of health and safety before a tenant can move forward with a lease. In addition, public housing authorities review rents to ensure they are reasonable for the speci c housing market, according to HUD.

Families with vouchers generally pay 30%-40% of their monthly adjusted gross income for rent and utilities, according to HUD. e public housing authority covers the rest.

In Colorado, landlords are required to accept housing choice vouchers and are not allowed to discriminate against rental applicants based on source of income, per a 2021 law.

e voucher approval process begins with an application, said Brenda Mascarenas, director of housing services and programs at Maiker.

“ e couple of things we look at under formal eligibility (are) background, income, and citizenship,” she said.

Generally, a household’s income may not exceed 50% of the median income for the county or metropolitan area. But most vouchers go to applicants with incomes much lower than that. By law, a public housing authority must provide three quarters of its vouchers to applicants whose incomes do not exceed 30% of the area median income, according to HUD.

In Adams and Arapahoe counties, a single person who earned no more

than $41,050 was eligible for a housing choice voucher in 2022, according to Maiker and South Metro Housing Options, a public housing authority in Littleton.

Wait times and lotteries

Unfortunately, the likelihood of getting a voucher is not solely dependent on whether a person is eligible.

Because of lack of funding for the program, HUD acknowledges “long waiting periods are common.” e o cial with HUD, speaking generally about the department, told Colorado Community Media that for households that receive a voucher, the average wait time is 28 months. e o cial noted that this number only includes people who actually receive a voucher, so the true average wait time is likely signi cantly longer.

Some public housing authorities use a lottery system to select voucher recipients. At Maiker, Mascarenas said the team aims to open their lottery pool every other year, meaning applicants could wait up to two years if they are selected from the lottery their rst time. If not, they might wait through several cycles.

At South Metro Housing Options, the voucher waitlist was last open in 2012, Executive Director Corey Reitz said. ey anticipate it opening again this year, more than 11 years later.

ese long wait times are not unique. Only two housing agencies among the 50 largest in the U.S. have average wait times of under one year for families that make it o of wait lists for vouchers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute based in Washington, D.C.

To Hernandez’s bene t, he wasn’t aware he was waiting for his voucher. He said it would have been challenging to be in “limbo” for so long.

“If I would have known I’d have to wait ve years for that, I probably personally wouldn’t have done it,” he said.

Peter LiFari, executive director at Maiker,  attributes long waitlists at public housing authorities to lack of

federal funding and a massive demand for housing vouchers.

“It’s a program designed to exist in scarcity, which is really disappointing,” he said. “I get emails every day, basically from folks (saying) ‘How do I sign up?’ and ‘I’m homeless and I’ve never asked for help before and I’m ready now,’ and it’s like, unfortunately we don’t we don’t have the vouchers to be able to meet the need.”

Because of limited funding for HUD, designated by Congress each year, only 1 in 4 households eligible for a housing voucher receive any federal rental assistance, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

e HUD o cial interviewed by CCM agreed that a main shortcoming of the program is that there are not enough vouchers. e o cial said rental assistance programs are an outlier compared to other federal safety net programs in that many people qualify but do not receive the support. e o cial attributed the lack of funding to the fact that the voucher program was created in the 1970s, after other programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program were already underway.

Congress increased funding into the voucher program throughout the pandemic, but the funding generally went to special populations as opposed to the entire program, LiFari said. e American Rescue Plan Act, for example, provided 70,000 emergency vouchers to assist individuals in violent, dangerous or homeless situations. Mascarenas said Maiker received 46 vouchers from the funding.

Last year, the Biden administration awarded more than 19,000 housing choice vouchers to more than 2,000 public housing authorities. Twentynine of the authorities are in Colorado, including agencies in Adams County, Je erson County, Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Englewood and Arvada.

But even with the extra funding, housing authority employees say it is challenging to keep up with the demand.

“One of the challenges with any … new sources of funding to support housing, it’s still administering the money and the funds and the vouchers,” said Reitz from South Metro. “So we still need sta to do so. And we’re no di erent than most other agencies or industries right now in terms of sta ng, so that’s a challenge.”

e demand for vouchers in Adams County is higher than Mascarenas has ever seen.

“I’ve been with Maiker for 30 years and I’ve never seen the market in such a bad condition,” she said. “I’ve never seen the need grow so great.”

Maiker has about 1,625 housing choice vouchers to distribute in Adams County. In July 2022, the last time their lottery was open for applications, over 3,500 people applied.

“Even two-parent households are still nding it very di cult to make ends meet with two incomes coming into the home,” Mascarenas said.

Next to his kitchen, David Hernandez has a DJ setup where he likes to mix music for fun.

PHOTO BY ANDREW FRAIELI

form of cover or protection from the elements other than clothing.”

“ ere’s this illusion that you need this stick to connect people to services,” Howard said. “ at’s a lie, it doesn’t work. You can just look back at the last 10 years of Denver to see the reality of that lie. It’s meant, rst and foremost, to push people out of sight, out of mind.”

According to one national study from 2013, criminalization can create a cycle of incarceration that perpetuates itself.

Noting a loop of jail time and homelessness, the report says: “Incarceration has been noted to increase the risk of homelessness” as it can weaken community ties, limit employment opportunities and make it more di cult to get public housing.

“ is bidirectional association between homelessness and incarceration may result in a certain amount of cycling between public psychiatric hospitals, jails and prisons, and homeless shelters or the street,” the report concludes.

A homeless count across the metro area

Nationwide, at the start of every year, a count is taken to try and estimate the unsheltered homeless population.

At the same time, a count is made of people who have stayed in a participating shelter at some point across the country. ese counts are run by HUD through volunteering shelters and local governments.

In the 2022 point-in-time count across Je erson, Broom eld, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Denver counties, there were nearly 2,000 people living unsheltered, and just over 3,000 in emergency shelters.

According to the data, most of the homeless population is in Denver.  HUD’s de nition of homelessness includes those who are in imminent risk of losing their housing. However, the annual report does not include that data or consider people who are couch sur ng, or temporarily living at a friend or family member’s home.

Jason had been working, but with a broken back, he could no longer work or a ord needed medical care.

Like Garner, Jason requires a wheelchair to get around, which creates another level of di culties for those experiencing homelessness.

The cost of a disability

One day in the spring of 2018, Gar-

VOUCHERS

She attributed part of the higher demand to the pandemic, which impacted many workers and families.

Another theory comes from Reitz, who said higher demand could be because salaries and wages have not kept up with rising housing costs.

Unit scarcity

In addition to the lack of funding, LiFari said the lack of physical housing supply is a detriment to the function of housing voucher program.

“We just don’t have enough units,” he said. “We don’t even have enough housing to support folks that are above the poverty line … because we just abandoned building for one another.”

ner’s wheelchair got caught in some weeds in a eld. He spent hours there, yelling for help, until a couple happened upon him.

e couple befriended Garner, brought him some basic necessities, and got him into a detox facility. After a few stints, Garner has now been sober for more than four years.

“But the patience that these strangers showed me was something that was unbelievable to me,” Garner said. “I will never forget before they took me in the third time telling them: ‘Well, what if I just do this again? You know, what if I, what if you take me to this detox, you come pick me up, and I just start drinking again?’”

Garner said the couple told him they would keep trying. Services like detox are di cult to use for people with addictions and mental health issues, as they often have no support system to encourage them to go, as well as there often being little state support.

In 2019, a study showed that about 20% of all Americans were a ected by mental illness in the past year. According to e National Coalition for Homelessness the general e ects of various mental illnesses “disrupt people’s ability to carry out essential aspects of daily life,” as well as make social bonds.

“ is often results in pushing away caregivers, family, and friends who may be the force keeping that person from becoming homeless,” the report elaborated.

But the couple that helped Garner in

e lack of units creates scarcity in the housing market, LiFari said. With high demand, competition and rents increase across the region.

As a result, “lower-income Coloradans are left on the outside looking in,” he said.

“ e program can’t run unless there’s houses and units where people live, right?” he said. “So, without that, we’re just creating this ‘Hunger Games’ construct.”

After being chosen for a voucher, the competition begins. People have about two months to nd a home to rent and sign the lease. But that’s not enough time for many folks to nd homes and Maracenas elds many requests for extensions for as many as four more months.

Even with these extensions, LiFari said the highly competitive market presents a challenging dynamic for people to nd

that eld became his support, hosting him until they fell on hard times and divorced.

Eventually, Garner’s friend helped him get a studio apartment in Evergreen, helping to pay rent for the rst three months.

“So I stayed those rst three months and realized I didn’t want to leave,” Garner said.

Garner said without his friend helping with rst and last month’s rent and more in those rst three months, he wouldn’t have been able to a ord it. After the rst three months, Garner continued to stay in the apartment, getting help from friends. He got what he needed, he said, but it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t how he wanted to live.

“I come from the salt of the earth, blue collar, working folk, you know, and really, at the bottom line, I’m just trying to work in any way I can,” he said. “All I’m trying to do is provide for myself.”

The housing and wage gap

Part of this di culty, especially in Evergreen, is the gap between wages and housing costs.  is lack of a ordable housing acts doubly as a factor for becoming homeless and a barrier from escaping it.

Adam Galbraith works as a bartender at Cactus Jack’s in Evergreen. He said the only reason he can save money at all is because his 1,100-square-foot apartment has four people in it.

“If you’ve got roommates, that’s the only way you’re going to save money,”

vacant units within the time frame. Part of this is because renters must be approved for leases by landlords and there are many barriers that can work against voucher holders – from the potential for discrimination to criminal records

Is it a solution?

In LiFari’s eyes, the housing choice voucher program “only exists as medicine for a misdiagnosed illness.”

Although it certainly makes a di erence in combating homelessness, he said American society and government need to focus more on the root of the problem.

“ e program is a function of how we value people and how we value where they live,” he said. “We refuse to address the root cause of the illness because then we have to view how we view poverty.”

For Hernandez, viewing poverty real-

he said. It’s also the only reason he can live in Evergreen, along with his landlord keeping rent lower than it could be at $1,500, “so locals would rent it.” Others he knows have seen their landlord sell the property and give them two months to get out — he’s had it happen to himself twice.

Evergreen isn’t really the place to perform hip hop on the corner, but Garner had a background in performance and music — participating in rap battles and the underground scene in his younger years under his stage name, LaKryth. After practicing, studying and preparing, he took to the streets with his guitar, not in his wheelchair, but instead standing on prosthetic legs.

“I’m a pretty damn good musician, you know, and I can sing pretty damn good too, but I’m not going to pretend like I’m oblivious to the fact that my disability and my prosthetics aren’t a contributing factor to the response that I’ve made in the community,” Garner said.

After getting attention on social media, he began to book more gigs, participate in rap battles, and through participating in Colorado Community Media’s housing series panel discussion, met the owner of Cactus Jack’s Saloon, where he is now host of the weekly open-mic night.

He said he can’t work a job “on paper,” and he still faces struggles with his health and well-being. Garner has a roof over his head and food to eat. He says that’s all he can ask for.

istically is important.

“Believe me — a lot of people don’t want to be depending on the government,” Hernandez said. “But at the same time, they need (vouchers) because it’s crazy out there.”

Although the housing choice voucher program is not perfect, LiFari said it still makes an impact.

“We have no other way that reaches the scale and has the complexity to be able to address individual housing markets, to drive housing stability and stave o extreme poverty and homelessness than this program,” he said.

And on top of that, Hernandez said it makes an important di erence in people’s spirits.

“It’s good for people to get (themselves) on the right track,” he said. “It’s a good thing to get your sense of, you know, you’re involved in society, you’re part of something.”

Jonathan Townshend Garner hosts an open mic night at Cactus Jack’s Saloon in Evergreen where he also performs.

PHOTO BY ANDREW FRAIELI

Even though Laney estimates he was making about $48,000 yearly, he says he was far short of what he needed for a down payment on even the least expensive of homes in Littleton.

He wasn’t alone. A 2020 analysis from Denver-based contractor Root Policy showed that individuals who earned $29,000 to $95,000 yearly in the metro area could not a ord the average price of a home, which was nearly $420,000 that year.

“It’s a pretty serious situation,” said Corey Reitz, executive director of Littleton’s housing authority, South Metro Housing Options. “ e list of folks who can’t continue to live here continues to grow.”

at list, according to Root’s analysis, includes workers in health care, education, construction, food service and more.

Essential workers risk being priced out Sta ers at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood say the housing problem also a ects them. ey blame the shortage of essential hospital workers they’re contending with, in part, on the cost of housing.

“Absolutely the rising cost of housing here in Colorado is a topic,” said Dena Schmaedecke, the hospital’s vice president of human resources. “Colleagues are often bringing up those stresses.”  at housing-cost factor has caused hospital leaders to o er a $10,000 housing stipend to incentivize new employees, Schmaedecke said.

In Brighton, northeast of Denver, Michael Clow, chief human resources o cer for 27J Schools, said the cost of housing has impacted the district’s ability to maintain and support sta .

“We hear from candidates and from our new hires that the cost of housing and their ability to nd housing is a real problem,” Clow said. “ We recently had two math teachers (husband and wife) join us. ey were excited to live their dream and move to Colorado. After just one year and realizing they could not a ord to raise a family here, they moved back to their home state.”

Clow said the crisis has restricted the district’s pool of applicants graduating with teaching degrees, creating intense competition for sta and teachers.

“ e cost of housing is becoming a serious obstacle for us to maintain service levels and serve our mission,” he said.

Farther north, in Fort Lupton, the Weld R-8 School District has faced

similar pressures. Superintendent Alan Kaylor said the annual salary for a rst-year teacher in the district is about $41,000.

Kaylor bought his home in 1995 for $72,000. He said a home across the street from his was recently listed at $685,000. e price of that house across the street rose more than four times faster than the pace of in ation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ in ation calculator.

“How can any family a ord that?” he asked. “Something has to give. After a while, you have to wonder how long people will tolerate living on teachers’ wages.”

Even for some residents making a larger income, housing remains elusive.

West of Denver, in Evergreen, husband and wife Bill and Charm Connelly bring in a combined six- gure salary.

Bill Connelly is an insurance agent and blackjack dealer for a Black Hawk casino. Charm is the front-house general manager for Cactus Jack’s, a bar and restaurant in Evergreen. e two rent a three-bedroom home and are struggling to save for a house. Even downsizing to something smaller, they said, would likely increase their spending by roughly $400 a month. e two currently pay $2,200 per month on rent.

“I feel like a failure. I nally get a good full-time job making great money, and eight years ago, 10 years ago, we could easily have gotten something,” Bill Connelly said.

“Between the two of us, I see what we make,” Charm said. “We are making decent money, but I want to be able to save money and not blow it all on rent.”

For Adam Galbraith, a Cactus Jack’s bartender, the only way to keep his rent a ordable is to live with others.

“ e only reason I’m able to save money is because it’s a 1,100-squarefoot place and we crammed four people in it,” Galbraith said, adding monthly rent is about $1,500. “If you’ve got roommates, that’s the only way you’re going to save money.”

A housing ‘limbo’

Near the end of 2019, Laney, the Littleton bartender, was beginning to feel more con dent about reaching his goal for a down payment. He’d paid o his car and credit-card debt and said he “worked hard to keep it that way.”

His savings account was beginning to bulk up. en came COVID-19.

Years of careful saving and unyielding restraint on spending evaporated in months. Laney was forced to drain his savings account during the beginning of the pandemic amid lockdowns. He received nothing from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection

Program, though he would gain $3,200 from stimulus checks in the months to come. Still, he was hanging on.

It was “the community around Jake’s, our regulars, who kept us alive,” Laney said.

“I was there every single day, for damn near a year,” he said, with the bar able to do curbside orders even as its indoors remained shuttered.

Before the pandemic, Laney estimates he brought in about $4,000 each month before taxes. By the end of the month, after paying for rent, utilities, groceries and gas, he would be left with just $200 to $300, which usually went into his savings.

Living that way was “terrifying,” said Laney, who always felt he could be on the edge of losing his housing should he have a bad month. e pandemic only exacerbated the uncertainty.

As his savings depleted, Laney’s dream of owning a home never seemed further away.

But his resolve didn’t waver and he used what federal relief he had to rebuild his savings because, as he put it, “I had a goal: I wanted a house. When I came out of the tunnel I knew what I wanted.”

By 2021, he started looking again. A townhome might come up on the market — far from perfect, but within Laney’s means — and he would ready himself to put down an o er. It never was enough.

“Someone comes in and puts 20k cash on the o er, or 30k or 40k,” Laney said. “I went through about a year and a half of that and I knew in my head I was not going to be able to get a house.”

A real-estate agent who came into his bar told Laney to apply for a $300,000 bank loan. He had good credit, the agent told him, and would be a shoo-in for the money.

“ ree hundred thousand dollars does not get you a townhome,” Laney thought to himself.

He was frustrated. More than frustrated. He felt depressed.

“I’d done everything right, everything I was supposed to do and it still didn’t matter,” he said. “I’m just stuck, like the hundreds of thousands of other people, in limbo.”

Laney’s luck began to turn near the end of 2021 when he heard there were about to be dozens of single-family homes for sale in Littleton for less than $300,000. He thought it was too good to be true.

‘We can’t all win the lottery’ at year, South Metro Housing Options, which manages a ordable properties throughout Littleton, sold 59 of its single-family homes to Habitat

for Humanity of Metro Denver, which pledged to renovate the units and sell them at a below-market price.

Laney’s hourly wage had slightly increased since the pandemic from $8 to $10, though 90% of his income still came from tips, he said. Still, Laney believed he met the nancial requirements for a Habitat home, which would only sell to people who earn no more than 80% of the area’s median income. But when Laney applied to be on a waitlist at the beginning of 2022, he was quickly denied. He was told his income, roughly $56,000 when he applied, exceeded the cap by less than $1,000.

Laney said he was actually making less than that, about $54,000, but because Habitat counted his “unrealized interest gains,” such as money held in stocks, Laney was over the threshold.

Habitat was also only looking at the income of recent months, Laney said, rather than his income over the past year. is made it look like he made more than he did because his monthto-month income would uctuate dramatically based on tips.

He applied again and was denied again, this time for making just $300 more than the cut-o . But, a slow month at work turned out to be a good thing. His income dipped just enough that by the third time he applied he made it on the waitlist.

at did not come with the guarantee of a home. Laney was in a line of people just like him and demand far outweighed supply. Number 10 was his position. Who knew how many more were behind him, he thought. en it happened. Laney was made an o er, a 1,275-square-foot detached home near Ketring Park in central Littleton valued at $285,000, roughly a third of what similar properties sold for.

“I can’t even express how happy I was,” Laney said. “I’ve been living and serving this community for 10 years and I want to live here.”

Still, the program has some drawbacks compared to traditional homeownership. Laney cannot build as much equity as many of his neighbors because he does not own the property the home sits on. Instead, it is owned by something called a land trust — a collection of entities.

“ e beauty of the land trust is it removes the cost of the land from the equation from the cost of the home,” said Kate Hilberg, director of real estate development for Habitat for Humanity. “It allows the homeowners to pay on that mortgage for that home and improvements to that home but not the land.”

SEE PRICES, P25

Suspect in alleged assault peacefully surrenders

After SWAT stando

BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Following a stando with SWAT for several hours in Aurora on Jan. 26, omas Jon Kelsen surrendered peacefully and was arrested on charges related to him allegedly assaulting family members in Centennial the previous night.

At approximately 4 p.m. Jan. 25, deputies responded to a home in the 4600 block of East Lake Avenue in Centennial, where a 48-year-old woman and her 78-year-old mother live, Ginger Delgado, a public information o cer for Arapahoe County Sheri ’s O ce, said via email. e suspect, who is the son of the 78-year-old woman and brother of the 48-year-old woman, reportedly arrived at the residence “and a family dispute began,” according to the

email.

Kelsen, 45, allegedly pushed his mother and violently hit his sister with a weapon before then leaving the scene, per the email. In a Jan. 27 tweet, the Arapahoe County Sheri ’s O ce said Kelsen is accused of striking his sister in the throat with a hammer.

e sister reportedly called 911 after she was struck, Delgado said. She was allegedly seriously injured and transported to a local hospital.

Around 7 a.m. Jan. 26, deputies learned the suspect was at his home in the 18800 block of East Colorado Drive in Aurora, Delgado said. Arapahoe County Sheri ’s O ce deputies arrived on scene and asked the Aurora Police Department’s SWAT team to take over since it was their jurisdiction.

Delgado said the police evacuated the two homes next door to the house and tried to communicate with the suspect for several hours by

public address system, or PA system, but did not get a response.

“We obtained a search warrant and arrest warrant around 1 p.m. and the SWAT team proceeded to breach a window. at’s when the suspect surrendered peacefully,” Delgado said.

Kelsen surrendered before anyone from the SWAT team entered the residence, Delgado said, and there

Kelsen was arrested on suspicion of three charges: second-degree assault, crimes against an at-risk elder and rst-degree burglary. When asked about the burglary charge and what was reported stolen, Delgado said she did not have that information.

As of Jan. 26, Kelsen was at the Arapahoe County Detention Facility.

Dead body found in homeless camp

No foul play suspected

BY NINA JOSS

A dead body was found at a homeless camp on Little’s Creek Trail under Rapp Street on Jan. 23. The Littleton Police do not

believe there was any foul play or criminal activity, spokesperson Sheera Poelman said.

Littleton Code Compliance workers found the body on Tuesday morning while they were conducting a cleanup at the camp, Poelman said. They called the police around 11 a.m., she said.

Littleton Code Compliance,

part of the Community Development Department, is responsible for investigating complaints and addressing code violations, according to the city’s website. A homeless camp cleanup involves contacting individuals to move their belongings, giving them notice before the cleanup and removing items from the area for

individuals to pick up from a safe location, Poelman said.

When the police arrived on scene, they secured the scene and examined it for evidence of a criminal cause of death, Poelman said.

Officials transported the body to the coroner, where an official cause of death will be determined.

Police have reached out to the public for help in apprehending a bank robbery suspect. SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE

Health care giants form one insurance company

Question is who benefits

BY JOHN INGOLD THE COLORADO SUN

By some measures, the Denver metro area has one of the most competitive hospital markets in the country. Large health systems duke it out every year for supremacy in the multibillion-dollar marketplace.

But now, two of those heavyweight health systems — locally based UCHealth and Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare — have decided to … cooperate? e systems earlier this month announced plans to form what is known as a “clinically integrated network.”

While that may sound like the hospital giants are planning to combine resources on the clinical side, it’s actually more akin to forming one giant insurance network. e health systems will remain separate, and they will continue to compete against one another to attract patients.

e new network will bring together roughly 700 primary care physicians, hundreds of clinics and dozens of hospitals — all available and in network for consumers whose health insurance contracts with the new clinically integrated network. And, not coincidentally, the systems announced that Intermountain’s SelectHealth insurance plan will jump into the market in Colorado for Medicare consumers as well as people who buy insurance on their own. SelectHealth will utilize the new network.

UCHealth’s and Intermountain’s respective leaders said the new clinically integrated network will improve the quality of health care that people receive in Colorado while reducing the costs of that care.

“We are excited to partner with Intermountain to advance these goals and to give Coloradans a new option for their health insurance that prioritizes value-based care,”

Elizabeth Concordia, UCHealth’s president and CEO, said in a statement announcing the new network. “Together, we will help improve the overall health of the communities we serve.”

But consumer advocates question whether that will actually happen or whether this is another play by large health systems to get even larger — and take more money for themselves.

“If they’re essentially using this as negotiating power or as a mechanism to shirk all other insurance carriers, that’s a concern,” said Adam Fox, the deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.

according to UCHealth’s Michael Cancro, is in its size.

Cancro is UCHealth’s chief strategy o cer and he also serves as the president of an already-existing UCHealth provider network called Coordinated Care Colorado. at network will merge with Intermountain’s Colorado Quality Care Network to form the new clinically integrated network. e new network will operate as its own company.

Cancro said this merger does one really important thing: It gives the new network enough patients to start doing some in-depth analyses and also provide better service.

“By bringing the organizations together, you have a pretty vast trove of data as well as the capability to look and identify those patients who are rising risks,” he said.

e key to reducing costs while improving care is to identify patients early whose health is heading down the wrong path, Cancro said. But, with a smaller pool of patients, he said it can be di cult to have enough data to know which signals mean trouble.

e patient volume of the new network means it will gather enough data to conduct more precise analysis, while also being able to hire more experts to do that work.

“Having access to data scientists, having access to large enough datasets to be able to say that this is an indicator and this is not,” he said.

“ e more lives, the better.”

e network will also be able to

Prepare for power outages today

nudge to come in for a checkup.

Cancro said the network will initially o er care to more than 300,000 patients. But Cancro said the goal is for more insurers besides SelectHealth to strike deals with the new network, meaning it could bring in more patients. He said it’s also possible that additional doctors’ groups and medical providers could join the network.

Consumer advocates are skeptical of all these promises. To them, this sounds an awful lot like what hospital systems have said for years when buying up local hospitals or merging with other systems.

As in many other states, Colorado’s health care system has been consolidating. And not always to the bene t of the patient’s pocketbook.

“Hospital consolidation is likely the biggest driver of prices and operating margins in Colorado’s Front Range counties,” a 2020 report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research stated.

e new clinically integrated network isn’t an exact analogue to a hospital merger. But it has enough similarities that folks like Robert Smith, the executive director of the Colorado Business Group on Health, will believe its promises of lower prices and better care only when he actually sees it. Smith has long been a champion of reducing health care costs in Colorado.

“ ere’s no evidence in the literature that these mergers improve outcomes,” Smith said. “ ey’ve all said that. But there’s no evidence.”

What is SelectHealth and when will it launch?

Intermountain is a new player in Colorado’s health care market. Last year, it merged with SCL Health, giving it a presence in Colorado for the rst time. SelectHealth is Intermountain’s insurance arm — and, like Intermountain and UCHealth, it is nonpro t.

SelectHealth hopes to have plans available for sale in Colorado at the end of this year for coverage that

vidual insurance market, including via the Connect for Health Colorado insurance exchange.

UCHealth’s Cancro said SelectHealth won’t sell insurance in every Colorado county. Instead, it will launch in around 16 to 18 counties, he said. ose will mostly be along the Front Range, to match UCHealth’s and Intermountain’s footprints for their health systems.

First, though, SelectHealth must receive approval from the state’s Division of Insurance. e division is reviewing SelectHealth’s application and will announce a decision later this year.

“ e DOI is just learning about this joint venture, and we will need to further analyze what it entails and what impact it will have on the state’s health insurance market,” Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway said in a statement. “But, this announcement is a clear indication that Colorado continues to be a place where health insurance companies want to come to, and that they want to do business in our individual health insurance market.”

Despite the obvious inside connection, leaders of UCHealth and Intermountain said SelectHealth won’t be getting a sweetheart deal when it contracts with the new clinically integrated network, or CIN, as the executives refer to it.

“ e CIN will treat SelectHealth just like all payers here,” Mark Korth, Intermountain Healthcare’s regional president, said in a statement. “Any plan that aligns with the CIN’s goals of ensuring a better patient experience and health outcomes while lowering costs will be considered a valuable partner.”

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

The exterior of the University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, photographed on Oct. 18, 2019. The hospital is the flagship of the UCHealth system.

PHOTO BY JOHN INGOLD / THE COLORADO SUN

Juvenile violent crime is rising

Researchers look for answers

BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN

Violent crimes that land kids and teens in Colorado’s youth corrections system are on the rise, accounting for 41% of admissions in 2022.

From homicides, to sexual assaults, to robberies at gunpoint, the violent crimes committed by young people have risen sharply during the past ve years, a climb that has sociologists studying the consequences of a virtually connected but physically isolated society and the long-term e ects of the coronavirus pandemic.

e percentage of young people sent to a Division of Youth Services facility for a violent crime was 35% in 2021, climbing to 41% in 2022, according to the agency’s recently released annual report.

at includes 54 young people held in detention for felony homicide, 47 for attempted homicide and 40 for sexual assault last year.

“All across the state, the level of violence that we’re seeing among young people is increasing,” said Anders Jacobson, youth services director. “ at’s been a stark reality for us.”

e youth corrections system, which includes 15 state-operated, locked facilities, holds young people ages 10 to 21 either in detention — before their cases go to court — and after they are “committed” by a judge. Of the 176 children and teens who were committed to serve out a sentence last year, 71 were for violent crimes, including six murders and nine attempted murders.

e result is that the population in the state’s youth corrections system has grown increasingly more violent and more likely than in prior years to have committed a crime against a person, rather than property. is year, 43% of young people committed to the system were sent for violent crimes, compared with 31% three years ago.

e division in the past several years has moved toward pods, or living spaces, with fewer kids, and has improved its youth-to-sta ratio so young people have more attention, Jacobson said. It’s also ramped up behavioral health services, including for young people who are held in detention before their sentence has been determined.

“We’re pretty well versed in dealing with these types of young people, but there are certainly times when there’s a lot of emotionally

charged issues that can take place,” Jacobson said.

It’s reached the point that, occasionally, the murder victim of one of the young inmates is a loved one of another young person held in the facility, he said. “It could have been a brother. It could have been a sister. It could have been a friend,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot more of those situations.”

Still, violent incidents within youth facilities in the state have not spiked. “ at’s something that we’re happy we’re seeing right now, but it’s a daily grind,” Jacobson said.

Nearly 80% of kids and teens committed to a Division of Youth Services center last year needed substance abuse treatment, according to the agency’s data. More than two-thirds of young people in the system need mental health treatment. e division’s behavioral health program, which includes two sessions of talk therapy per week for young people serving sentences, garnered national attention last year, winning a “program of the year” award from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

Since 2017, when the state legislature passed sweeping reforms and changed the name from Youth Corrections to Youth Services, the division has steadily reduced the use of physical restraint and solitary con nement. Repeat o enses also have dropped, with the one-year recidivism rate falling to 22% in 2020

compared with 41% in 2018.

e rise in youth detention for violent crimes comes as overall juvenile arrests are declining in Colorado.

Crime rates, including among juveniles, hit records in Colorado and nationwide in the 1980s, then began dropping. In Colorado, the all-time high for juvenile arrests was 70,710 in 1997. By comparison, there were 19,442 juvenile arrests in 2018, according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

One of the safest stretches on record, based on crime rates, was 2010-2014, said David Pyrooz, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. In the last several years, however, violent crime among young people has been climbing, and it isn’t due to the decisions made by police or prosecutors, he said.

“ ere is something that is taking place,” he said. “ ere is little doubt about that.”

Why violent crime is rising is harder to determine, considering researchers are still trying to understand the 50% reduction in crime rates that occurred nationally in the 1990s, the “criminological miracle,” Pyrooz said.

Now, sociologists are looking at how teenage behaviors — including spending more time at home alone, yet connected via social media and video games — might a ect violent crime rates. In the past, violent crime was often linked to groups of

young people hanging out unsupervised in parks or street corners, Pyrooz said.

Researchers are also just beginning to examine the pandemic’s e ect on youth crime, which could have repercussions for years to come, he said. Kids who stopped going to after-school activities and sports during the isolation of the pandemic, perhaps as fourth or fth graders, might not have returned to those sports, meaning they will miss out on those activities as middle and high school students, when they are more likely to get involved in criminal activity.

e keys to keeping kids out of trouble are community support systems, including within families, schools and churches, Pyrooz said. “ ose are the things that really matter,” he said. “If those institutions are failing, so too are our kids.”

On average, there are about 290 children and teens serving sentences in youth corrections on any given day, 89% of them boys. e average length of stay is about 18 months. Juvenile criminal case lings increased by 15% last year in Colorado.

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

Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center, a juvenile corrections facility for boys in Golden, is surrounded by a 16-foot fence with anti-climbing mesh. It is operated by the Colorado Department of Human Services.

MARVIN ANANI / SPECIAL TO THE COLORADO SUN

Weather and gas prices causing higher utility bills

BY JOSHUA PERRY AND MARK JAFFE THE COLORADO SUN

e spiking energy bills a ecting many Coloradans are caused by colder weather and higher gas prices — factors over which neither regulators nor utilities have control, the Colorado Public Utility Commission reported Wednesday.

Xcel Energy utility bills were on average 52%, or $87, higher in December than they were a year earlier, although some consumers saw their bills double, PUC Chief Economist Erin O’Neill told commissioners in a brie ng.

Commissioner John Gavan said he was struck by the magnitude of the costs and the nancial pressure they are exerting on Coloradans.

“I can’t remember seeing this level of pain in the consumer community since the 1970s and the gas crisis, which I’m old enough to remember,” he said. “So I take this very seriously.”

e rising utility bills follow the approval by the commission of six electricity and gas rate hikes, several allowing for increases due to rising natural gas prices, that have spurred a near-record number of low-income consumers to seek nancial aid to pay their bills.

e state-run Low-income Energy Assistance Plan has received nearly 90,000 requests for bill relief, as of Tuesday, compared with 80,000 for the same period last winter, and has issued $25 million in payments. Energy Outreach Colorado, a nonpro t that helps people with their bills, received 44,000 calls to its HEAT helpline in January.

“ is is an unprecedented number,” said Denise Stepto, a spokeswoman for the nonpro t. “Is it sustainable from month to month?

ere is a lot of pressure to do something.”

e average temperature in December was about 10 degrees colder than it was in December 2021, O’Neill said, and that means more energy was being consumed to keep homes warm. Additionally, commodity prices for natural gas have increased substantially — 40% higher than last year — which is a cost that utility companies pass directly to consumers. Smart meters, recent investments in solar and wind energy, and time-of-use rates for electricity customers are not signi cantly impacting bill hikes, O’Neill said.

“We share the commission’s concerns and appreciate their efforts to provide greater insight into the causes of higher costs,” Xcel Energy said in a statement. e company said it is adding more low-cost renewable energy and securing competitively priced fuel contracts.

Natural gas continues to be the most reliable and a ordable source to heat its customers’ homes each winter, Xcel also said.

e company is the largest utility provider in Colorado with 1.5 million electric customers and 1.6 million gas customers.

e price of natural gas for delivery in February has dropped 26% between December and January,

to 56 cents a therm, so February bills may be lower, Commissioner Megan Gilman said. But even if the bill crisis is resolved in the short term, there’s a systemic problem.

e market for natural gas is unregulated, Gilman said, and fuel price spikes and severe weather events will continue to make prices and rates volatile.

“What we thought were the extremes before February 2021 are not the extremes anymore,” she said.

Addressing the overarching problem is not simple. Price hikes could be spread over time — Xcel Energy is doing this over 30 months with $500 million in gas charges from 2021’s Winter Storm Uri. But that could lead to future price spikes “pancaking” on top of each other, Gilman said. e commission needs to think in the long term, she said.

While the base rates only accounted for 16% of the December increase, both Gilman and Commission Chairman Eric Blank said that the commission should focus on those rates — which they must approve. Blank said the doubling of gas base rates since 2011 didn’t signi cantly impact consumers when gas prices were low.

“Now the combination of higher commodity prices and the doubling of base rates really puts us in a di erent world and creates much more a ordability pressure,” Blank said.

More attention should be paid to what investments utilities make before the companies come to the commission to add them to the rates customers pay.

Another concern that commissioners expressed is Xcel Energy’s lack of incentive. Blank said there

ought to be an alignment of interests between the company and its customers.

“When customers lose, utilities should share some of the pain,” he said.

Gilman said that the mechanism that just passes the cost of natural gas, high or low, on to consumers is also a problem.

“Since it’s a direct pass-through, they do not have an incentive to get you more expensive gas,” Gilman said. “ ey also don’t have an obvious economic incentive to get the cheapest gas they can. So we need to ensure that they have some skin in the game.”

While 60% of the bill increase was driven by factors the commission can’t control — gas rates

and weather — PUC can still have an impact, according to Cindy Schonhaut, director of the Colorado O ce of the Utility Consumer Advocate.

“What they can focus on,” she said, “is the 40% of bills beyond the fuel charges,” such as base rates, xed-use charges and add-ons for speci c projects, like pipeline safety.

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

Thick snowfall o County Road 166 in northwestern Elbert County.

PHOTO BY CHANCY J. GATLIN-ANDERSON

Small goalie makes big impact on ice

Emma gains support of teammates, fans

BY THELMA GRIMES TGRIMES@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

As the opposing team grabs the puck and skates down the ice in a breakaway, parents and fans of the Arapahoe Warriors 10U Yellow team, or Golden Eagles, take a collective breath. As the goalie falls on the puck to secure the save, parents scream, “Good job, Emma.”

While those same parents are there to cheer on their own children, Emma Preston has quickly become a crowd favorite in the 2022-23 season.

While one could argue Emma may be one of the smallest members of the team, no one doubts she stands up to the pressure of having the biggest job on the ice as the lone goalie.

Emma is the lone girl on the 10-and-under team that is part of the Arapahoe Warriors recreational hockey program, which plays teams all over the Front Range.

“As a coaching sta , I’m not sure we’ve seen a goalie at this age level that has quicker lateral movement across the goalie crease,” said Head Coach Christopher Castelli. “Her ability to shu e from one side of the net to the other in the butter y position is second to none.”

For the Eagles, many of the players are in their rst year of competitive play, including Emma.

Emma said she got into hockey by watching the sport with her dad, noting that her favorite player is Marc-André Fleury, the goalie for the

Minnesota Wild in the NHL.

Emma said watching Fleury made her want to try her hand at being goalie. She started training and joined the Eagles for a season that hasn’t always been easy.

“I really like getting out there and stopping the shots,” Emma said. “It’s hard but I want to keep working.”

At the start of the season as the new young team was coming together, many games fell on Emma’s shoulders. e Eagles faced some tough, lopsided losses in the early going.

“It can be hard, especially when the other team gets on a breakaway,” Emma said. “As the team has gotten better it feels good because there is

less pressure on me.”

Castelli said Emma’s positivity is infectious.

“During game intermissions, we have one-on-one chats about clearing the mind and having a positive thought process when she’s in the net,” he said.” In fact, she writes motivational quotes on her goalie pads to remind herself that we as a team believe in her and that she believes in herself.”

As the Eagles have improved on defense and as shooters Dennis Lisunov, who leads the team with 43 goals, and Lewis Chan started getting in a rhythm on their respective lines, the team is starting to win

more games, even the close ones that would slip away in the nal seconds early in the season.

A season momentum builder came during the Arvada tournament in December. In a tough game, the Eagles pushed the score to a 3-3 tie at the end of regulation. For tournament placement, the game cannot end in a tie, requiring a shootout.

Emma said she got a little stressed before the shootout. e Eagles started with three shots, with two of the players hitting it in to relieve some of Emma’s pressure. However, after blocking one shot, Emma missed two

Pondo wrestler hoping for big things

well so far this season and is the No. 1 190-pound wrestler in the OnTheMat rankings.

1 in Colorado by OnTheMat this season.

BY JIM BENTON SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Westin Hoffschneider, a 190-pounder from Ponderosa, is a more confident wrestler this season.

Hoffschneider lost last season in the 182-pound state championship match as a sophomore and is looking forward to post-season matches in February.

“I definitely have more confidence because last year was my first year going to state so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Hoffschneider after a Jan. 26 dual meet against Legend. “Now I know what it is going to be like.

“My hope this year is just getting to the finals match at state and winning it instead of losing like I did last year. That was a tough pill to swallow. It has definitely helped me this year because I don’t want to feel like that ever again.”

Hoffschneider has been doing

“I lost a couple matches early on in the season at the national tournaments,” he said. “Other than that things are going good. Over the summer I wrestled freestyle and Greco in Fargo. It definitely made me a lot tougher because I wrestled 60 matches in four days.

“It was a close match,” Hoffschneider added referring to a 4-1 loss to Monarch’s Cole Carlucci last season in the state finals. “I was hurt most of the year too so I was just getting my gas tank back. I feel my technique was a little off but it is now a lot better.”

Hoffschneider and the Mustangs are seeking to improve at the state tournament after finishing second to Pomona three of the past four seasons.

Last season Ponderosa led by 37.5 points heading into the final day of the tournament but Pomona racked up 63 points in the consolation matches and the Mustangs had to settle for the runner-up trophy again.

Hoffschneider is one of five Ponderosa wrestlers ranked No.

Tommy Verrette is No. 1 at 126 pounds, Jacob Myers at 132 pounds, Brandon Cannon at 138 pounds and Ty Eise, a state runner up last season, at 175 pounds.

“We’re hoping we can beat Pomona and take them down, finally,” said Hoffschneider. “It will be pretty tough because we are missing some weighs because kids are getting injured.

“It’s going to take some kids to step up at every weight. We put seven in the finals last year. We need to put eight or nine or seven again. We have to work hard in practice, try to get better and never expect to go out there and lose.”

Hoffschneider said he has been wrestling for 11 years and still loves the sport.

“It is fun especially when you win a lot,” he concluded. “You lose, you kind of get down on yourself and you don’t like it as much. When you get to those great matches and win those close matches against a kid you’re not suppose to beat, it’s the best in the world.”

Ponderosa junior Westin Ho schneider is the top-rated 190-pound wrestler in the state, according to the OnTheMat rankings.

PHOTO BY JIM BENTON

Post-season matches are set for this month

Emma Preston gets prepared as the opposing team heads her way in a game during the 2022-2023 season.

PHOTO BY THELMA GRIMES

Emma Preston proudly holds the player of the game puck, which she has earned several times this season. COURTESY PHOTO

SEE GOALIE, P25

to keep the game tied.

In the second shootout, each team got one shot. Chan, who scored in the rst shootout, snuck it in to put the Eagles ahead again.

Emma said as an opposing player pushed the puck toward her, she just took position and watched the puck push to her glove, saving the goal and winning the game.

As she made the save and the crowd cheered, as is customary after each game, all of the Eagles players ran to hit Emma on her helmet in a big mob.

“As a team, we have preached about being one big hockey family, Castelli said. “Emma has the ongoing support of our players as well as the parents in the stands. I’ve had parents and opposing coaches come up to me after the game lauding her performance in the net. Her fandom among the team parents has become pretty special.

e Emma chants with the blue and yellow pom-poms waving in the air after every save is an amazing site to see.”

is December victory was not only big for Emma, but she said it was also big for her team as she’s had a great view from the goalie box in watching the Eagles grow and improve.

In Fort Collins in early January, Emma and the Eagles again shined. After a rough rst round where they lost a game they were expected to

PRICES

Land trusts are crucial tools organizations like Habitat use to lock in the a ordability of homes even as property values rise elsewhere. e owners of these units will see some equity from their homes, Hilberg said, about 2% each year. But it won’t be enough to match the likes of homeowners who have used their growing property values to build decades of generational wealth.

“A lot of families use this as a starter home option and they do gain enough equity and stability to turn that into a down payment on a home in the open market,” Hilberg said of

win, the team bounced back for two strong victories.

In the second round, Emma was on her game, allowing two goals on 26 shots, giving the Eagles a 3-2 victory.

e Eagles made it to the championship round where they lost a tight game 4-3.

In a game where the Eagles led 3-0, a tough second period changed momentum, starting with a controversial call where referees ruled a tripping incident was agrant. Instead of a penalty box punishment, the referee allowed the other team to take a free penalty shot. Emma came up short, as the goal slid past her leg.

Besides her strong play and the support earned from both her teammates and fans, Emma is also one of the most respectful players on the ice, even in a game where a referee call changed the course of play.

After each game, win or lose, Emma can be seen shaking the referees’ hands.

“]Ultimately, as Emma continues playing and learning, the young player said she wants to eventually be a part of a championship team.

“I just want to keep doing this and be the best I can be for my team,” she said.

e Eagles will continue their season through February.

“ As the season progresses, (Emma) continues to close-out games for us,” Castelli said. “Another thing that has led to her growing con dence is the hard work the team puts into our practices. at team bond and unity has transferred to the ice.”

homes under land trusts.

But fathoming a concept like equity is a luxury for those who still can’t buy a house on the market, Laney said.

While he’s thankful for what Habitat did for him, he fears the few dozen homes it manages in Littleton can only go so far to meet the demand of hundreds, if not thousands, of residents who have struggled as he has.

“ ere isn’t enough income-based housing for people … the people who live and work in this community can’t a ord a house,” Laney said. “We can’t all win the lottery.”

Colorado Community Reporters Andrew Fraieli, Steve Smith, Tayler Shaw and Ellis Arnold contributed reporting to this story.

ELZZ

CLASSIFIEDS

Help Wanted

SUPPLEMENT YOUR INCOME

Are you a CARING, COMPASSIONATE, NURTURING person who enjoys helping others and making a difference in people’s lives?

If so, we are NOW contracting with Host Home Providers.

Host home’s make a lifestyle commitment to an individual with developmental or intellectual disabilities by giving the option of choosing to live in a family home and make it theirs as well.

Host Home Providers are compensated a tax-exempt stipend $1200-$3000 a month depending on level of need plus room and board for providing supports and a caring home.

If you are interested in more information about becoming a Host Home Provider, please e-mail your resume to srockman@integratingsuppports.com or call 719-313-0626.

Senior Software Engineer (FT; Multiple Openings)

Job Location: Centennial, CO

Requirements: MS or equiv. in CS, CE, etc. + 2 yrs. exp. or BS + 5 yrs. exp. req’d. Exp. w/AWS, Hibernate, Java-Based Automation, Java, Spring, cloud dev., app server deployment, web design, REST & SOAP req’d.

Salary: $151,500

Mail Resume: RingCentral, Inc.

Attn: HR Dept. 20 Davis Drive Belmont, CA 94002

Help Wanted

Visa Technology & Operations LLC, a Visa Inc. company, currently has an opening for Sr. SW Engineer (multiple openings) (REF56423Y) in Highlands Ranch, CO. Job duties include: Architect, design, build, develop, test, and/or implement software applications. Conduct business and technical analysis, code reviews, and unit testing. The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is $94,700 USD to $146,700 USD.; Sr. SW Engineer (multiple openings) (REF56424L) in Highlands Ranch, CO. Job duties include: Architect, design, build, develop, test, and/or implement software applications. Conduct business and technical analysis, code reviews, and unit testing. The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is $102,482 USD to $146,700 USD.; Staff SW Engineer (multiple openings) (REF56426L) in Highlands Ranch, CO. Job duties include: Responsible for the architecture, design, development, and implementation of software applications. Evaluate and introduce technology tools and processes that enable Visa to develop products and solutions, to embrace business opportunities and/or improve operational efficiency. The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is $139,984 USD to $177,800 USD.; Staff SW Engineer (multiple openings) (REF56427C) in Highlands Ranch, CO. Job duties include: Responsible for the architecture, design, development, and implementation of software applications. Evaluate and introduce technology tools and processes that enable Visa to develop products and solutions, to embrace business opportunities and/or improve operational efficiency. The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is $121,222 USD to $177,800 USD. All positions report to the Employer’s Highlands Ranch, CO office and may allow for partial telecommuting. Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this position may be eligible for an annual bonus and equity.

Accountant/Bookkeeper

Looking for Accountant/Bookkeeper to work in Castle Rock office approximately 2 days a week. Flexible schedule including some remote work. Must work in office at least one day per week and have QuickBooks accounting software experience. Very generous hourly rate and flexibility. Please call Kim Harrison at 303-941-9446 or email Kim@osbornecos.com

Enterprise Architect

Positions offered by Arrow Electronics Inc. (Centennial, CO). Responsible for enterprise architecture by ensur’g that common architecture decisions are implemented consistently across business & IT to support the business & IT strategy. Research, analyze, design, propose, & deliver IT architecture solutions that are optimal for the business & IT strategies in one or more domains. Employee reports to office in Centennial, CO. Position may work from home, but must live within commuting distance of stated office. We are offering a salary of $139,984 to $153,000 per year. Arrow Electronics, Inc. has a COVID-19 vaccination policy. For more information & to apply online, please visit: http://bitly.ws/xRvo.

Visa has a comprehensive benefits package for which this position is eligible that includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Program, FSH/ HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time off and Wellness Programs. Qualified applicants should apply by emailing resume to careersus@visa.com. Must reference job code.

DRIVER Class B CDL propane delivery truck driver for Spring Valley Gas, Elizabeth.

P/T & F/T positions; responsible for propane delivery and customer service.

HazMat/Tanker endorsement.

Propane certification a plus. Insurance age requirement 26 with clean MVR. SVG is building a team, not just a job!

Starting salary based on experience & qualifications. Call 303-660-8810.

Help Wanted

Visa USA Inc., a Visa Inc. company, currently has an opening for Sr. SW Engineer (multiple openings) (REF55102F) in Highlands Ranch, CO. Job duties include: Architect, design, build, develop, test, and/ or implement software applications. Conduct business and technical analysis, code reviews, and unit testing. The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is $94,700 USD to $146,700 USD.; Sr. SW Engineer (multiple openings) (REF55103L) in Highlands Ranch, CO. Job duties include: Architect, design, build, develop, test, and/or implement software applications. Conduct business and technical analysis, code reviews, and unit testing. The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is $102,482 USD to $146,700 USD.; Staff SW Engineer (multiple openings) (REF55104Q) in Highlands Ranch, CO. Job duties include: Responsible for the architecture, design, development, and implementation of software applications. Evaluate and introduce technology tools and processes that enable Visa to develop products and solutions, to embrace business opportunities and/or improve operational efficiency. The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is $139,984 USD to $177,800 USD.; Staff SW Engineer (multiple openings) (REF55105C) in Highlands Ranch, CO. Job duties include: Responsible for the architecture, design, development, and implementation of software applications. Evaluate and introduce technology tools and processes that enable Visa to develop products and solutions, to embrace business opportunities and/or improve operational efficiency. The estimated salary range for a new hire into this position is $121,222 USD to $177,800 USD. All positions report to the Employer’s Highlands Ranch, CO office and may allow for partial telecommuting. Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this position may be eligible for an annual bonus and equity. Visa has a comprehensive benefits package for which this position is eligible that includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Program, FSH/ HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time off and Wellness Programs. Qualified applicants should apply by emailing resume to careersus@visa.com. Must reference job code.

BOOKKEEPER

Titan Concrete, Inc. nA flatwork construction company in Sedalia, Co has an opening in Bookkeeping

- Quickbooks - Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable.

Weekly Payroll - 25 employees. Handle day to day office business. $25.00 per hour.

Part time - 20-30 hours a week - Flexible Not Remote.

Email resume to: Augie@titanconcreteinc.com

BVSD is committed to hiring diverse candidates who bring unique perspectives, backgrounds and skill sets that will strengthen our mission of delivering high-quality education to all students. We are committed to culturally responsive practices that challenge inequity and bias. School leadership and sta will be on hand to interview candidates in person at the event and virtually, and we will be making tentative employment o ers for the Fall 2023 school year. #WeAreBVSD

Help Wanted

LEGITIMATE WORK AT HOME

No Sales, no Investment, No Risk, Free training, Free website. Contact Susan at 303-646-4171 or fill out form at www.wisechoice4u.com

Software Development Engineer II Travelport LP seeks Software Development Engineer II positions in Centennial, CO. Provide crucial technical expertise at a high level and collaboration with teammates, Product Owners, and Scrum Masters. Design, development and maintenance work on an agile scrum team focused on delivering non-traditional air content to agency applications. Salary range will be $83,720 - $122,000. May telecommute.

Email resume: americasbusinesspartners@ travelport.com Ref. 6464238.

Need

CLASSIFIEDS

Classifieds

Misc. Notices

WIDOWED MEN AND WOMEN OF AMERICA.

A social club offering many exciting activities and life long friendships. Social hours for all areas of Metro Denver. Visit Widowedamerica.org for details In your area!

2 bicycles, single bed complete never used, wheelchair, new poker table and shop vacuum. All for $500 or best offer. Will sell single items as well. Call 720-465-9022

Merchandise

Firewood Split & Delivered $450 a cord Stacking $50 Call 303-647-2475 or 720-323-2173

Health & Beauty

VIAGRA and CIALIS USERS!

50 Generic Pills SPECIAL $99.00 100% guaranteed. 24/7 CALL NOW!

888-445-5928 Hablamos Espanol

DENTAL INSURANCEPhysicians Mutual Insurance Company. Covers 350 procedures. Real insurancenot a discount plan. Get your free dental info kit! 1-855-526-1060 www.dental50plus.com/58 #6258.

Medical

Attention oxygen therapy users!

Inogen One G4 is capable of full 24/7 oxygen delivery. Only 2.8 pounds. Free info kit. Call 877-929-9587

Miscellaneous

Become a published author. We want to read your book! Dorrance

Publishing trusted since 1920. Consultation, production, promotion & distribution. Call for free author`s guide 1-877-729-4998 or visit dorranceinfo.com/ads

Miscellaneous

MobileHelp, America’s premier mobile medical alert system. Whether you’re home or away. For safety & peace of mind. No long term contracts! Free brochure! 1-888489-3936

Prepare for power outages today with a GENERAC home standby generator $0 Down + Low Monthly Pmt Request a free Quote. Call before the next power outage: 1-855-948-6176

DISH TV $64.99 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free Installation, Smart HD DVR included, Free Voice remote. Some Restrictions apply. Promo Expires 1/21/23. 1-866-479-1516.

Scrap Metal, Batteries, Appliances, Wiring, Scrap Plumbing/Heating, Cars/Parts, Clean out Garages/Yards, Rake, Yard work done w/chainsaw, Certified Auto Mechanical / Body Work & paint available Also can do inside or outside cleaning 303-647-2475 / 720-323-2173

Donate Your Car to Veterans Today! Help and Support our Veterans. Fast - FREE pick up. 100% tax deductible. Call 1-800245-0398

Safe Step. North America’s #1 Walk-in tub. Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-the-line installation and service. Now featuring our free shower package & $1600 off - limited time! Financing available. 1-855-4171306

Miscellaneous

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

!!OLD GUITARS WANTED!!

GIBSON, FENDER, MARTIN, etc. 1930’s to 1980’s. TOP DOLLAR PAID.

CALL TOLL FREE 1-866-433-8277

Free high speed internet if qualified. Govt. pgm for recipients of select pgms incl. Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Assistance, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefits, Lifeline, Tribal. 15 GB internet. Android tablet free w/one-time $20 copay. Free shipping. Call Maxsip Telecom!

1-833-758-3892

Switch and save up to $250/yr on talk, text & data. No contract or hidden fees. Unlimited talk & text with flexible data plans. Premium nationwide coverage. 100% U.S. based customer service. Limited time get $50 off any new account. Use code GIFT50. 1-855-903-3048

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

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES in as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 855-761-1725

CLASSIFIED AD SALES

303-566-4100

classifieds@coloradocommunitymedia.com

SERVICE DIRECTORY ADS

Contact Erin, 303-566-4074

eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

DEADLINES

CLASSIFIED LINE ADS:

MONDAY, 5 P.M.

SERVICE DIRECTORY:

THURSDAY, 5 P.M.

LEGALS: THURSDAY, 3 P.M.

DIRECTV for $64.99/mo for 12 months with CHOICE Package. Save an additional $120 over 1st year. First 3 months of HBO Max, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz and Epix Included! Directv is #1 in Customer Satisfaction (JD Power & Assoc.) Some

Eliminate

gutter cleaning forever! LeafFilter, the most advanced debrisblocking gutter protection. Schedule free LeafFilter estimate today. 20% off Entire Purchase. 10% Senior & Military Discounts. Call 1-833-6101936

Caring for an aging loved one?

Wondering about options like seniorliving communities and in-home care? Caring.com’s Family Advisors help take the guesswork out of senior care for your family. Free, noobligation consult: 1-855-759-1407

Attention Homeowners! If you have water damage and need cleanup services, call us! We’ll get in & work with your insurance agency to get your home repaired and your life back to normal ASAP! 855-7677031

Musical Instruments

Pramberger Baby Grand Piano Ebony Black. 10 years old. Rarely Used. Excellent Condition. Perfect for a school or church.

$16,000, negotiable. Michael 303-520-1000

classifieds@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Repair,

Heating/Air

COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

CLASSIFIEDS

Helpful Ace Hardware Pro Painters is a residential painting company which specializes in exterior and interior painting. Our core values are honesty, integrity, service, quality and beauty and our focus is on delivering an outstanding customer experience. We currently include a full color consult, test pints and a detailed walkthrough with all of our paint jobs.

432-6125

PUBLIC NOTICES

provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

Phone #: (303) 706-9990

Phone #: (303) 706-9990

Legals

Public Notices call Sheree 303.566.4088

Public Trustees

PUBLIC NOTICE

RENOTICED AND REPUBLISHED PURSUANT TO CRS 38-38-109(2)(b)(II) Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2020-0065

To Whom It May Concern: On 11/10/2022 11:40:00

AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County.

Original Grantor: HARLAN BOSSMAN AND JENNIFER L. HEILBRUN

Original Beneficiary: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., AS NOMINEE FOR PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC

Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 3/11/2016

Recording Date of DOT: 3/21/2016

Reception No. of DOT: 2016016221

DOT Recorded in Douglas County.

Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt:

$423,000.00

Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $395,075.63

Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust and/or other violations of the terms thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust.

Legal Description of Real Property:

LOT 7, VILLAGES OF PARKER FILING NO. 30, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO.

Which has the address of:

11138 Oakdale Road, Parker, CO 80138

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust described herein, has filed written election and demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended.

First Publication: 1/12/2023

Last Publication: 2/9/2023

Publisher: Douglas County News Press

Dated: 11/10/2022

DAVID GILL DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee

The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

SCOTT TOEBBEN Colorado Registration #: 19011

216 16TH STREET SUITE 1210, DENVER, COLORADO 80202

Phone #: (720) 259-6710

Fax #:

Attorney File #: 18CO00085-2

*YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE

DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/

Legal Notice No. 2020-0065

First Publication: 1/12/2023

Last Publication: 2/9/2023 Publisher: Douglas County News Press

Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: the failure to make timely payments required under said Deed of Trust and the Evidence of Debt secured thereby. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust.

Legal Description of Real Property: LOT 49, STONEGATE FILING NO. 14B, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO.

Which has the address of: 9847 Centre Cir, Parker, CO 80134-3313

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust described herein, has filed written election and demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended.

First Publication: 1/19/2023

Last Publication: 2/16/2023

Publisher: Douglas County News Press

Dated: 11/21/2022

DAVID GILL DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee

The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

ILENE DELL'ACQUA

Colorado Registration #: 31755 7700 E. ARAPAHOE ROAD, SUITE 230 , CENTENNIAL, COLORADO 80112 Phone #: (877) 369-6122

Fax #: Attorney File #: CO-22-947273-LL

*YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/ Legal Notice No. 2022-0179

Publication: 2/16/2023 Publisher: Douglas County News Press PUBLIC NOTICE Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2022-0174

To Whom It May Concern: On 11/15/2022 10:36:00 AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County.

Original Grantor: NICHOLAS SIMINGTON AND BAILEY SIMINGTON

Original Beneficiary: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR AMERICAN FINANCING CORPORATION, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended.

First Publication: 1/12/2023

Last Publication: 2/9/2023

Publisher: Douglas County News Press

Dated: 11/15/2022

DAVID GILL

DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee

The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

ALISON L. BERRY

Colorado Registration #: 34531 9800 S. MERIDIAN BLVD. SUITE 400, ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO 80112 Phone #: (303) 706-9990 Fax #: (303) 706-9994

Attorney File #: 22-028606

*YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE

DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/

Legal Notice No. 2022-0174

First Publication: 1/12/2023

Last Publication: 2/9/2023

Publisher: Douglas County News Press PUBLIC NOTICE Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2022-0165

To Whom It May Concern: On 11/3/2022 9:45:00

AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County.

Original Grantor: LUCY J TONI

Original Beneficiary: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR FAIRWAY INDEPENDENT MORTGAGE CORPORATION, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: FREEDOM MORTGAGE CORPORATION

Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 2/6/2016 Recording Date of DOT: 2/14/2016 Reception No. of DOT: 2016008509

Recorded in Douglas County.

Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt: $348,000.00

Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $355,060.85

Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Borrower's failure to make timely payments as required under the Evidence of Debt and Deed of Trust.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust.

Legal Description of Real Property: LOT 15, BLOCK 3, STONEGATE FILING NO. 15D, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO

Which has the address of: 10646 Oakmoor Ct, Parker, CO 80134 NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust described herein, has filed written election and demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

Fax #: (303) 706-9994

Attorney File #: 22-028640

*YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE

DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/

Legal Notice No. 2022-0165

First Publication: 1/5/2023

Last Publication: 2/2/2023

Publisher: Douglas County News Press

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice of Unclaimed Property, Douglas County Public Trustee

To Whom It May Concern: On November 9, 2022, the real property owned by REXFORD D. EVANS located at 8404 PIONEER TRAIL, PARKER, CO 80134, was sold at the foreclosure sale conducted by the Douglas County Public Trustee. The sale number is 2022-0113. The amount the property sold for exceeded the total amount owed to the lender, MIDFIRST BANK, by $341,918.33.

This amount is now owed to REXFORD D. EVANS less the cost of this publication notice.

The legal description of the property is THE SOUTH 1/2 OF THE NORTHEAST 1/4 OF THE NORTHWEST 1/4 OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF SECTION 32, TOWNSHIP 6 SOUTH RANGE 65 WEST OF THE 6TH P.M., COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO.

To claim the funds, contact the Douglas County Public Trustee, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Co 80104, 303-660-7417. If the funds are not claimed by the owner entitled thereto before June 23, 2023, the funds will be transferred to the Colorado State Treasurer as part of the “Unclaimed Property Act”.

Legal Notice No. 2022-0113

First Publication: February 2, 2023

Last Publication: March 2, 2023

Publisher: Douglas County News-Press

PUBLIC NOTICE

Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2022-0170

To Whom It May Concern: On 11/10/2022 12:43:00

PM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County.

Original Grantor: AMY L. GILPIN

Original Beneficiary: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR BNC MORTGAGE, INC., ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, as Trustee for BNC

Mortgage Loan Trust 2007-1 Mortgage PassThrough Certificates, Series 2007-1

Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 12/13/2006

Recording Date of DOT: 12/18/2006

Reception No. of DOT: 2006108070 DOT Recorded in Douglas County. Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt: $429,267.00 Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $275,731.75

Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Borrower's failure to make timely payments as required under the Evidence of Debt and Deed of Trust.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust.

Legal Description of Real Property: LOT 9, BLOCK 1, REATA NORTH FILING NO. 3, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO

Which has the address of:

12164 S Hidden Trail Ct, Parker, CO 80138

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust described herein, has filed written election and demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

Fax #: (303) 706-9994

Attorney File #: 19-023454

*YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/

Legal Notice No. 2022-0170

First Publication: 1/12/2023

Last Publication: 2/9/2023

Publisher: Douglas County News Press Metropolitan Districts

Public Notice

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS PARK MEADOWS METROPOLITAN DISTRICT

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, and particularly, to the eligible electors of the PARK MEADOWS METROPOLITAN DISTRICT ("District") of Douglas County, Colorado.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the District will conduct a regular election on the 2nd day of May, 2023, between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. At that time, (2) two directors will be elected for a 4-year term expiring in May 2027.

In order to be a candidate for one of the director positions, a qualified individual must submit a Self-Nomination and Acceptance Form. Eligible electors of the District interested in serving on the Board of Directors may obtain a Self-Nomination and Acceptance form from the District’s Designated Election Official (DEO):

Sue Blair, DEO elections@crsofcolorado.com

Community Resource Services of Colorado 7995 East Prentice Avenue, Suite 103E Greenwood Village, CO 80111 Phone: 303-381-4960

Offices Hours: Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Self-Nomination and Acceptance Form must be returned to the Designated Election Official by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, February 24, 2023. The form can be emailed to elections@crsofcolorado.com .

A Self-Nomination and Acceptance Form that is not sufficient may be amended once at any time before 3:00 p.m. on Friday, February 24, 2023. Earlier submittal is encouraged as the deadline will not permit correcting an insufficient form if received at 5:00 p.m.

Affidavit of Intent To Be A Write-In-Candidate forms must be submitted to the office of the Designated Election Official by the close of business on Monday, February 27, 2023.

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that an application for an absentee ballot may be filed with the Designated Election Official, at the contact information referenced above, no later than the close of business on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.

PARK MEADOWS

METROPOLITAN DISTRICT

Sue Blair, Designated Election Official

Legal Notice No. 944537

First Publication: February 2, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Douglas County News-Press and the Lone Tree Voice

Bids and Settlements

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE OF CONTRACTORS SETTLEMENT COUNTY OF DOUGLAS STATE OF COLORADO

To Whom It May Concern: On 11/21/2022 3:29:00

caused

Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Borrower's failure to make timely payments as required under the Evidence of Debt and Deed of Trust.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust. Legal Description of Real Property:

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended.

First Publication: 1/12/2023

Last Publication: 2/9/2023 Publisher: Douglas County News Press

The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is: ALISON

The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Section 38-26-107, C.R.S., as amended, that on March 8, 2023, final settlement will be made by the County of Douglas, State of Colorado, for and on account of a contract between Douglas County and Kraemer North America, LLC for the Titan/ US 85 NB On-Ramp Project, Douglas County Project Number 2021-004, in Douglas County; and that any person, co-partnership, association or corporation that has an unpaid claim against said Kraemer North America for or on account of the furnishing of labor, materials, team hire, sustenance, provisions, provender or other supplies used or consumed by such contractor or any of his subcontractors in or about the performance of said work, or that supplied rental machinery, tools, or equipment to the extent used in the prosecution of said work, may at any time up to and including said time of such final settlement on said 8th day of March, 2023 file a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim with the Board of County Commissioners, c/o Director of Public Works Engineering, with a copy to the Project Engineer, Daniel R. Roberts, P.E., Department of Public Works Engineering, Philip S. Miller Building, 100 Third Street, Suite 220, Castle Rock, CO 80104.

Failure on the part of claimant to file such statement prior to such final settlement will relieve said County of Douglas from all and any liability for such claimant's claim.

The Board of Douglas County Commissioners of the County of Douglas, Colorado,

By: Janet Herman, P.E., Director of Public Works.

Legal Notice No. 944510

First Publication: February 2, 2023

Second Publication: February 9, 2023

Publisher: Douglas County News Press

Account Number: 2734