ParkerChronicle.net
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Imagine walking out of your home or work or the store, and your car isn’t where you left it. Panicked, you call the police to report a theft. at’s the scenario thousands of
VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 13 INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 |
CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 22
Coloradans have likely endured in recent years as motor vehicle thefts have become a notoriously common crime in the state.
State lawmakers want to change that, putting forth a bill with support from Republicans and Democrats that would tighten the penalty for auto theft. Local law enforcement leaders, too, are on board.
“Stolen vehicles in the state of Colorado is the nexus for many crimes in our communities,” said
Douglas County Sheri Darren Weekly. “Many people who are intent on committing crimes, be it burglaries, robberies, homicide, or breaking into other vehicles to get valuables from those vehicles or sell those vehicles on the black market or to fuel a drug habit, they often do that in a stolen vehicle.”
Colorado’s number of attempted and completed auto thefts stayed relatively consistent from 2008 to 2014 but started rising in the next
Garrett Pickrel, a U.S. Navy sailor turned IT professional turned woodworker, is expanding his business’s presence in Colorado with a showroom in Parker.
“I’m super stoked that I have a storefront,” Pickrel, owner of Blacksheep Woods, told Colorado Community Media. Located at the corner of Dransfeldt Road and Parkglenn Way, the 2,500-squarefoot space — lled with hunks of fragrant wood and a handful of nished tables — opened to the public in January.
Blacksheep Woods creates custom wood counters, bars, replace mantels and tables for its custom-
ers. Many of the projects incorporate the uncut or “live edge” of a tree and colored epoxy as part of the design. e company also sells slabs of hardwood like black walnut, white oak and sycamore to other woodworkers.
“We pay attention to every aspect of our job, and we are very meticulous about picking out something that is going to last, something
few years. After attening again, the number boomed amid the coronavirus pandemic, more than doubling from 22,000 in 2019 to 45,000 last year, according to Colorado’s database of reported crimes. e state has become known for the problem: Colorado led the nation in 2021 with the highest overall vehicle theft rate at 661 thefts per 100,000 people, according to the
SEE THEFT, P2
800 have taken part
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COMe Parker Police Department’s Citizens Academy is more than showing residents what police ofcers do. e academy takes a dive into every aspect of the law enforcement agency and allows residents to give feedback.
“It’s been like opening the doors so you can kind of see behind the curtains on how this all works,” said Commander Chris Peters. “Getting feedback is the essence of the citizens academy.”
With 40 people participating per session, the Parker Citizens Academy has had nearly 800 graduate from the 15-week program.
One night a week, participants hear from police o cers and those who work in the crime scene unit, dispatch sta and victims advocates.
When residents have questions or concerns about how the department is doing something, Peters said instructors should be charged with taking those comments back to those divisions or sections.
“For us to be legitimate in Parker, we need to do what Parker wants us to do,” said Peters.
e program focuses on criminal law, mounted patrol, evidence, dispatch, tra c laws, DUI laws, accident reconstruction, K-9’s, and youth education programs. ere is also an optional opportunity to go to
Sheri s support it, others do not
doesn’t make sense,” state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat, said in a news release. She added: “A stolen car represents much more than stolen property — it impacts people’s ability to get to work, shop for groceries and live their daily lives.”
If state Senate Bill 23-097 passes, the penalties for auto theft would no longer be based on the value of the vehicle stolen. e proposal would make most auto theft a felony regardless of the vehicle’s value.
Some portion of what would be misdemeanors — on the low end of stolen vehicle value — would then be treated as felonies, but Weekly said he had not seen speci cs on what percentage of thefts would be classi ed di erently.
Arapahoe County Sheri Tyler Brown also did not know. But Brown, another supporter of the bill, highlighted another change he says would strengthen accountability.
“We’re seeing a lot of people in stolen cars saying, ‘Oh, I just bor-
rowed this car from so and so — I didn’t know it was stolen,’” Brown said.
If the vehicle is in a situation that would make a “reasonable person” likely to know it was stolen, the bill makes it easier for authorities to charge that person, Brown said.
Pasko argued the bill doesn’t address the “front end” of why people are stealing cars.
A web of influences
Pasko, who wrote a commentary on recent media coverage of the increase in Colorado’s crime rates, pointed to a range of factors that can in uence crime.
“As we have long known, increase in crime is tied with housing insecurity, drug misuse and abuse, gun sales, unemployment and joblessness, mental health struggles, family disruption and violence, as well as fewer youth in school, (and) lower consumer con dence,” Pasko
wrote.
Many people are stealing cars to live in them, a problem that could re ect how una ordable the Denver area is to live in, she told Colorado Community Media.
“We see evidence of living in (stolen cars) including drug use. We also see the drug of choice here is meth,” Pasko said.
Sometimes there are habitual o enders, Pasko said, “but they are not the ones accounting for thousands and thousands of car thefts. It’s just not possible.”
Weekly spoke to the pattern of repeat o enders in his jurisdiction in Douglas County.
“ ey’re out on bond very quickly, and they’re going out and committing auto theft again,” Weekly said.
Pasko pointed to other historical periods in the 1970s, `80s and `90s in evaluating crime policies.
“We’ve done this same thing, which is increase penalties, increase jail time and increase incarceration, and it’s never given us the results we want,” Pasko said.
She added: “We need police, jails, and prison, for sure. But we need more front-end services too, to avoid crime in the rst place.”
Brown, a Democrat, pointed to the need for those kinds of services, noting the lack of “community bedspace” for people going through mental health crisis and the lack of mental health clinicians to help with those situations.
“People that are struggling with mental health don’t have the resources they need, and then there’s certain times — and it’s not all the time — but there are certain times when they’re self-medicating and they’re involved in these activities that can fall into the categories that we’re talking about,” said Brown, who noted the problem of people getting involved in the “illicit drug
trade.”
It’s important to expose people to programs for recovery, Brown said. Weekly, a Republican, pointed to programs in the Douglas County jail.
“I do think that obviously the drug issues play a big factor into (crime), mental health issues play a big factor into this. But at the end of the day, they can get drug treatment quite frankly in a detention setting. ey can get mental health treatment in a detention setting,” Weekly said.
e Douglas County jail has a “very robust” drug treatment program, Weekly said.
“We don’t just put people in jail and let them languish — not in my jail. ere’s a lot of programs that can help them get back on their feet and live a productive life,” he added.
He felt a harsher approach in criminal penalties is necessary to get people o a criminal path.
“My perspective is at the end of the day, people are responsible for their actions,” Weekly said.
Another part of the solution to addressing crime could be adding more o cers in the right places, according to Pasko, which can be di cult amid police experiencing hiring issues.
“Denver did hot spot policing with positive results in the past few years. Instead of patrol broadly in high-crime areas, really zone in on the hot spots, including some problem-oriented approaches,” Pasko said.
Weekly agreed that putting more o cers on patrol is critical.
“ at is one of my goals as sheri ,” Weekly said. “I am putting more deputies and marked cars on the street. at’s what I’m focusing on is the fundamentals.”
e proposed legislation also includes a “joy-ride” provision that would make it a misdemeanor to use a vehicle without the owner’s permission as long as the car is returned within 24 hours without damage and only minor trafc o enses were committed, e Colorado Sun reported. A second and subsequent conviction for the joy-ride o ense would be a felony, however.
‘Not only is it unfair, it simply doesn’t make sense. A stolen car represents much more than stolen property — it impacts people’s ability to get to work, shop for groceries and live their daily lives.’
State Sen. Rachel Zenzinger
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
e mailings from an unknown source criticizing Douglas County Commissioner Lora omas continue, according to images omas provided Colorado Community Media in mid-February.
e postcard calls out what it says is “conduct unbecoming (of) an elected o cial.”
Starting in December, an unknown number of Douglas County residents received postcards that accused omas of wasting taxpayers’ time and money.
One part of the newer mailing references a news story about omas threatening to take legal action unless the county agrees to pay for her legal bills stemming from an ongoing dispute that involved investigations of omas.
Another part of the newer mailing criticizes other matters involving omas, citing older news articles.
An earlier postcard reads “You’re being scrooged by Lora omas” and asks voters to support state Sen. Kevin Van Winkle to replace omas. omas is term limited and can’t run for her commissioner seat again.
Abe Laydon, one of the other two commissioners who make policy decisions for the county, said he
does not know who paid for the postcards and that the postcards do not have any connection to
him.
He has received at least some of the postcards at his home address, he said.
“I know that our citizens expect good governance and positive upstream work, and negative campaigns undermine the credibility of our work, from my perspective,” Laydon said.
Complaint dismissed
omas took the issue to the Colorado Secretary of State’s O ce, ling a complaint in January because a postcard did not include a paid-for-by disclaimer and doesn’t indicate who sent the mailers outside of the postage license naming Vistaprint, a Nevada printing company.
e secretary of state’s o ce ruled the postcards did not violate campaign nance laws because there’s no evidence Vistaprint paid for the postcards and the postcards were mailed after the election. e ruling also found no evidence that the mailers cost more than $1,000, which is the threshold for requiring a paid-for-by disclaimer on election materials.
In its response to the complaint, Vistaprint’s attorney said 153 postcards were ordered for a total of $248 but didn’t provide information about who the customer was.
ough one of the postcards
omas identi ed in her complaint encouraged voters to support Van Winkle to replace her,
omas has said she con rmed with Van Winkle that he is not paying for the mailers.
Asked whether the postcards affect the commissioners’ ability to put personal issues aside, Laydon said the betterment of the county is “always my top priority.”
“I came into 2023 as the board
chair asking the board and our sta to focus on upstream, positive, civil discussion,” Laydon said. He added: “And disagreement is ne. I think it’s normal for a board of county commissioners to disagree, but what’s inappropriate is incivility.”
Commissioner George Teal did not return Colorado Community Media’s call for comment regarding the mailings.
Legal layers
e legal dispute referenced by the newer mailing stems from an investigation Teal and Laydon initiated after accusing omas of circulating an anonymous letter that criticized speci c employees in the Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce, allegedly creating a hostile work environment. ey also accused her of emailing county legal representation with a request not authorized by the full board.
e $17,000 investigation into omas by outside legal counsel found that while omas had distributed the letter, doing so did not create a hostile work environment. It also found she did direct legal representation to provide her with information the board had determined to keep secret.
omas appeared in a CBS Colorado news story in July discussing the con dential report that showed the results of the investigation, prompting the Douglas County government’s attorney to nd that omas could have broken the law by doing so.
A second investigation ordered by Laydon and Teal — this time conducted by the Arapahoe County Sheri ’s O ce — did not nd probable cause to believe that omas committed the crime of rst-degree o cial misconduct.
ose who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, bene ts will see a reduction in monthly totals after February as emergency allotments are slated to end.
Part of a federal nutrition program, SNAP helps low-income households in Colorado purchase food by providing monthly bene ts based on income, resources and the number of individuals in the household.
In March 2020, in an e ort to ease the nancial impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on households, Congress approved temporary bene t amounts known as Emergency Allotments.
At the end of February, SNAP bene ts will not disappear but bene t amounts will go down to pre-pandemic levels.
According to the Colorado Department of Human Services, the last emergency allotment bene t was delivered this month.
According to a report released by the Colorado Department of Human Services, the SNAP program caseload for Douglas County for 2022 was 3,549, with a client count of 6,998. is includes non-public assistance and public assistance.
Many people don’t feel Douglas
County has this need but Executive Director of SECORCares Mark Heistand said it is prevalent in the community.
“ e county’s always like ‘we’re one of the… whatever… fth richest counties in the United States,’ well yes, we may be per capita income, but we have our friends and neighbors that are right next to us and are experiencing all sorts of life issues,” said Heistand. “ ere are people that are deciding between paying the rent or purchasing groceries or paying a medical bill.”
SECORCares is a nonpro t organization that provides food and nancial assistance to Elbert, Arapahoe
and Douglas counties.
On an average day, SECORCare will serve 400 to 500 people and on Saturdays they serve up to 3,000 people. Of those served, about 35 to 40% are Douglas County residents according to Heistand.
e Colorado Department of Human Services estimates an average reduction of $90 per person each
“So it’s a pretty hefty drop o happening, at the same time we are seeing kind of these record highs in grocery prices,” said Brie Dilley, director of philanthropy at SECORCares. “Along with all of the economic instability that we’re seeing across all of the di erent socioeconomic statuses. It feels a little bit like the straw that’s gonna break the camel’s back.”
Not only will the reduction in bene t amounts impact residents, it will also impact organizations like SECORCares that serve the community.
e increase in grocery prices will a ect the amount of resources these types of organizations receive. About 30 to 40% of the food that SECORCares passes out depends on donations they receive from grocery stores and partners.
SECORCares grocery rescue program includes items such as cans of beans, vegetables and rice.
“What happens is our guests then don’t have the ability to pick up the kind of food that they normally get,” said Heistand. “So it’s compounded
by the fact that we no longer have a lot of pre-rescue food coming in, in order to give our hosts and their guests the amount of food they need.”
In addition to SECORCares, Douglas County provides various food, medical and nancial assistance programs.
Rochelle Schlortt of Catholic Charities of Central Colorado said there is not just one program that can o set the reduction of SNAP bene ts.
“It will require a re-examination of a family’s entire budget,” said Schlortt. “Looking at where income can be increased, where expenses can be reduced, how families can change meal planning to lower meal costs, tapping into monthly supplemental programs, shopping pantries, couponing and taking advantage of grocery sales.”
Heistand said there has already been a trend developing in the number of people coming in for assistance.
“I don’t think we know for sure what kind of impact we’re going to see,” said Heistand. “And if that trend stays like it is and then we add on top of this, this reduction in the amount of money that folks are going to have for groceries, it could be critical very quick.”
e Colorado Department of Human Services provides tips for families to make the transition. Tips include rolling over unused SNAP bene ts to the next month and stock up on non-perishable items.
“sex determines win-share.”
A number of trans and non-binary athletes rallied to defeat legislation that would have required athletes to participate in sports based on sex assigned at birth.
On Feb. 13, the State, Civic, Veterans and Military A airs Committee killed HB23-1098, or the Women’s Rights in Athletics bill, in an 8-3 vote. e bill would have required Colorado sports organizations to offer male, female and coeducational teams, restricting athletes to the team that matches their sex assigned at birth.
Speaking against the bill, Brayden Parsons, a Douglas County student, said he felt it would hurt athletes of all identities by introducing unnecessary obstacles.
“I’ve learned that a team is a place for everyone to come together, a place for people to push each other and a place where everybody makes themselves both a better athlete and a better person,” Parsons said. “I can tell you from experience that a team is not a place for barriers and it is not a place for hate. A team is not a place for discrimination, homophobia or transphobia.”
Sponsored by Douglas County Representatives Brandi Bradley and Lisa Frizell, the Women’s Rights in Athletics bill claimed to protect female students’ rights in athletics.
Frizell and Bradley said the intent is to support Title IX and insisted the bill wasn’t discriminatory.
“ is is a bill about fairness and women being able to compete in sports on a level playing eld safely and successfully,” Frizell said. “I worry that in many sports the physical and physiological di erences of post-puberty trans women give them an unfair advantage over biologically-born women.”
Bradley said she brought the bill forward because of biological di erences between sexes, asserting that
If approved, the bill would have prohibited a governmental entity from investigating or taking action on complaints of discrimination against trans or nonbinary athletes. It would also allow athletes to sue organizations that allow trans and nonbinary athletes to compete on gendered teams.
A handful of people spoke in support of the bill, including Riley Gaines, an NCAA swimmer who competed and tied against Lia omas, a trans athlete, in the 200-meter race last year.
“Although the NCAA claims it acted in the name of inclusion, its policies in fact excluded female athletes,” Gaines said.
After two hours of testimony, a majority of legislators opposed the bill. Rep. Kyle Brown, D-Boulder, said it would further stigmatize and discriminate against trans and nonbinary athletes.
A recent survey done by the Trevor Project found that 85% of trans and non-binary youth say legislation targeting their rights has negatively impacted mental health.
In a public statement, Douglas County’s only Democratic representative, Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch, said the bill was misnamed as it had no legitimate purpose and it addressed no real issue or problem regarding women’s rights in athletics.
He said that the primary sponsors could not provide a case where the bill would apply in Colorado, calling it a solution searching for a problem.
“It’s disappointing that the entire Douglas County GOP State House delegation sponsored a messaging bill meant to attack transgender kids’ right to exist,” Marshall said in a press release.
Marshall added that the bill was a distraction from the necessary work that needs to be done such as increasing teacher compensation, improving water quality and ensuring equal treatment for disabled veterans.
BY SARAH MULHOLLAND
ere is a little bit of good news for consumers who’ve watched prices for just about everything tick up dramatically — prices are now rising more slowly in Denver as federal regulators try to keep in ation in check.
An index that measures prices for everything from gasoline and groceries to airplane tickets and housing increased by 6.4 percent in January compared to 2022, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. at’s down from an annual increase of 6.9 percent in November, the last time the rate was calculated. At this time last year, prices were surging more than 9 percent in Denver. e trajectory mirrors the national trend, with U.S. prices up 6.5 percent in January. at’s good news for consumers that have watched the bills for everyday items grow unabated for more than a year. But still, in ation is stuck far higher than the government’s target rate of between 2 percent and 3 percent.
In the Denver region — which includes Adams, Arapahoe, Broomeld, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, Je erson and Park counties — prices for a lot of things remain stubbornly high, even if
they’re not rising as fast as a year ago. For instance, fruits and vegetables cost almost 13 percent more than they did at the same time last year. And household energy bills are up more than 13 percent. On the ip side, used car prices have fallen more than 10 percent.
Since November, prices for food broadly speaking are up 2 percent and used car prices are down about 4 percent.
Newly released data on spending in the U.S. shows that retail sales jumped in January, meaning people remain largely undeterred by how expensive things are. While that’s good news for the overall economy, it’s not great news when it comes to putting the brakes on in ation.
e persistent price increases mean the Federal Reserve is likely to keep raising interest rates, making it more expensive to borrow money and slowing demand for large purchases that many people take out loans to buy. e central bank’s efforts have already slowed demand in the housing market. Home prices in Denver, Colorado’s largest housing market, are down about 1 percent since last year, after a record-setting run of double-digit gains during the pandemic.
is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t news source. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.
Accomplished sculptor Rosalind Cook breathes art and passion into Vi at Highlands Ranch by sharing her love for art through teaching classes that allow others to creatively express themselves.
As Cook and her husband got into their seventies, Cook sold her art studio and home in Tulsa, Oklahoma and moved permanently to Colorado.
With a home in the mountains and her children in Denver, Cook and her husband spend the winter at Vi at Highlands Ranch, a senior living community.
Taking her experience from teaching sculpting classes throughout the country, Cook recently taught an acrylic painting class at Vi.
“I thought, you know what… they have this great art studio at Vi and they’re just a few people that come in and do a little watercolor and I thought, I want to shake things up a bit and do some big sort of impressionistic acrylics,” said Cook.
Hoping to let people loosen up, laugh and have fun, participants were also served wine, ice tea and appetizers.
Cook was so inspired by the class that she plans to do an art class each month at Vi, including a class
for the sta .
“People just loved it and laughed and every one of them felt so good about their own work,” said Cook.
“A gentleman in there who has had a stroke and he could only paint with one hand, it was one of the most creative of all the paintings.”
Cook encouraged each person to do what they felt like, which is why the class was based on impressionism, not realism.
“ e rst thing I have them do is have an imaginary trash can, so all the ‘I can’ts’ or ‘I won’t be able to compare mine to someone’ - all that gets put in an imaginary trash can and taken out of the room and then we can start having fun.” said Cook.
Cook’s passion for art, especially sculpting, began after she had her rst child and she started taking classes.
“I describe it as the ‘aha’ of my life,” said Cook. “It was like something I knew was going to be a part of my life.”
While raising three children, sculpting was just a hobby. As the children got older, Cook took the medium more seriously and began studying sculptors such as Glenna Goodcare, who did the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.
Cook’s art career started when she entered some art shows and soon got accepted into some galleries.
“ en I wanted to move into lifesize work and so I had to go back and ll in some empty holes,” said Cook.
of a summer in Italy, studying the work of famous sculptors. Faces, emotion and movement were captured in Cook’s 30 year career.
Among many tremendous sculptures, Cook has done com-
life-size sculptures for Compassion International in Colorado Springs as well as for the Cleveland Heart Clinic.
“It’s like there was something so intrinsically ful lling,” said Cook. “I always feel like my work is coming through me and not from me.”
South Metro Fire Rescue, a re rescue authority that serves approximately 560,000 people in the south Denver metro area, will hold an election this spring to select four members of its board of directors. e agency will accept self-nominations through Feb. 24. e agency covers many cities and towns, including Bow Mar, Castle Pines, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Columbine Valley, Fox eld, Greenwood Village, Littleton, Lone Tree and Parker, along with nearby unincorporated portions of Arapahoe, Je erson, and Douglas counties.
South Metro Fire Rescue is governed by a seven-member board of directors who are publicly elected and oversee an annual budget of more than $127 million, according to the agency’s website.
Each board member represents a speci c geographical portion of the overall re district, known as a director district, the agency explained in a 2020 governing body document.
Four of the directors’ terms expire
in 2023, including Sue Roche of District 1, Jim Albee of District 3, Cindy Hathaway of District 4 and Renee Anderson of District 5.
e agency announced the election will be held May 2 and it will be a mail ballot election.
Ballots will be mailed to all eligible electors between April 11 and April 18, per the agency’s website. ere will not be an election precinct or polling place, but ballots can be dropped o at 9195 E. Mineral Ave. in Centennial, according to the agency’s resolution about the election.
e director position is a fouryear term and people can nominate themselves for one of the four open seats. According to the agency’s website, all candidates must complete a self-nomination form and either email the completed form to DEO@southmetro.org or hand deliver the form to 9195 E. Mineral Ave.
Residents who are interested in learning more about the election and how to become a candidate can nd information, including the self-nomination form, at bit.ly/ southmetronom. ose who wish to check which district they live in and who represents them can visit: bit. ly/southmetromap.
Be among the first to receive news as it happens. Sign up and select your specific news focus and delivery preferences and make sure to follow Douglas County on Nextdoor, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Visit the Live Town Hall page to sign-up and receive Town Hall notifications to ensure you are contacted to participate in future community conversations about topics important to you. Both services are free, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Don’t wait, sign up now! Visit, douglas.co.us
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Eligible low-income households in Douglas County may apply for energy assistance through the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP). For more information, visit douglas.co.us and search LEAP or email LEAPHELP@discovermygoodwill.org
Do you have hazardous waste from a painting project, old oil from your car’s maintenance, or other waste from your recent DIY project? This curbside service is available to Douglas County residents for $30. For details call 1-800-4497587 or visit douglas.co.us and search Household Waste Management.
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
Emergency assistance is available for veterans struggling with housing (mortgage/rent), transportation, employment, healthcare or other emergency needs. To apply for the veteran assistance funds, visit douglasveterans.org or call 303-663-6200
4 board members up
that’s beautiful,” the 35-year-old from Elizabeth said of the work Blacksheep Woods does.
When it comes to procuring wood, Pickrel said he tries to be a good steward of the land.
“A tree is an amazing thing to me. I love trees,” Pickrel said. “I don’t like it when dudes just go knock down trees because they think there’s money in it. A good live tree just kind of needs to be there.”
So Pickrel typically buys his slabs — long, lengthwise cuts from large tree trunks — from small businesses with sustainable practices. He said he looks for folks that are not clear cutting but are, instead, removing trees that are already dead.
Wood from these trees often have knots, holes or other irregularities that result in slabs with more character and beauty than average, run-of-the-mill lumber, according to Pickrel.
“ ey’re a lot funner to work with,” he said.
While someone in his family was always building something where he grew up in rural Colorado, Pickrel himself hasn’t always been in the woodworking business. He spent four years in the Navy before getting a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems and pursuing a career in information technology.
But, ultimately, IT wasn’t the right path for him, so he left the industry eight years ago and started “making more sawdust” at his father’s sawmill, Mountain Heart Woodworks,
in Elbert. In time, Pickrel started his own business designing and constructing custom wood furniture alongside his father’s operation.
“We work really closely together out there. … ere’s a strong tie between us and Mountain Heart Woodworks,” he said.
e showroom in Parker is an extension of the wood shop and sawmill in Elbert and gives Blacksheep Woods a presence in the Denver metro area.
Already a part of the woodworking community, Pickrel looks forward to becoming a part of the Parker community as well. More than a location to sell his wares, Pickrel hopes the new storefront evolves into a place where people that love wood can come out and enjoy it and each other — whether they’re a woodworker, a builder, an interior designer or retail customer.
“I want it to be a cool place to come to, not just a regular old business,” he said.
The Highlands Ranch Cultural Affairs Association is proud to present our ever-popular Winter Cultural Series. Please join us for this four-part, family friendly series, all showcasing unique local talent that is sure to entertain the whole family!
the law enforcement rearms training facility.
According to Peters, the academy has become more diverse and has had younger participants in recent years.
All applicants are subject to a background check. ose not allowed to participate in the academy cannot have any felony conviction, any sexual assault against an adult or child at any time or any domestic violence conviction.
Peters said as the department expands, there is a possibility for some restrictions to be reduced.
“I think there are some people that may have had a checkered past that would bene t from having a citizens academy under their belt,” said Peters. “And just kind of getting to know what this industry is about.” e academy typically consists of those interested in policing. However, Peters would like to see people in the academy who have had some negative experiences with the police.
“Who I want to attend the citizens academy are people who just aren’t sure about the police,” said Peters. “I can give them a bunch of answers on why we do what we do and here’s what we do and then people can go make their own decisions.”
Some graduates from the academy have continued on to become police o cers themselves.
Although no one has gone through the Parker Citizens Academy and became an o cer locally, there are people who have gone through the academy and work within the department.
Graduates have also gone on to join the Citizens O ering Parker Police Support, which has become a nonpro t organization.
“ ey do roadway cleanups, they do fundraising,” said Peters. “I know they help with vet bills for our horses and donate money for our annual award ceremony.”
When the department looked at their policies during Colorado’s Law Enforcement Accountability Act, the group o ered feedback.
e Parker Police Department also o ers a one week teen citizens academy each summer.
e curriculum is di erent from the adult academy. e teen academy includes becoming familiar with the SWAT team, K-9’s, horses and going on car rides.
“You don’t have to be in high school, you could be homeschooled or whatever your situation is,” said Peters. “You just have to be high school aged.”
To register for the adult citizens academy, individuals must be connected to Parker. e spring academy is full, but there is also a fall academy.
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In Arapahoe County and Douglas County we are watching a tale of two school districts unfold. at tale is all about how teachers are compensated and what it will all mean as the scenarios play out.
On one side, in Douglas County, you have a situation where voters said no to a mill levy that would have resulted in teachers getting pay raises. In November, voters pretty soundly rejected the measure.
Whether it was because they were still feeling a little saucy over how the school board handled the termination of the former superintendent, or, just didn’t want more money to go to the government, even if it is a school district, doesn’t matter. What matters is it did not happen and the district, which is located in the ninth richest county in the nation, is paying a teacher a starting salary of just over $43,000.
I have to give credit to Superintendent Erin Kane and the school board — they didn’t let the election rejection halt discussions. ey are trying to be creative in what to do next. e most recent discussion centers around having a ordable housing built just for teachers. at means low-income apartments.
However, the problem here is besides paying teachers like crap, the current messaging throughout Douglas County seems to also be against building a ordable housing.
Without a ordable housing, good teachers, good cops and the much-needed working class is going to disappear. at leads us to neighboring Arapahoe County. Arapahoe County is home to another large school district, Cherry Creek. Cherry Creek seems to be a lot more focused on keeping good teachers and recruiting new ones.
It’s no secret there is a teacher shortage not just in Colorado but nationwide. ere are not enough substitutes, certi ed teachers and paraprofessionals at any level. at means districts who treat teachers better are going to at least fare better as the battle to meet sta ng levels drags on.
Recently, Cherry Creek opted to pay teachers a starting salary of $57,000. Let’s put that in perspective. If you are a teacher currently working in Douglas County but can’t a ord to live there — you are likely to drive from a metro city to the north. If you were a teacher in Douglas County driving past Cherry Creek to teach for $14,000 a year less — would you stay? Would you want to keep going to a district where the residents outright said no to you having a better life?
e e ect of what is happening is going to become clear in years down the road. Douglas County might go from being the ninth richest with one of the best school districts in the nation to much worse.
ink about the good families currently raising their kids in Douglas County. Parents are going to start looking at whether or not their children are receiving a quality education. If they realize the neighboring district not only pays teachers more but provides students a better education because their good teachers went there — they too are going to leave.
Who can blame them? As parents, we want our kids to have the best education possible. I moved from another state for that very reason, to make sure my adopted daughter got the education she deserves. Other parents will do the same even if it means moving one district over.
In Cherry Creek, teachers are going to feel more appreciated. ey are going to feel as though residents believe in them and they are going to work for those students even as times are tough.
In Douglas County, teachers are receiving a clear message that while the school board and superintendent are doing their best with the resources they have — their best may not be good enough to stay.
elma Grimes is the south metro editor for Colorado Community Media.
LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com
While working with one of our clients, I had the opportunity to observe an interaction between a leader and someone on their team. We had all been working on a project that spanned several months, and the leader was an integral part of making the project a huge success as they battled behind the scenes removing roadblocks, pushing decisions through and advancing timelines.
When it was announced that the project was nished and considered a huge success, the leader was asked to share a few words on an all-company meeting. As she began to talk about the project, she started by naming each and every person who contributed to the success that the team had achieved. Not only did she mention everyone by name, but she also included something special about everyone’s contribution. She even went as far as saying she played a very small role, if any role at all.
In a world where many strive for attention or are OK with receiving the accolades for the hard work of the people around them or on their team, it was so refreshing to witness such humility. You can probably guess that she has a very loyal team with hardly any turnover at all.
Humility isn’t only about giving others the proper credit, it’s also being humble enough to admit when we have made mistakes. Now just as some like to receive the accolades and take credit for work they did not do, there are some people who refuse to admit their mistakes, instead nding a way to blame others. And just as the leader described above who developed a loyal following, the leader who takes the credit and who shifts the blame on
ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com
others will soon nd themselves with no one left to lead.
I love this quote by Ezra Taft Benson, “With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings.” Pride can be a dangerous thing. When it is about the satisfaction we feel when we have achieved a goal or realized a dream, that can be inspiring. It becomes dangerous when it leads to egotistical and narcissistic behavior. I heard it said that egotism is the only disease that makes everyone else sick except the person carrying the disease.
We are leaders in some way, even if it means we are leading ourselves for now. ere are many traits that today’s leader must try and master as they grow personally and/or professionally. Leading with character, empathy, integrity, honesty, transparency, vulnerability, a servant’s heart, courage, respect and humility, just to name a few. Again, in a “me” centered world, humility shows up last or sometimes not at all. Whether we are leading at home, at work, in our community or in our house of worship, humility shows up when we start to live in a “we” centered world.
e Merriam-Webster de nes humility as freedom from pride or arrogance: the quality or state of being humble. Where leaders or people striving for success sometimes make the mistake is that they believe they need to
SEE NORTON, P13
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Th e healthcare needs of older adults are unique. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 85% of older adults have at least one chronic health condition. While medical advances have made a huge di erence in the treatment and management of chronic diseases, prevention is a critical piece of healthy aging. A healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and a nutritious diet, along with regular preventive screenings and visits, can help mature adults increase the number of years lived in good health.
For some people, a trip to the doctor’s o ce equates to a quick physical examination, a discussion of medical history and the symptoms of a current condition, and a prescription for some type of medication. While medications certainly help when it comes to things that require antibiotics or treatments for speci c viruses, other types of prescription medications may cover the symptoms rather than healing the underlying condition.
Two types of treatments that are bene cial to the overall health of
be seen as always being strong, showing their strength by being strongwilled. ey confuse anything less with being seen as meek or weak. e reality is that some of the strongest leaders in history have also been the humblest.
Humility is not just a necessary quality of leadership, it is often an overlooked quality of success in whatever we endeavor to do. Successful salespeople show humility as they give their surrounding team credit for the sale. e humble spouse who gives credit to their better half. e teacher
Colorado Community Media welcomes letters to the editor. Please note the following rules:
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older adults will be the focus of the April 6 presentation at the Seniors’ Council of Douglas County meeting. e presenters are specialists at Rocky Vista Health Center in Parker, Colorado. e meeting is free and open to the public from 10-11:30 am at Canvas Credit Union, 9990 Park Meadows Drive, Lone Tree.
Osteopathic Manipulative (OMM) is a great complement to traditional medical techniques, including drug therapy and surgery. OMM takes a holistic approach to the diagnosis and treatment of medical issues throughout the body. It is a therapeutic application of careful, manual pressure or force on an a ected area of the body. If a patient is experiencing issues with a certain organ, a trained OMM physician may examine for structural problems in the spinal column since these problems can radiate outward and cause dysfunction in various organs. e treatment may include manipulation of bones and joints which may be the root cause of illness,
or coach who gives all the credit to the student or player for putting in all the hard work. e faithful who gives God all the credit, honor, and glory for their blessings.
Life is so much easier when we live, work, and love from a position of humility. As always, I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com. And when we learn to live a humble life, putting pride aside to achieve lasting success, 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.
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injury, or pain. Trained physicians may use several osteopathic manipulative techniques to treat their patients. ese techniques will be discussed and demonstrated by JP Krueger, M.D., who is specialty trained in OMM, during the April 6 presentation.
e feet are one of the most important parts of the human body. ey are constantly helping us stand, walk, run, or perform other movements we do throughout the day. Additionally, they help maintain balance, allowing us to walk upright. A podiatrist is a doctor who specializes in caring for the foot and ankle, including the bones, muscles, ligaments, and other parts of the lower extremities. Podiatrists also treat symptoms of peripheral vascular disease and neuropathies which can cause numbness and pain in the feet.
Zach Weis DPM is an experienced podiatrist, who will present on treatment of the feet, with emphasis on signs and symptoms of peripheral vascular disease.
is article was prepared by Lisa Varga, Liaison for Rocky Vista
JP
Health Center. Seniors’ Council of Douglas County generally meets the rst ursday of the month at locations throughout Douglas County. Contact Seniors’ Council at dcseniorlife@douglas.co.us. For current information on meetings and activities, visit www.douglas. co.us/community-services/services/ senior-services/seniors-council/.
On a ursday night in late January, dozens of people walked past displays of tarot cards and crystals towards a dim room at the back of Full Moon Books in Lakewood. A man at the room’s entrance asked them each to remove their shoes. e smell of burnt sage lled the air.
For a while, people mingled. e event was not to start until 7 p.m., and stragglers arrived until moments before the doors closed. When it was time, a woman wearing a pink velvet robe asked everyone to sit in a circle.
“For all the new people, this is where we’re all going to get naked,” the woman joked. Everyone laughed, and she continued, “ ere will be none of that. is is just a really fun, safe event.”
Danny Neifert, a facilitator of an event called Tantra Speed Date, was playing with the stereotypical understanding of the word “tantra.” For many people, the term brings sex to mind. Although tantra is a spiritual practice that includes sexuality, Neifert said it has more to do with connection.
“Tonight, for the sake of simplicity, we’re just going to swap out the word ‘tantra’ with ‘connection,’” she said to the group. “It’s about connecting to yourself, connecting to the person that’s standing in front of you, connecting to the room, connecting to the building, the soil, the snow, the stars — you ll in the blank in a way that makes sense to you.”
For the next several hours, the attendees took turns rotating from person to person, doing mindful activities with a new partner at each station. At one, a partner mirrored the others’ physical actions. Next, strangers gave each other back massages. Some stations involved speaking — about gratitude, letting go or joy — and at others, people danced.
is event is one of several forms of speed dating in the metro Denver area, where singles are stepping out of their comfort zones to nd hope,
chemistry — and maybe even love — beyond the screens and swiping of modern dating.
Paying attention
Guy Shahar is a founder of e Tantra Institute, a New York-based company that aims to help people become “better lovers” through sacred sexuality. e company teaches courses about sexuality, tantra and relationship skills, in addition to hosting events like Tantra Speed Date.
Since 2017, Tantra Speed Date has hosted over 550 events in 40 cities for attendees of all ages.
“Most of the stations are really just about (giving) people instructions that show them how to put their attention on each other,” Shahar said about the speed dating event.
In his eyes, lack of attention is the number one challenge people face in modern dating, partly because of technology and partly because of the number of potential partners.
“A hundred years ago, who could you date? e people from your neighborhood, the people around you,” he said. “Now you can date anybody in the world… You open up any of those dating apps and you could be swiping on a di erent person in less than a second.”
His speed dating event, he said, is designed to put people in situations where they must focus on each other.
“Like a mirroring exercise, right?” he said. “I’m watching you, and I’m responding to what you’re doing… My attention is on you… Getting people to bring their attentions to each other is a really beautiful way to fool them into connection and intimacy.”
Once people surrender to paying full attention, Shahar said it’s easier to tell if there is chemistry between them.
After the initial connection, Shahar said other things become important as a relationship continues.
“ at connection isn’t necessarily compatibility,” he said. “You might have an amazing connection, or let’s say amazing chemistry… but their habits might be totally not compatible with yours. If you want a sustaining relationship, then you need to nd some points of compatibility or you need to be able to work with habits.”
at being said, Shahar thinks having the opportunity to initially sense a
connection is a powerful way to see if there’s any potential with a person.
“(To) just start your relationship o with that kind of intimacy and connection just seems like a really great, really beautiful way to get yourself o on the right foot,” he said.
For speed dating skeptics, it may seem improbable that a person could have any sense of real connection after an encounter that lasts only a matter of minutes.
Dr. Randi Smith, a practicing psychologist and psychology professor at Metro State University Denver, said a few minutes might not be enough to tell a lot about a potential partner –but it can show some things.
“ ere’s some really recent research that suggests that we’re able to pick up on somebody’s relationship anxiety, their attachment anxiety, in a very brief interaction,” she said. “So can we predict whether this relationship will have legs, whether it will have a future? Probably not, but we might be able to weed out some people whose anxiety might prevent them from
having a good relationship with us.”
In addition, Smith said quick interactions can give people a sense of physical attraction and even immediate emotional attraction based on how it feels to talk to a potential partner.
On a deeper psychological level, she said people at speed dating events are probably thinking about reciprocity of liking. is idea is that people tend to like those who like them.
“Speed dating is very strategic, right?” she said. “You have little time, you’ve got to gure out how to make these choices, and so our brains are going into high strategic, albeit
unconscious, responses. And it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a person to invest energy and interest into somebody who’s not going to reciprocate that energy and interest.”
Alex Zaborenko, who attended the January Tantra Speed Date event, said reciprocity is important to him in terms of relationship goals as well, not only attraction. As someone who is looking for non-monogamous relationships, he said online dating pro les and open communication help him nd people who have the same goals in mind.
“I don’t want or need just one magic person to connect with me on every level that I might connect with a partner,” he said. “Once I reached the conclusion, then it just felt much better that I can communicate what I’m looking for honestly and they can choose what they want to do with that information.”
Are you worth my (client’s) time?
For Abby Rosenblum, investing time and energy in the right people is part of her business model.
Rosenblum is the founder and head matchmaker at e Social: Modern Matchmaking, a Colorado-based service that also hosts speed dating events.
Rosenblum’s services focus not only on helping her clients nd potential partners, but also on building their con dence and making dating enjoyable.
“ e sad part is I think we’re almost taught that dating should be di cult, should be frustrating and should be some kind of just negative thing in your life,” she said. “So a lot of the work I do is trying to teach people that dating can actually be fun, which is a crazy concept to almost everyone.”
When setting up dates, Rosenblum looks for people with values and physical appearances that t with what her clients are looking for.
“And then the other thing I look for too (is) like, is this person ready to date?” she said. “Are they in a good place? … Because you can meet the greatest person ever tomorrow, but if they’re like, ‘I just got red from my job and I hate everything,’ you might not connect with them in as good of a way.”
Rosenblum works mainly with singles in stable careers who are looking for serious, committed and monogamous relationships. As a matchmaker, she helps lter out potential partners who do not align with her clients’ stages of life so she can ensure they are investing their time and energy in relationships that could have a future.
Rosenblum, who works mainly with heterosexual clients, often collaborates with the head matchmaker at Denver’s Cupid, a matchmaking service that works with LGBTQ+ singles.
Like Smith, she doesn’t think speed dating events are a silver bullet for knowing if a relationship will work, but she said they can still be bene cial. Her company hosts speed dating at its events, including a single mingle that happened the rst week of February in Englewood.
In Rosenblum’s speed dating games, participants receive conversation prompts to help people learn something about their partners, from travel dreams to relationship goals.
“It’s like, ‘OK, am I curious to get to know them more?’ she said. “ at’s really the only thing you need to know after that ve minutes, because it’s hard to know anything else… What’s the harm in meeting again?”
Andrea Cunningham has been dating on and o for the past 10 years. She decided to attend the January Tantra Speed Date event when her housemate invited her because she thought it would introduce her to spiritually open minded people.
“He actually said, ‘Do you want to go to a woo-woo speed dating event?’ and my thought was ‘Oh, yeah, that might be my kind of people,’ because I’m not nding a lot of woo-woo folks on OkCupid,” she said.
At 58 years old, Cunningham is looking for someone who is compassionate, exible and open to “more heart-centered ideas,” she said.
Going into the speed dating event, Cunningham was feeling skeptical, she said. Mainly, she thought speed dating would be intimidating, but it wasn’t.
“I think maybe my whole idea about speed dating was wrong,” she said. “Maybe you’re not just awkwardly trying to talk with people 10 times in a row for ve minutes. Maybe there’s more to it than that… at was welldesigned.”
After her experience (and several dates that arose from the event), she said speed dating might be giving her new hope after taking a pause from dating for a while.
“I was trying to do a little online, I wasn’t getting anywhere, I stopped,” she said. “ en this came up — it may kick me into gear again.”
Renewing excitement about dating and personal connection is a goal of many speed dating events, especially in a world where fewer and fewer people feel connected to each other.
In Shahar’s speed dating events, re-connecting is the greatest bene t and goal.
“If you are tired of feeling disconnected from the world, and you want to have a moment of connection, this is a really great way to step into that,” he said. “Is it for everyone? No, I don’t think it’s for everyone. But it is for people that are like, ‘Hey, I want to create something magical within my relationship life and my dating life.’”
BILLIE HOLIDAY, ELLA FITZGERALD, AND NANCY WILSON ARE JUST THREE OF THE ICONIC WOMEN WE WILL HONOR IN THIS INTIMATE EVENING OF MUSIC FOR ALL JAZZ LOVERS!
Lart at the Depot Art Gallery, 2069 W. Powers Ave., Littleton, from March 6-19, with a reception on March 10 from 4 to 6 p.m. Open to the public. See depotartgallery. org.
Parker Symphony
“Shakespeare in Love” is the title for Parker Symphony’s concert on Feb. 24 at the PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Ave., Parker. Call ahead for tickets: 303-805-6800, parkerarts. org.
Lone Tree Arts Center
“ e Hammersteins: A Musical Family,” at Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St., Lone Tree, will feature Andy Hammerstein III with Broadway stars Teri Hansen, Edward Watts, Michelle Liu Coughlin and Robert Sims, with pianist Cathy Venable. Tickets: $40-$50. Call 720-5091000, lonetreeartscenter.org.
Denver Art Museum
“Speaking With Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography” opens Feb. 19 at the Denver Art Museum, through May 21 in the Gallagher Family Gallery. Included in general admission. See denverartmuseum.org.
Littleton Museum
“Christopher Warren: REinterpretating REcreating Nature” opens at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and continues during Littleton Museum hours through May 14. is body of work includes sculptures created throughout the career of Colorado artist Christopher Warren, including works from the Digital Era, with topography the major focus. Artist’s talk: Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. e museum is at 6028 S. Gallup St., Littleton, 303-795 3950.
Cherry Creek Theatre
“A Moon for the Misbegotten” is presented through Feb. 26 at the Pluss eatre in the Mizel Center, 350 S. Dahlia St., Denver. Box o ce:
303-800-6578. Next
eatre: May 5-21: “ e Headliners” by Je rey Newman, directed by Nick Sugar, music directed by David Nehls. See cherrycreektheatre.org.
University of Denver Newman Center
Presents: March 27 at 7:30 p.m., Paul Taylor Dance Company. 303-8717720, newmancenterpresents.com.
Wonderbound
Wonderbound Studio: “Reckoning at the Red Herring Tavern” by Garrett Ammons will be presented March 2-12 at Wonderbound Studios, 3865 Grape St., Denver. Unit #2. Note: Some performances are sold out. 303-292-4700, wonderbound. com.
Core New Art Space
CORE Members’ Exhibits at new location: 6501 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood. Gallery hours: Friday, 5-10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 303-297-8428, coreartspace. com.
Staged reading
Stories on Stage: “ e White Chip” a staged reading from Sean Daniels’ wise and funny play about his personal journey from addiction to recovery, featuring Geo rey Kent, Martha Harmon Pardee and Eric Sandvold. Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center, 721 Santa Fe Drive, Denver. Tickets: $24, 303-4940523, storiesonstage.com.
String quartet
Englewood Arts Presents: Feb. 25, 2 p.m., Colorado Symphony String Quartet. Borodin and Dvorak Quartets. Dmetri Pogorelov and Liz Drabkin, violin; So a Basile: viola; Chloe
SEE GALLERY, P18
Thu 3/02
Teague Starbuck @ 6pm Modern Brew - Kitchen, Coffee, Bar, 8221 S Holly St, Centennial
Shallow Side @ 8pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker
Wild Love Tigress @ 105 West Brewing @ 6:30pm 105 West Brewing Company, 1043 Park St, Castle Rock
Sterling Ranch, 8155
RMRR March 5th 9:00 am- 5K
Johnson Lake at Clement Park @ 9am / $10
8116 W. Bowles Avenue, Littleton
Mon 3/06
YouthTuber - Rooney @ 3:15pm / $176
Mar 6th - May 1st
Rooney Elementary, 2200 S Coors St, Lakewood. 720-996-0894
Modern Swing Mondays @ 6pm / $10
Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora
Tue 3/07
Culinary: The Luck of the Irish (16+yrs) @ 1am
Mar 7th - Mar 6th
PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue, Parker
ARTS: Coffee & Painting @ College View @ 5:30pm
Denver Parks and Recreation (CGV), 2525 S. Decatur St., Denver. 720-913-0654
Wed 3/08
Neil Z @ 7pm Earls Kitchen + Bar, 8335 Park Meadows Center Dr, Lone Tree
Scotty Austin @ 8pm
Wild Goose Saloon, 11160 S. Pikes Peak Drive, Parker HE$H @ 9pm
The Church Denver, 1720 S Alcott St, Den‐ver
Fri 3/03
Ninety Percent 90s @ 8pm Wide Open Saloon, 5607 US-85, Sedalia El Chaval De La Bachata @ 9pm / $40 Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora
Sat 3/04
Blarney on Belmar @ 12pm Belmar, 439 S. Upham Street, Lakewood. janet@see-janet-work.com, 303-815-3504
Volleyball: Youth - IntroductoryAge 6 to 8 - Spring 2023 @ 3pm Mar 4th - Apr 29th
Parker Fieldhouse, 18700 E Plaza Dr, Parker
Fleming Mansion Walkthrough (for permit holders only) @ 6pm
Fleming Mansion, 1510 S. Grant St., Den‐ver. 720-913-0654
Cody Cozz @ 7pm
Wide Open Saloon, 5607 US-85, Sedalia
Dirty Side Down Band: Dirty Side Down @ Lincoln Station @ 7pm
Lincoln Station Coffee/Pizza/Music, 9360 Station St, Lone Tree
Wax Tailor @ 7pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood
Flag Football: Youth - Ages 12 to 14 - Spring 2023 @ 12am
Mar 8th - May 6th
Salisbury Sports Complex, 11920 Motsen‐bocker Road, Parker
Ladies Night @ 6pm / $10
Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora
Christine Elise @ 9pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood
Fleming Mansion Walkthrough (for permit holders only) @ 10pm
Fleming Mansion, 1510 S. Grant St., Den‐ver. 720-913-0654
Steve Bug: Into The Void @ 11pm
Wax Tailor @ 9pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, En‐glewood Sun 3/05
Void Studios, 1790 S Bannock St, Denver
Sandra Wong @ 7pm Swallow Hill, 71 E Yale Ave, Denver
DJ Rockstar Aaron: Forbidden Bingo at 'Bout Time Pub & Grub @ 8pm Bout Time Pub & Grub, 3580 S Platte River Dr A, Sheridan
Thu 3/09
Scott Bartlett/SBCreations: The Mad Souls w/ Scott Bartlett & Rick Monroe @ 8pm Herman's Hideaway, 1578 S Broadway, Denver
BY SONYA ELLINGBOE SELLINGBOE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
e world premiere of “Laughs in Spanish” by American author Alexis Scheer plays through March 2 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and is set in the Wynwood section of Miami, Florida.
Scheer, who is also an experienced actor, was born and raised in a JewishColombian household in Miami and knows Wynwood well. e gallery where her play is set lies on this strip, noted for its colorful murals and art galleries.
We found her new work highly entertaining.
As the play opens, gallery manager Mariana (award-winning Stephanie Machado) is faced with empty walls — the artwork stolen and a major opening scheduled for that evening, tied in with the annual Art Basel showings. Her assistant, Carolina
The Denver Center box o ce phone number is 303-893-4100 and the website is denvercenter.org. The Denver Center is at 14th and Curtis Streets in downtown Denver. Also playing: “Hotter than Egypt” through March 12 in the Kilstrom Theatre. Next scheduled: “The Color Purple” and “The 39 Steps.”
(Danielle Alonzo) and Caro’s boyfriend Juan (Luis Vega), a policeman, are there with her, searching for the missing art. Sirens are sounding out on the street.
“I need to think,” wails a ustered Mariana. Also present: Jenny (Olivia Hebert), Carolina’s friend.
Mari’s mother, Estella (Maggie Bo ll), a former lm actress, is visiting to help with the opening by means of a “special live performance” at the opening ... and needs help with her own problem: She is facing an upcoming court date.
e gallery is set up for a party, even though the art is still missing ...
will be held in Hampden Hall in the Englewood Civic Center, 1000 Englewood Parkway.
Hall of Fame
Hong, cello. Tickets: ebertoluzzi@hotmail.com or visit englewoodarts.org. The concert
Littleton’s Libby Bortz will be inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame on March 15.
“I will probably be charged as accessory to a crime,” Estella says. It seems that in the ‘80s, friends asked her to carry two suitcases across a border for them. “I thought they were lled with guavas,” she says.
Mariana and her mother talk
Arvada Center
Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., will present: “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder, Feb. 24 to May 21 and “The Book Club Play” by Karen Zacarias March 17 to May 18. Tickets start at $45. 720-898-7200, arvadacenter.org.
about art and politics throughout the play and about how artists push for changes in the world — whether or not successful.
is leads to Estella talking about roles she will not play: the maid or the one who handles the cocaine — Hispanic stereotypes. She is presently working the night shift ... is she a brujera? (One who combines healing and intuition about the spiritual world?)
Maggie Bo ll, who plays Estella, is a widely experienced actor and playwright. Her skill was apparent as she dominated the scene, and her daughter made it quite clear that she did not want to be like her mother!
Mari continues to listen as Estella tells her that she wants Mari to know her as more than a mother: as a person with hopes and dreams and ambitions out there in the world ... e playwright does a good job of developing a mother-daughter relationship that sends one home with something to consider ...
“Laughs in Spanish” plays through March 12 in the Singleton eatre, with evening and matinee performances.
Lakewood play
Performance Now Theatre Company presents “Carousel” at Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood, from March 17 to April 2. 303-987-7845, PerformanceNow. org.
‘Laughs in Spanish’ plays through March 2
Anyone who has fallen in love with a Disney animated lm knows one of the great joys of the studio’s work is getting lost in the astounding worlds that have been created. Now, fans of Disney can wander through many of their favorite worlds in a much more literal sense, thanks to Disney Animation: Immersive Experience.
“ is year is Disney’s 100th anniversary, so we wanted to do something that really honored all the animators,” explained J. Miles Dale, an Oscar-winning producer and creative director of the experience. “What we created is a little bit educational, a little bit entertaining, and provides access to things most wouldn’t be able to see. It all combines to give that magical experience people have come to expect from Disney.”
Created in partnership with Walt Disney Animation Studios and Lighthouse Immersive Studios, the Disney Animation: Immersive Experience is on display at Lighthouse ArtSpace, 3900 Elati St. in Denver.
As Dale explains it, a trip to the famous Disney archives provided a wealth of inspiration for the creative team as they put the exhibit together. Seeing the early pencil sketches of seminal moments like Cinderella’s dress transformation was awe inspiring for the team.
“It was important for us to show how these characters and worlds were created. When you see how
Reader
it was made and who made it, you appreciate the animation more,” he said. “I love hearing kids who are inspired to be animator after seeing the exhibit. They feel the magic and see some of themselves in these characters.”
According to provided information, additional exhibit features include interactive features within the projection show that move with visitors, and custom bracelets that light up in sync with the projections and specific movements. There’s also the Gazillion Bubbles effect, where 500,000 cubic feet of galleries are filled with bubbles.
The cumulative effect is to give visitors an experience like visiting one of Disney’s famous parks — one filled with wonder and escape.
“In a way, watching a movie is a passive experience, but this is very active. You are in the movies, immersed by them,” Dale said. “The totality of the experience makes it multigenerational. I can’t really think of anything my mother, me, my kids and their kids could all go to together like this.”
Visit lighthouseimmersive.com/ disney/Denver for details and tickets. disneyimmersive.com.
Sadeqa Johnson brings ‘The House of Eve’ to Tattered Cover
Sadeqa Johnson’s newest book, “ e House of Eve,” is a moving testament to an important truth — the more things change, the more they stay the same. An examination of racism and women’s rights in the preRoe era, Johnson blends both wit and powerful humanity to remind all of us how much work there still is to do.
In support of the book — which was selected as Hello Sunshine/ Reese Witherspoon’s February book club pick — Johnson will be stopping by at the Tattered Cover Colfax, 2526 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver, at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25. She’ll be speaking with L. Alison Heller, a lawyer and author.
e event is free and no registration is required. Find the details at www. tatteredcover.com/event.
BIFF celebrates power of story in 19th season
e 19th annual Boulder International Film Festival is back for another season of brilliant lmmaking, a chef competition and much more.
Running from ursday, March 2 through Sunday, March 5, the festival will be screening 66 lms from 20 countries, with 45 lmmakers and subjects in attendance. According to provided information, the event will also feature the return of the popular Adventure Film Pavilion, the CineCHEF food competition and a live recording of e Hollywood Re-
porter’s Awards Chatter podcast with Scott Feinberg.
For those who can’t attend the screenings held at the Boulder eater, 2032 14th St., some of the lms will be able to watch as part of the BIFF at Home! virtual program, running from Monday, March 6 to Sunday, March 19.
Find the full schedule, ticket options and more at bi 1.com.
Clarke’s Concert of the Week — White Reaper at Summit Music Hall
My original pick here was going to be Bruce Springsteen and e E Street Band at Ball Arena, but since tickets sold out pretty much instantaneously (at exorbitant prices, no less), let’s instead turn our attention to another great rock band that’ll be in townKentucky’s White Reaper. e group specializes in the kind of indie guitar rock that has unfortunately gone out of style in the last decade or so. ankfully, their latest album, “Asking for a Ride,” keeps that sonic palette going strong.
In support of the album, White Reaper will be performing at Summit Music Hall, 1902 Blake St. in Denver, at 7:30 p.m. on ursday, March 2. ey’ll be joined by openers Militarie Gun and Mamalarky. Get tickets at www.livenation.com.
Clarke Reader’s column on culture appears on a weekly basis. He can be reached at Clarke.Reader@hotmail. com.
Vitamins and supplements are not the best way to lower your risk of heart disease, instead Cardiologist Dr. Je Park says eating in moderation and nutritious foods is the most bene cial.
According to Park, of Aurora Denver Cardiology Associates at e Medical Center of Aurora, aIS vitamins can help the body but they can also be harmful as there are also toxicities.
“If vitamins were universally acceptable to improve heart health, then I believe that there would be a strong push for the FDA to approve these and say, everyone with heart disease should be on these vitamins, these supplements,” said Park. “But there’s never going to be that push.”
e risk of heart disease is not strictly determined by the food one consumes. Rick factors also include environment and genetics.
Park says people need to realize there are a lot of lters in supplements and people don’t always know
what’s in them.
Vitamins and supplements can be seen as alternatives to modern medicine but the unknown of what exactly is in pills can have an a ect on the body.
“Without some form of regulation, and if you don’t know what those pills are lled with, right?” said Park.
“And so, the actual vitamin itself might be safe, but the stu that’s in it with it, you have no idea about.”
A 2018 publication of Circulation: Cardiovascu-
lar Quality and Outcomes concluded multivitamins do not reduce cardiovascular disease, heart attacks or strokes.
In addition, John Hopkins researchers - including Dr. Edgar R. Miller III, say consuming too much of certain vitamins can be harmful.
“Too much calcium and vitamin D are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” Miller said in the John Hopkins article. Food and proper nutrients is the best way to manage
heart health.
Park said breaking habits is stressful and eating a healthy diet is becoming expensive, which is why moderation is important.
e American Heart Association suggests getting adequate nutrients through a variety of foods in moderation instead of supplements. Omega-3 fatty acid supplements are an exception as they have been associated with decreased risk of heart disease.
“When I see patients for
the rst time and a lot of them do have a lot of comorbid conditions, metabolic syndrome, they’re obese, they have diabetes and it’s a matter of if they’ve had bad habits for a long period of time,” said Park. Park says that it is a team e ort.
“I can’t change how you work, what kind of foods you’re accessible to,” said Park. “But the only advice I can give you is that you can do those things but in moderation.”
BY ALEX K.W. SCHULTZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
e Mountain Vista and underRidge boys basketball teams have authored plenty of great moments together throughout their decades-old rivalry.
But the Golden Eagles and Grizzlies’ latest production, an all-out war on Feb. 17 inside a loud and jam-packed underRidge gymnasium, might very well have been the two programs’ magnum opus.
e crosstown rivals pounded on each other deep into the night. irty-two minutes of regulation wasn’t enough to settle things. Neither was overtime.
Finally, momentum swing after momentum swing, big play after big play, incredible moment after incredible moment, Vista prevailed 103-99 in double overtime in what was nothing short of an instant classic.
e win completed a perfect run in league play for the Golden Eagles, Colorado’s No. 1-ranked team. It was also Vista’s rst win over underRidge in three years.
“I’ve been a part of a lot of basketball games in my life. at was probably the best one,” Vista coach Brian Wood said. “It would be nice if nobody had to lose on a night like this.”
In the other locker room, longtime Grizzlies coach Joe
Ortiz had something similar to say: “[ underRidge and Vista] have had a lot of classic games. is was one of them for sure.”
No question.
In the second overtime, Charlie Spann’s 3-pointer from the top of the key shaved Vista’s lead to 100-99 with 52 seconds remaining.
After a Golden Eagles timeout, Vista’s Radek Homer was fouled on a driving attempt and coolly sank both of his free throws. en, with less than 10 seconds left, Andrew Crawford’s would-be-tying 3-point attempt from the left wing seemingly went halfway down before coughing out.
Homer hit the back end of a pair of free throws on Vista’s ensuing possession to essentially seal the win for the Golden Eagles. “ at was one of the best high school games I’ve ever played in,” said Crawford, who was sensational all night, scoring a game-high and mind-boggling 48 points. “We fought hard. We almost got it.”
e nal moments of regulation were as dramatic as any basketball game at any level could ever produce.
Spann connected on a mid-range jumper with 34 seconds left to spot underRidge a 2-point lead at 72-70.
On Vista’s next possession, Cal Baskind buried a clutch 3-pointer to return the lead to Vista with 10 seconds to go.
Ponderosa had four individual state champions at the Class 5A state wrestling championships but the Mustangs once again came up short in the team race.
Pomona won its fth straight team championship with a record 278.5 points on Feb. 18 at Ball Arena while Ponderosa was the runner-up with 190 points. e Mustangs have nished second four times in the past ve seasons.
Ponderosa’s state champions were freshman omas Verrette, who whipped Mark Cardenas of Pomona 10-1 to captured the 126-pound
individual title, and junior Jacob Myers won his second consecutive state title with a pin in 35 seconds during the 132-pound title match.
Senior Brandon Cannon, who is bound for Ohio State, had two broken ngers but outlasted Jakob Romero of Pomona, 1-0, to earn a welldeserved 138-pound championship. Tyler Eise took a 16-1 technical fall decision over Castle View’s Ian Crabtree to capture the 175-pound state title.
Other Pondo wrestlers on the podium were 113-pounder Jaylen Burge and DJ Wince at 120 pounds, who were both second. Senior Peyton Harris, a 150-pound contestant, nished fourth and 190-pounder Westin Ho schneider was third.
SEE WRESTLING, P23
“It seems like every year I come here, Pomona just comes out harder and harder every time,” said Myers. “ eir kids just seem to get it done. We just we fall short sometimes. Pomona has a great lineup and they will continue to have a great lineup.
“ ey are talking about all the younger kids they have. It really comes down to what our young kids can do.”
Pondo’s four individual state champions were highlighted by Cannon’s win after his tough battle to even be wrestling again.
I was happy with the way a lot of the guys on the team wrestled,” said Mustangs coach Jarion Beets. “We snagged a lot of state titles. It was a great win for Brandon Cannon. We’ve been in a lot of di erent tournaments but this was the one we really wanted. is is the one he really needed to cap o his high school career.”
Cannon had an aneorysmal benign bone cyst removed and then had a kidney infection which forced him out of action during his sophomore and part of his junior seasons, but he notched a satisfying win in the 138-pound championship nale and celebrated by heading to the emergency room to take care of his ngers.
Ortiz then called a timeout to set up one nal play.
Ryan Doyle inbounded the ball to Crawford, whom the Golden Eagles tried to foul in the backcourt because they had three fouls to give, but no foul was called.
After making his way into the frontcourt, Crawford was fouled just beyond the arc as he ailed and heaved the ball somewhat toward the basket.
But did the foul occur on the oor? Was Crawford fouled while shooting? Was he shooting at all? e o cials conferred and ultimately ruled that Crawford was indeed fouled while attempting a 3-point shot.
And so, the junior went to the line for three free throws with 3.8 seconds showing on the clock and his team trailing by one point.
Crawford’s rst attempt bounced out. His second went through, knot-
Myers donned Pokemon head gear again after his second straight title victory.
“I wanted to be aggressive and I was in the match,” he said. “It was more expected this season. I wore this head gear last year and it is Pikachu from Pokemon. My little sister had it and she decided when I won a state title I had to wear it. So that’s what it was last year, this year and next year.”
ting the score at 73-73. His third shot ricocheted o the left side of the iron, and o to overtime the two teams went. (It should be noted that Crawford was perfect from the free-throw line in the two overtime periods — he was 5-for-5 — to keep his team in it).
“ ey all felt good,” Crawford said. “ ey just rimmed out.”
e game appeared to be heading toward its end in the rst overtime, but Crawford and the Grizzlies had other ideas.
A Baskind 3-pointer — one of the sophomore’s six triples on the night — stretched Vista’s lead to 88-81 with just 67 ticks remaining.
However, Crawford quickly responded with one of his own six treys. Moments later, the junior was fouled on a 3-point attempt and knocked down all three of his free throws to trim Vista’s lead to 89-87.
After an empty possession by the Golden Eagles, Crawford scored on a driving, twisting layup with 6 seconds left to force double overtime.
“We kept scoring, but they hit some tough shots and kept clos-
Other wrestlers from south metro schools that did well included Rock Canyon senior Sammy Mobly, who was the runner-up at 157 pounds. Chaparral’s Delcan Smith was fourth at 113 pounds and teammate Noah Kubala was a fth-place nisher at 126 pounds. Crabtree was second at 175 pounds. underRidge’s Nic Vicic was third at 138 pounds and Legend’s Juan Diaz
ing in,” said Homer, who scored a team-high 30 points for the Golden Eagles. “Andrew and Charlie hit some crazy shots. ey’re amazing players.”
In regulation, the two teams went back and forth the whole way. ey exchanged the lead 14 times, were tied on 14 separate occasions and were never separated by more than ve points. Most of the night, only a point or two separated them.
Four players scored in double gures for Vista: Homer, Caden Stevens (29), Baskind (22) and Zach Bowen (10).
underRidge’s leading scorers were Crawford, Spann (27) and Tommy Wight (10).
e Golden Eagles (21-2, 10-0 6A/5A Continental League) clinched the league title three nights before their duel with underRidge — only their second league championship in program history — but have their eyes set on a bigger prize.
e Class 6A state tournament begins Feb. 22, and Wood believes his squad has a chance to go the
was sixth at 144 pounds. Jake Howell of Cherry Creek was third at 215 pounds and Legend’s Nathan Sandy was fourth. Valor Christian’s Winston McBride nished fourth in the 285-pound bracket.
In the Class 5A girls competition, Douglas County’s Jylian Cabral was fth at 115 pounds and the Huskies’ Elizabeth Sandy was fourth at 190 pounds.
distance. Vista, the No. 1 seed, will play 32nd-seeded Bear Creek (Lakewood) in a rst-round game.
“It’s single elimination, so you never know,” Wood said. “But I feel like we’re de nitely one of the teams that can win it.”
But don’t sleep on the Grizzlies (13-10, 4-6), who are young — they don’t have a single senior on the roster — but seem to be peaking at just the right time. underRidge is also a program that is very familiar with the state tournament and has achieved enormous success there.
In Ortiz’s 26 years leading underRidge, the Grizzlies have been to the Great Eight 16 times, the Final Four 12 times and the championship game eight times. ey’ve won the whole thing four times, including last year.
underRidge drew a 13 seed and will take on No. 20 Eaglecrest (Centennial) in a Round 1 game.
“We just showed that we can play with anybody if we play like we did tonight,” Ortiz said. “Absolutely we believe [we can make a run in the playo s].”
Roxborough State Park’s distinctive geological formations are visited by thousands of people every year, as one of the closest state parks to the Denver metro area.
Hiking was slightly less popular at Colorado’s state parks in 2022.
During the pandemic, visitors ocked to Colorado’s state parks, shattering visitation records by millions. With about 19.5 million visitors in 2020, Colorado Parks and Wildlife recorded a nearly 31 percent increase in annual visitors compared to the previous year.
Although stay-at-home orders expired in 2021, even more people visited the state’s 42 parks that year — a new record of about 19.9 million visitors.
But last year, enthusiasm for the outdoors waned ever so slightly. About 18.2 million visitors entered Colorado’s state parks in 2022, a nearly 9 percent decrease from the previous year.
Joey Livingston, a statewide public information o cer for CPW, said the decrease isn’t a cause for concern for the agency. ey believe the number of visitors is settling to a new baseline.
“What we’re seeing in 2022 is more of a return to what normal levels would be pre-pandemic,” Livingston said. “We have our new Keep Colorado Wild Pass that just started in January, and so we’re also hoping that more people are gonna have cheaper access to be able to go to the state parks. e hope is to keep those visitation numbers high.”
Visitation statistics are approximations made by CPW. Livingston said they track park pass sales and the number of vehicles that enter the park, which means they might underestimate the number of people inside each car. However, CPW has
used the same measuring system for years, so the numbers are re ective of the overall pattern.
Lake Pueblo was Colorado’s most popular state park in 2022, repeating a consistent trend established over the years. However, the number of visitors at the lake dropped by over a million last year, from 4.6 million to 3.5 million. Other popular state parks, like Cherry Creek State Park in Aurora and Golden Gate Canyon State Park northwest of Golden, also saw decreases in visitor numbers compared to 2021.
Stagecoach State Park in Routt County saw nearly a 65,000 increase in visitors last year. e newly opened Fishers Peak State Park in Trinidad, which is still under development, saw nearly 6,000 visitors after only welcoming 224 in 2021. e massive increase in visitors since 2019 has prompted changes to how some state parks operate. Visits to Eldorado Canyon State Park have nearly doubled since 2016.
“We did implement a timed reservation system at Eldorado Canyon State Park to try to help,” Livingston said. “It’s not really about visitation. Sometimes it’s more about parking, and we only have a limited number of parking spots at a lot of our parks. So some of these parks can handle more people but they can’t always necessarily handle as many vehicles parking in the park.”
Livingston said parks could continue to introduce changes to entry systems as the agency learns more about how increased visitation is impacting state parks.
is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t news source. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.
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the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust and 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 120, COTTONWOOD SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 3, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO.
Which has the address of: 8476 Wheatgrass Cir, 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.
THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 5, 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.
Douglas County News Press
12/14/2022 DAVID GILL DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee
The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:
RYAN BOURGEOIS Colorado Registration #: 51088 1391 Speer Boulevard, Suite 700 , DENVER, COLORADO 80204 Phone #: (303) 350-3711
Fax #: Attorney File #: 00000009587684
*YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/
Legal Notice No. 2022-0191
First Publication: 2/9/2023
Last Publication: 3/9/2023 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
OF THE NORTHEAST
OF THE SOUTHEAST
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
Bids and Settlements
Public Notice
INVITATION FOR BID (IFB) #008-23
EXCLUSIVE USE
HELICOPTER SERVICES for the OFFICE of EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
The Office of Emergency Management of Douglas County Government, hereinafter referred to as the County, respectfully requests bids from responsible and highly-qualified individuals and/or companies for the provision of an Exclusive Use Helicopter for law enforcement, public safety, fire suppression, and search and rescue.
ON THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2023 @ 1:00 P.M., THERE WILL BE A MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING RELATED TO THIS PROJECT. THE MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING WILL ALLOW ALL POTENTIAL BIDDERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS THE PROJECT DETAILS WITH EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT STAFF. THE MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING WILL BE HELD AT THE ROBERT A. CHRISTENSEN JUSTICE CENTER, 4000 JUSTICE WAY, CASTLE ROCK, COLORADO 80109. ALL ATTENDEES WILL CLEAR SECURITY AND MEET IN THE JUSTICE CENTER LOBBY. ONLY THOSE PROSPECTIVE BIDDERS ATTENDING THE MANDATORY PRE-BID MEETING WILL BE ALLOWED TO SUBMIT A BID ON THIS PROJECT. Please bring a business card, as sign-in sheets will not be passed around.
The IFB documents may be reviewed and/or printed from the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System website at www.rockymountainbidsystem.com. IFB documents are not available for purchase from Douglas County Government and can only be accessed from the above-mentioned website. While the IFB documents are available electronically, Douglas County cannot accept electronic bid responses.
Three (3) copies of your bid response shall be sub-
mitted in a sealed envelope plainly marked “IFB
No. 008-23, Exclusive Use Helicopter Services” and mailed or hand-carried to the address shown below prior to the due date and time. Electronic and/or faxed bid responses will not be accepted.
Bids will be received until 3:00pm, on Thursday, March 16, 2023 by the Douglas County Finance Department, Purchasing Division, 100 Third Street, Suite 130, Castle Rock, Colorado 80104. Bids will not be considered which are received after the time stated, and any bids so received will be returned unopened.
Douglas County Government reserves the right to reject any and all bids, to waive formalities, informalities, or irregularities contained in a said bid and furthermore, to award a contract for items herein, either in whole or in part, if it is deemed to be in the best interest of the County to do so. Additionally, we reserve the right to negotiate optional items/services with the successful bidder.
Please direct any questions concerning this IFB to Carolyn Riggs, Purchasing Supervisor, 303-6607434, criggs@douglas.co.us, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.
Legal Notice No. 944675
First Publication: February 23, 2023
Last Publication: February 23, 2023
Publisher: Douglas County News-Press
Public Notice
DOUGLAS COUNTY DISTRICT COURT, STATE OF COLORADO 4000 Justice Way Castle Rock, CO Douglas County, CO 80109
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF COLORADO
In the Interest of:
ZAMIRACLE A/K/A ZAMIRA ROSE ARMIJO, D.O.B.: 9/9/2020; Child,
And concerning: LUCIA CAMILLE ARMIJO AKA CAMILLE ARMIJO, D.O.B.: 11/26/1991; Mother; TIMOTHY JAMES MACULEWICZ, D.O.B.: 12/7/1977; Possible Father, JOHN DOE; Possible Father Respondents,
And ARIANA ARMIJO, D.O.B.: 7/18/1998, Maternal Aunt,
MONICA ARMIJO, D.O.B.: 8/19/1974, Maternal Grandmother, Special Respondents.
Attorney for Department:
R. LeeAnn Reigrut, #28833 Angela Borkowski, #50088 4400 Castleton Ct. Castle Rock, CO 80109 (303) 814-5326
Fax: (303) 479-9259
lreigrut@douglas.co.us aborkowski@douglas.co.us
CASE NUMBER: 20JV174 DIVISION 8
DEPENDENCY SUMMONS
This Summons is initiated pursuant to Rule 2.2 of the Colorado Rules of Juvenile Procedure, Rule 4 of the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure, and Section 19-3-503, C.R.S. 2021.
TO: JOHN DOE
TO THE RESPONDENT NAMED ABOVE:
You are hereby notified that a petition has been filed which alleges that the above-named child is dependent or neglected as per the facts set forth in the Dependency and Neglect Petition, a copy of which may be obtained at the office of the Douglas County Attorney’s Office.
A Review Hearing has been set for March 6, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. in Division 8 of the Douglas County District Court by phone at 720-437-6180, code 75592#. All parties shall be present by phone unless otherwise indicated by the Court.
Your presence before this court is required to defend against the claims in this petition. IF YOU FAIL TO APPEAR, THE COURT WILL PROCEED IN YOUR ABSENCE, WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE, TO CONDUCT AN ADJUDICATORY HEARING AND MAY ENTER A JUDGMENT BY DEFAULT THEREBY ADJUDICATING YOUR CHILD AS A DEPENDENT OR NEGLECTED CHILD.
You have the right to request a trial by jury at the adjudicatory stage of this petition. You also have the right to legal representation at every stage of the proceedings by counsel of your own choosing, or if you are without sufficient financial means, appointment of counsel by the Court. Termination of your parent-child legal relationship to free your children for adoption is a possible remedy in this proceeding. If that remedy is pursued, you are entitled to a hearing before a Judge. You also have the right, if you are indigent, to have the Court appoint, at no expense to you, one expert witness of your own choosing at any hearing on the termination of your parent-child relationship. If you are a minor, you have the right to the appointment of a Guardian ad litem to represent your best interests.
You have the right to have this matter heard by a
Last year, a study came out showing that marijuana legalization in Colorado likely increased cannabis use among adults in the state.
Because of the novel methods the researchers used to examine the question, the study was perhaps the best answer to date on one of legalization’s biggest impacts. But it also left an even bigger question unanswered: Is it bad that more adults are consuming marijuana or doing so more frequently?
Now, in a follow-up study by the same team, using the same methods, the researchers have come to an answer: It doesn’t appear to be.
“At least from the psychological point of view,” said Stephanie Zellers, one of the researchers, “we really didn’t nd that the policies (on cannabis legalization) have a lot of negative in uence, which I think is important.”
Zellers recently graduated with a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Minnesota, but she began her doctoral work at the University of Colorado before transferring when her thesis adviser changed jobs. She had originally been interested in neuroscience research, but the necessity of using live lab animals for the work was o -putting to her. And, in the Colorado-to-Minnesota connection, she found a trove of data that could be used in never-beforetried ways.
The power of twins
e data are from longitudinal studies of twins in Colorado or Minnesota. Researchers in both states followed the twins over long periods of time, collecting information about their behaviors, including their cannabis use. e survey information, then, creates an ideal scenario for study: It is thorough, it has built-in controls for variables like educational background or socioeconomic status, and it also accounts better than most for genetic di erences.
On top of that, because Colorado has legalized marijuana and Minnesota hasn’t (at least so far) — and because some twins born in Minnesota moved to Colorado
as adults and vice versa — the data provide an ideal opportunity to study the way in which a policy change made in Colorado a decade ago has in uenced people’s behavior ever since.
“ at twin component really allows us to rule out a lot of possible alternatives — maybe there were just cultural di erences, family differences, things like that,” Zellers said.
Zellers spoke with e Sun via videoconference from Finland, where she is pursuing postdoctoral research. (And, yes, she is missing sunshine this time of year.)
Homing in on the big question e original study, published last fall, simply asked whether twins living in legal-marijuana states use marijuana more than twins living in illegal states. And the answer is yes — about 20% more, according to the research. at answer was interesting, but Zellers said it wasn’t really what the research team wanted to know.
“Really what people care about is: Is legalization harmful,” she said.
To answer that question, the team came up with 23 measures of what they call “psychological dysfunction.” is includes things like substance-use disorders but also nancial woes, mental health distress, community disengagement and relationship issues. e team looked at data on more than 4,000 people — 40% of whom live in a legal-marijuana state.
Zellers said what the researchers found was unexpected: ey basically found nothing.
“Obviously the cannabis use increases, but we didn’t see an increase in cannabis-use disorder, which is a little surprising,” she said. “We didn’t really see changes in how much people were drinking or using tobacco. No large personality or workplace or IQ di erences or anything like that.”
People in legal states did not report using illegal drugs at higher rates. Researchers also didn’t nd a link between marijuana legalization and psychotic behavior.
ey did nd one di erence, though. People living in a state where recreational marijuana use is illegal reported higher rates of alcohol-use disorder and more speci cally one symptom of the condition: ey were more likely to report using alcohol in situations that were dangerous or harmful, such as driving drunk.
Flagging limitations
To Zellers and other researchers, the study provides valuable information for the ongoing debate over whether cannabis legalization is a good idea. But it’s not the nal word.
“Our study suggests that we should not be overly concerned about everyday adult use in a legalized environment, but no drug is risk-free,” CU psychology and neuroscience professor John Hewitt, one of the study’s co-authors, said in a statement.
“It would be a mistake to dismiss the risks from higher doses of a drug that is relatively safe in small amounts.”
is highlights one of the study’s big limitations. Zellers said most of the people included in the twins data are relatively light cannabis users. e sample size for heavy users is small.
at means the study can’t tell whether legalization negatively affects heavy cannabis users. It also can’t determine whether legalization is disproportionately harmful for people who may be predisposed to substance-use problems.
“Our sample is an adult community sample broadly characterized by low levels of substance use and psychosocial dysfunction,” the researchers write in their study, which was published this month in the journal Psychological Medicine. “ is limits our ability to generalize relationships between legalization, outcomes and risk factors for the individuals at greatest risk.”
For that reason, it is unlikely to settle the debate over whether cannabis is a “gateway drug.” While using marijuana at some point in your life is not indicative that you will go on to use heavier drugs, previous research has found that many people who develop serious drug-use disorders started using drugs by consuming alcohol or cannabis.
Zellers said she and her colleagues are hoping to publish another study based on their data — but this one will be less concerned about the impacts of marijuana legalization as a policy. Instead, it will try to look at how much cannabis people have used over their lifetimes and then score that against the same measures of psychological dysfunction “to see if, not the policy, but the actual substance itself has an e ect,” Zellers said.
“We know how people on average live in each state, but that doesn’t tell us about individual people,” she said.
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.
