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WEEK OF JANUARY 4, 2024

VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 4

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RANCHING Ranchers are upset with portrayal of meat

Rep. Lauren Boebert announced in a Facebook video her decision to run for Rep. Ken Buck’s seat in the 4th Congressional District. FROM FACEBOOK VIDEO

Republicans react strongly as Boebert wades into 4th Congressional District battle BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In a move that stunned many of her fellow Republicans, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert said she would leave her seat on Colorado’s Western Slope and instead run in the state’s 4th Congressional District, which includes Douglas County and most of Eastern Colorado. The reactions indicated the race will be combative, with some saying Boebert’s actions put Colorado Republicans at risk of losing even more ground to Democrats in 2024.

In a Facebook video posted on Dec. 27, Boebert said she would withdraw from the race in the state’s 3rd Congressional District, which she currently represents. “I did not arrive at this decision easily,” Boebert said. “A lot of prayer, a lot of tough conversations and a lot of perspective convinced me that this is the best way I can continue to fight for Colorado, for the conservative movement and for my children’s future.” The 4th District is represented by Windsor Republican Ken Buck, who announced in November he would

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retire from the seat. Several south metro area Republicans are eyeing campaigns to replace Buck, including former state lawmaker Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch, who had harsh words regarding Boebert’s sudden move. “Boebert has failed the conservatives in (the 3rd District) to such a degree that they will no longer vote for her,” he told Colorado Community Media. “Now, in what can only be seen as a vain effort to cling to power, she seeks to represent the voters of SEE BOEBERT, P21

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Cattle ranchers balk at media portrayals Historic ranches have beef with advocacy groups over perceived environmental impacts of meat BY MONTE WHALEY THE COLORADO SUN

Robbie LeValley sees her family’s cattle ranch settled in the high pastures near Hotchkiss as a linchpin in the state’s food chain and a fifthgeneration steward of the local environment. The LeValley ranch is bordered by habitat for the Gunnison sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird that is protected as an endangered species. Grazing has helped the sage

grouse thrive and meet recovery goals set by the Endangered Species Act, the LeValleys say. The water supply for the LeValleys’ public land allotment also originates on their private land. The family has built 17 miles of pipeline, allowing the water to flow from their spread to ponds that are open to the public. The LeValleys say this allows plenty of water for the fishing ponds and the Gunnison sage grouse to thrive. All the ranches in that part of the North Fork Valley — many of which were settled over a century ago — share a common interest in sustaining the local environment, Robbie LeValley said. “Each of the ranchers in their own way have taken on the ethic of improving the land for and making it safe for the sage grouse and wildlife in general,” LeValley said. “Ranch-

Farm Runners store employees Lara Widner, left, and Dana Stopher chat while stocking the produce section, Nov. 21, 2023, in Hotchkiss. The store, next to City Market in town, is a year-round regional food distributor for the local farmers and ranchers to PHOTO BY HUGH CAREY THE COLORADO SUN Roaring Fork, Gunninson, and Grand Valleys.

ers provide the large open space that wildlife need and require.” Large ranching operations like the LeValleys’ have been targeted by activists accusing them of contributing to environmental degradation, including contributing to climate change. Research published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Climate claims that phasing out animal agriculture over the next 15 years would have the same effect as a 68% reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the year 2100, which it says would limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. “Reducing or eliminating animal agriculture should be at the top of the list of potential climate solutions,” Patrick Brown, a professor emeritus in the department of biochemistry at Stanford University, told Stanford Magazine. The LeValley Ranch and five other ranches own about 2,000 head of cattle that are raised on clean mountain water, fresh air, Colorado sunshine and green grass, the ranchers say. They are not fed antibiotics, added hormones or animal byproducts, according to the LeValley family. When it’s time to market their meat, the animals are slaughtered and custom processed at Homestead Natural Meats in nearby Delta. That operation is also owned by LeValley and the other ranchers. The site — including corrals, equipment, flooring, feed and water supply — is regularly inspected by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, according to the Homestead Meats website. A retail store is also on-site where customers can buy beef, pork, lamb and other meats offered by the

ranches. Homestead sells Mexican shrimp, tuna and salmon, as well as fresh milk and cheese. The variety of items tendered to customers local and statewide is the result of the area ranchers deciding in the 1990s to remain viable by catering to changing customer tastes, Robbie LeValley said. The best way to do that, she said, was to open its own processing plant and a retail store where the producers can talk directly to potential buyers. “Everybody at the time was ranching a cow-calf operation,” LeValley said. “We decided to diversify and add additional processing so we could begin selling directly to consumers. It provides us the opportunity to interact with consumers.” “It allows us,” she said, “to expand customer knowledge of agriculture in general and what it takes to provide a diversified enterprise.” The LeValley ranch is roughly 25 miles from its processing plant in Delta. But other grower-owned processors and retailers that allow ranchers to cut out the middleman in Colorado are few and far between. Ranchers often have to travel hundreds of miles to get to a processing facility. And if an activist group working toward a ballot measure for 2024 gets its way, the lone cooperative processing plant in Denver will be eliminated altogether. The huge gap between ranchers and processing plants produces a gaping hole in Colorado’s supply chain and threatens the sustainability of meat production, LeValley said. Colorado is home to 13,000 beef cattle producers and 206 feedlots, all SEE RANCHERS, P4

January 4, 2024

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Controversial Building Proposal in Lakewood Is About More Than Birds

The Dec. 24th Sunday Denver Post had a lengthy article on its business pages about a 412-unit apartment building being proposed by a Texas developer for a 5-acre site adjoining Belmar Park (see satellite image at right). The focus of the article was on the birders who are fighting the project as best they can, given that the public and city council have no say in Lakewood when it comes to development. That’s right — no say in any proposal to build on private property so long as it complies with zoning. The City Council doesn’t even have a say on subdividing land, although it’s a review body for appeals on major subdivisions. This project is on a single 5-acre owned parcel and, because it’s zoned multifamily, the owner could build a 12-story apartment or mixed-use building if he wanted. The developer, Kairoi Residential of San Antonio, is proposing a 6-story apartment building — still taller than most buildings in downtown Lakewood. The City of Lakewood has ceded all regulation of such projects to its planning department. The planning director could, if he wanted, submit this project to the city’s planning commission for hearings and debate, but he has chosen not to, despite the controversy. Anita Springsteen (below) served a 4year term on the Lakewood City Council through November. She decided not to run for re-election because the council has no power. Once she was told by the city attorney that council members are like citizens and that she had no more right to the information she was requesting than an ordinary citizen. One such citizen, Mark Smith, made a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request for such information and was told that it would take 149 staff hours to produce the information and would cost him over $5,000. Mark is a retired city planner and he said that he knows of no other jurisdiction which provides literally no public process for approving significant development proposals. The City of Golden has a process that could be a model for Lakewood and any other city. Check out

guidinggolden.com/planning-projects for inspiration. It includes a process for councilors and citizens to have a voice. Lakewood has an ordinance requiring any developer to set aside parkland in proportion to 5 acres per 1,000 added population. For the Belmar Park development, that formula should require 3.5 acres, but the entire parcel is only 5 acres, so the director of community resources is allowing the developer to pay the city $254,545 per acre in lieu of that requirement. Again, no public or legislative say in that decision and, of course, no hearing. The planning commission would hold hearings; the planning director just decides. Anita Springsteen moved that the city manager deny the in-lieu fee, but Mayor Paul said, “I’m not going to allow a vote on an illegal motion.” How is that? In recognition of local concerns, the developer announced a 2-month “pause” on October 18 to allow for a “neighborhood meeting.” That meeting, as de-

The big story here is that Lakewood has no public process for controlling development. scribed on the planning department’s website consisted of up to 3 members of city government, 3 representatives of the developer and 3 residents of Belmar Commons, a 45-unit townhome community closest to the project. It was unannounced, and no recording was made. Instead, facilitator hired by the city took notes. Those notes did not include the names of any of the attendees. The planning department’s web page for the project says bluntly, “This property has had this property right to build multistory uses for a long time, and courts have been quite clear that elected officials and cities can’t impinge or impede a private property owner’s property rights allowed under a ‘use by right.’ Courts have viewed efforts to do this as a ‘taking’ of property rights.” Further, the web page says that “the proposed development will occur solely through the administrative process managed by the Planning Department. That means the Planning Department

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will review the development to ensure it is meeting the city’s regulations for setbacks of the building, heights, green space requirements, landscaping, etc.” In 2019, Lakewood’s voters approved the Strategic Growth Initiative which imposed a 1% growth limit, patterned after a similar law in Golden. That law also included a provision that projects of 40 units or more should go to the city council for approval, although that has not been followed, as far as I can tell. In the wake of 2023 legislation outlawing growth limits statewide, the city council repealed the Strategic Growth Initiative and then re-passed it with a 2year sunset provision, meaning that it dies unless the council (or voters) vote to retain it. Curiously, the new law retained the 1% growth limit, but it sunsets along with the rest of the law in 2025. I asked why the 412-unit Belmar Park project doesn’t violate the 1% growth limit. It’s because the original designation of the downtown/Villa Italia district as “blighted” exempts that area from the limitation, even though it’s hardly blighted nowadays. By now you’ve probably guessed that the majority of city council members are pro-growth or even pro-developer. I interviewed Ramey Johnson, who served on Lakewood’s city council from 2010 to 2020, and she couldn’t think or any jurisdiction in which the governing body has ceded its authority over development to administrative staff the way Lakewood has. “It’s wrong,” she told me. She says that council has incrementally relinquished its power to administrative staff over many years.

She told how in 2003, in response to “angst” over CCU students living in residential areas, council passed an ordinance defining a “Student Living Unit.” When the zoning ordinance was rewritten in 2012, Ramey noticed that definition had been deleted without pointing it out to the city council. Travis Parker, the director of planning, responded, “It wasn’t needed anymore.” “The staff simply took out something that was voted by City Council,” Ramey said. “What else was deleted?” Lakewood has among the lowest paid elected officials and highest paid staff of any city its size. City council members make $12,000, the mayor makes about $40,000, but the city manager makes about $350,000 (with benefits), and the department heads, like Parker, make over $200,000. Council members have no staff and no expense accounts. “We even have to buy the coffee for our ward meetings,” Anita Springsteen told me. “This is a recipe for corruption,” She has studied the campaign finance disclosures of her fellow councilors and the mayor and told me that the lawyer representing the developer made a campaign contribution to Mayor Paul — and after the election, the chairman of her firm, Norman Brownstein, made a contribution to Paul’s campaign despite the fact that Paul was then term-limited. No building permit has been issued yet for the Belmar Park development. But nothing’s really stopping it.

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RANCHERS FROM PAGE 2

of which are served by 24 USDA certified slaughter plants, according to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. Colorado is the fourth-largest exporter of fresh and frozen beef in the United States, with the export market worth over $1 billion, the CCA says. The meager number of slaughter plants compared to the size of the state’s cattle production is leaving Colorado’s food chain vulnerable to disruption. It also drives up food costs as producers truck their livestock from the far corners of the state to processors on the Front Range while smaller ones are scattered along the Eastern Plains and Western Slope, LeValley said. “So many of these facilities are just so far out there,” she said. “Depending on the situation, you may have to travel from Fort Collins to Delta for

your processing. That is a huge expense.” “And processing is just a critical part of providing food security for us and the entire world,” LeValley said. “It’s like the energy sector. If one processing center is affected by something, it affects the entire system.” LeValley is among meat producers who are largely backing a Congressional bid to allow small and midsize meat processing facilities to expand their operations. The “Butcher Block Act” — co-sponsored by Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet — authorizes USDA loans and loan guarantees to increase and modernize small and medium-size meatprocessing and rendering facilities. The legislation would also develop new mobile facilities to improve local and regional access to processing and rendering services. Meat industry leaders hailed the proposed legislation for potentially increasing competition among processors and capacity in rural areas.

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Kent Swisher, president and CEO of the North American Renderers Association, said the bill finally focuses on the importance of recouping the meat, bone and fat from an animal and reusing them for other products. “This bill is the first of its kind that acknowledges the critical role of rendering as a safe and sustainable method of upcycling the parts of the animal and birds that are not consumed by humans,” Swisher said in a news release. But the Butcher Block Act runs counter to changing attitudes toward livestock production, a local environmental activist says. Watchdog groups argue that large ranches and slaughterhouses are morally wrong and environmentally disastrous. Livestock accounts for about 15% of greenhouse gas emissions mainly from methane from the gas they expel, according to Earth First and The World Counts. Large meat operations are also destroying forests and chewing up land for wildlife, the environmental group says.

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Huge ranches are guilty of spreading foodborne illnesses while also occupying 30% of the Earth’s land surface leaving less land for other uses, according to Earth First. Industrial animal agriculture is a key driver of the climate crisis, and replacing it is the necessary part of any climate solution, said Aidan Kankyoku, spokesman for Pro-Animal Future. The group is leading an effort to place a measure on the 2024 ballot to ban slaughterhouses in Denver. Superior Farms Inc. is the only slaughterhouse in the city and is located in Globeville. The company employs well over 500 people and is one of the largest lamb slaughterhouses in the country, killing over 1,000 lambs daily, Kankyoku said in an email. “Slaughterhouses dump toxic chemicals into waterways, and most of all, nobody with a heart in their chest can watch the footage of what

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Disaster Volunteer Team steps up for Elbert County Helpers were on hand when Penrose 125 Fire ravaged area near Simla

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BY NICKY QUINBY SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Last March, the Penrose 125 Fire broke out near Simla. The winddriven wildfire burned about 1,000 acres, large enough that multiple agencies responded and an evacuation order was issued for Simla. Members of the Elbert County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Disaster Volunteer Team, or DV Team, were ready to help gather food for first responders and staff the potential evacuee shelter. The DV Team supports the OEM by mobilizing in response to emergencies. Early in 2023, Elizabeth Fire and Office of Emergency Management Director Shane Pynes saw a need for such a team during recent wildfires and past severe winter storms. Both departments committed to forming, training and supporting a team for the benefit of the community. The Elizabeth Fire Department’s involvement helped ensure the DV Team can successfully integrate with emergency responders in a more organized and official manner. One member of the team, Michelle Owens, said there was absolutely a need for a group like this in Elbert County, citing the bomb cyclone that paralyzed Elbert County in March 2019. “I think what we learned from the bomb cyclone event is that we are farther out from some of the major cities and help can be delayed because their people may not be able to get here in time to provide assistance,” she said. “We have great people who are willing to step up and help and who understand our community.” Alana Wolner, another volunteer on the DV Team, echoed the need for such a group. She said prior to its formation, “small citizen groups

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Douglas County provides several drop-off locations to recycle your Christmas tree. For locations, dates and instructions on how to prepare your tree for recycling, visit douglas.co.us and search for Christmas tree recycling. OEM Director Shane Pynes sitting in Elbert County’s Emergency Operations Center. The space is used during an active emergency to bring people together from PHOTO BY NICKY QUINBY different departments.

were stepping up in emergency situations.” Wolner pointed to the bomb cyclone as an example. During that incident, the local chapter of Beta Sigma Phi sheltered 175 stranded travelers at the old Frontier High School. Rather than scrambling to cobble together volunteers in emergency situations, the DV Team provides more consistent, controlled support for Elbert County citizens. The ‘Sweet 16’

The DV Team currently has 16 members, known as the “Sweet 16,” and meets quarterly. Pynes says the group is a “good breadth of people with diverse backgrounds and skills.” The group had barely been formed when the 125 Fire broke out. The DV Team is trained and given direction on protocols that support their safety and help make their efforts more effective. With this training, the DV Team is empowered to coordinate their efforts. Pynes recognizes that they’re all experts in their own fields and trusts their individual skill sets. “We encourage them to exercise creativity and initiative to find the best way to support each other as SEE VOLUNTEERS, P6

There’s art in every corner of Douglas County. Vote for your favorite. Douglas County ArtEncounters installed more than 30 art pieces in public places throughout Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Parker and Roxborough. Visit the sculptures and then vote for your favorite by Jan. 31, 2024. For art locations, voting online and more, visit artencounters.douglas.co.us

What’s happening with your County government? Our commitment to open and transparent government includes online posting of information about public meetings at which the business of government is conducted. To view public meeting agendas, participate in-person or remotely, or watch select meetings via live stream, visit douglas.co.us and search for Business Meetings / Public Hearings.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day office closure Douglas County offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. Many services are available at DoItOnlineDouglas.com

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VOLUNTEERS FROM PAGE 5

teammates and their community,” he said. The group has two overarching functions: to support sheltering operations and to provide responder rehabilitation during an emergency. Emergencies include all hazards that could potentially impact the community. Examples include wildfires, winter storms, hazardous chemical spills, active threats, or natural disasters. During the 125 Fire, the DV Team responded ideally. Pynes said they “served both their primary func-

January 4, 2024Jan tions” on the shelter and rehabilitation fronts. “Sheltering operations” is a broad term for relocating people and meeting their needs. It includes warming centers, which are temporary places to stay warm during winter storms, and reunification centers, which are centralized locations for people to reunite with loved ones during an event where people are separated from one another. The Office of Emergency Management coordinates specifics and provides the DV Team with necessary details about where an emergency is taking place and sheltering site information. The DV Team acquires radios at the office, meets

with any building or facility managers, sets up the shelter, and documents how many people come to the site. They also coordinate back with the specialists at the Emergency Operations Center. The members of the DV team become the first faces people see at a shelter. They are trained on response protocols to support displaced individuals. For evacuees of the 125 Fire, the shelter was set up at the Elbert County Fairgrounds. Responder rehabilitation

For the Elbert County community, responder rehabilitation refers to being able to provide emergency responders with food and drink. During the 125 Fire, the DV Team jumped into action, bought supplies, and delivered them to members of multiple agencies and state firefighters. Owens was part of the group that provided responder rehabilitation. “Our job was to provide meals for 90 firefighters and first responders. We were making sandwiches out of the back of a van,” she said. “Everyone was so appreciative,” Owens added. “I had never been a witness of such incredible teamwork. I was so proud of all the men and women who worked so hard to contain the fire.” Elizabeth Fire Chief T.J. Steck is grateful for the community members who have stepped up to volunteer. “We as a community are so

lucky to have this group supporting our citizens and first responders,” he said. He feels that these volunteers fill critical service gaps during major emergencies at little to no cost to citizens. The Elbert County Office of Emergency Management’s motto is “we come together to come through for people.” Pynes stressed the importance of collaborating and working together. “We bring people together and make sure that we’re not operating in our own silos,” he said. The office trains, educates, and prepares for all hazards and maintains relationships with priority stakeholders — county and city entities, businesses, schools, etc. During an emergency, they involve anyone relevant to a given incident. “We work really hard to bring these different experts together and we educate, we train, and then we practice with each other. We provide scenarios … that’s what Emergency Management does, is we provide a training environment and we connect,” Pynes explained. The Elbert County Office of Emergency Management is open to recruiting a few more members for the DV Team. Another DV Team training will hopefully take place in early 2024. If you’re interested in volunteering, contact Aaron Borne at 303-805-6143 or aaron. borne@elbertcounty-co.gov.

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Family formed after life-saving organ transplant, raises awareness for donations in Parker BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Melanie Merrill worked in the transplant department at a children’s hospital in California when Pochie, an infant in foster care, was admitted for an organ transplant. The surgery, more than a decade ago, would unknowingly change both of their lives for the better. Pochie was born with Biliary Atresia, a rare disease that blocks the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder, leading to liver damage. The disease can be deadly and Pochie had gone into liver failure in January of 2012 before receiving a liver transplant. Within a month of being put on the transplant list, Pochie had a donor match because his rare blood type placed him in a smaller pool of potential recipients. Merrill had helped with many liver, intestinal and kidney transplants, knew the procedures, and took care of children after their surgeries. She was prepared when Pochie had some complications afterwards and stayed in the hospital for a period of time. Pochie had been placed into the foster care system just a few weeks prior to being put on the transplant list. The nurses adored him. Merrill said nurses would often fight over who got to hold and play with him. “He just kind of had this really infectious smile, and this way of kind of grabbing your heart the moment you met him,” said Merrill. Merrill had told the hospital’s social worker if the infant needed another foster placement, to let her know and in December of 2012, there was an opening and Pochie was available for adoption. Merrill couldn’t help but feel like it was meant to happen, so she spoke with her husband about it that night and soon took Pochie in, later adopting him in 2015. “Who better to take care of a transplant kid than me,” said Merrill. “After all the years I had taken care of kids after their transplants.” Now 12 years old - despite some road bumps - Pochie Merrill is thriving. Since moving to Parker, Colorado in 2017, the family has been active in

Melanie Merrill and her son Pochie at the 2023 Denver Parade of Lights where they were a part of the “Gift of Life” float. The Merrill family aim to educate the youth on organ and VALERIA MOONCH tissue donations and the importance of registering to be a donor.

their community, working to bring awareness to how organ and tissue donation can save lives. Every April, they participate in Donate Life Month and are active in Donor Alliance’s Donor Dash 5K each year. During the pandemic, they painted rocks that said “Donate Life” and were part of the “Gift of Life” float in the 2023 Denver Parade of Lights. Melanie Merrill also talks to kids at various schools. “Our family feels very strongly that we need to honor his donor and his donor’s family’s willingness to give him the gift of life,” Merrill said of Pochie’s donor. A Donor Alliance advocate, Merrill hopes to become a transplant science educator in the new year where she would go into middle and high schools to educate youth about organ donation and the importance of registering to be a donor. There are tens of thousands of people who would benefit from a transplant or tissue donations, said Heather Burke, a spokesperson for Donor Alliance. Donor Alliance is a nonprofit that serves Colorado and most of Wyoming and is one of 56 federally designated organ procurement organizations in the U.S.. The organization speaks with family members about donation, honoring their loved one’s decision and walks alongside the family during the organ

recovery and transportation process. In addition to their education program, the organization shares information about careers in transplantation. “In some ways, I have a unique perspective in the sense that I’ve unfortunately seen the devastation that happens when we can’t get that gift of life,” said Merrill. “I’ve also seen the amazing transformation when a child receives a gift of life.” According to Donor Alliance, nearly 1,500 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant in Colorado and Wyoming. One person can save up to eight lives through an organ donation and one person can also save and heal up to 75 lives through a tissue donation, said Burke. In 2022, 66% of people in Colorado had registered to be an organ and tissue donor. That’s above the national average of 49%, according to Donor Alliance. People can register when they obtain or renew their driver’s license or state identification or register anytime at donatelifecolorado.org. Without that donation a decade ago, Pochie might not have survived. Pochie is grateful to his donor and the circumstances that brought him his family. “It means being able to be here, right now, in this moment,” said Pochie Merrill.

January 4, 2024

RANCHERS FROM PAGE 4

happens to animals inside these facilities without feeling disgusted,” Kankyoku said. “New meat alternatives and shifting cultural norms have shown that we don’t need to rely on farming animals to thrive,” he added. “Society is evolving away from a reliance on animal farming, and that’s a good thing.” Bennet’s bill would be a step backward in the move away from factory farming, Kankyoku said. “There is no place for slaughterhouses in the progressive, peaceful future Colorado voters wish to create,” he said. “The government should be leading a transition away from animal agriculture or, at the very least, stop tilting the scales of competition against humane, sustainable alternatives.” Superior Farms Inc. could not be reached for comment. On its website, Superior Farms says it partners with over 1,000 family ranches to provide high-quality lamb with a strong commitment to animal well-being and sustainability. “The lambs graze mainly on open pasture lands, sustaining on the natural vegetation of vast grasslands as they have for centuries while providing benefits to the land through fertilization, erosion mitigation and wildfire suppression,” the website

states. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, along with other agriculture groups, has fought against claims that beef producers are a detriment to the environment, noting that beef producers in the United States are already the global leader in sustainable beef production. The cattlemen’s association said that the industry has committed to climate neutrality of U.S. cattle production by 2040, according to a news release. LeValley points to work done at Colorado State University as examples of livestock producers working to keep its industry sustainable in an era of changing attitudes toward meat. The Institute for Livestock and the Environment brings in several groups from various disciplines from across the CSU campus to balance issues of “economic growth with the environment,” the CSU website states. That academic work and research will help determine just how much farms and ranches influence the environment, good and bad, LeValley said. “So far we’ve only been concentrating on one side of the ledger,” she said. “We’ve been getting the blame for a lot of things without getting credit for what we do everyday.” This story was printed through a news sharing agreement with The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonprofit based in Denver that covers the state.

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January 4, 2024Jan

What is the reason for power cost increases? Colorado utility bills keep growing although the price of electricity is static BY MARK JAFFE THE COLORADO SUN

Bill Levis has tracked the ups and downs of utility bills for the past 14 years, first as director of the state Office of Consumer Counsel and then as a consultant for AARP, which represents retirees and older citizens. And when it comes to electricity bills, especially from the state’s larg-

est provider Xcel Energy, the trend has gone in only one direction — up. Since 2019 the average monthly residential bill, for 600 kilowatthours of electricity, has risen 38% to $92.12, based on company figures. Utility bills are one of the biggest regular dings to any household’s budget, and with every Xcel announcement, the High Cost of Colorado marches upward. “We know it is going to go even higher as we go to renewables and they phase out coal-fired plants,” said Levis, whose office was the predecessor to the Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate. Electricity bills aren’t subject sole-

ly to the same market forces as food, or even rent. There are a host of things that go into rising electricity bills from the price of natural gas to run turbines to the cost of building new power stations and transmission lines to a raft of state mandated clean energy programs. And let’s not forget, in addition to all those requirements Xcel Energy is also a business in search of a profit, which means there are shareholder and bondholder expectations to be met. The rates customers pay are set by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission based on the investments Xcel Energy makes to run its grid and meet demand. Xcel Energy gets to recover its investment plus a return set by the PUC. It is growing these investments, the so-called rate base, that raises bills and fuels profits and shareholder dividends. When Xcel Energy built the coal-fired Comanche 3 power plant for $1 billion, customers paid for it. Customers will pay for the $1.7 billion Power Pathway transmission

line being built. Customers will also pay nearly $1 billion closing three coal-fired plants, most of it for the unamortized part of Comanche 3 which has suffered chronic breakdowns since it opened in 2010. “It is never the energy company that ends up paying for mistakes, such as Comanche 3,” Levis said. “The frustration consumers have is that the energy company has no downside.” And if customers are unhappy, they don’t have the option of shopping around for a new provider of electricity or natural gas like they can with cars, insurance or food. Xcel has a franchise that makes it a monopoly in the areas it serves. Xcel Energy is now proposing another $10 billion in rate base investments as part of its Clean Energy Plan, which will cut the utility’s greenhouse gas emissions 87% over 2005 levels. “The legislature has also played a role in raising bills,” Levis said. “I SEE UTILITIES, P31

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January 4, 2024J

VOICES The greatest is love

he holy season of Advent dawns amid familiar carols echoing through frost-kissed mornings. In this hushed space of yearning hearts, we sweep away the holiday frenzy and rediscover an ageless, boundless love born in candlelit shadows. Advent love manifests not in flashy fanfare but whispering solitude. We kindle joyful anticipation of Christ’s arrival by embracing sacred stillness. In early morning darkness, we wrap a woolen blanket around our shoulders and light a single candle, bathing the room in warm glow as dawn approaches. We drink in the silence, opening our whole being to wonder. Stillness reorients us from dullness to breathless expectation. Advent love arrives in hushed tones when we unclutter crowded schedules and overstuffed hearts. It emerges in stillness as we behold Love’s luminous mystery. Like the solitary bright star shining through Bethlehem skies beckoning earthly kings, Infinite Love patiently waits to be found, recognized and adored in unlikely places by childlike faith. When storms rage and dreams lie in shards, love often feels impossible to muster. But somewhere in our soul, embers of hope still smolder. And hope-inspired love can reignite even the most broken heart. Where hope persists, radical love follows. Hope sees glimmers that despair

shades. It believes restoration waits around the bend, no matter how far we’ve fallen. Hope whispers, “All things are possible still.” It holds us in moments we cannot hold ourselves. And hope-rooted love is fearless, ragMichael Norton ing against injustice rather than retreating into complacency. It loves those deemed unlovable, the marginalized, the oppressed, the sick, the forgotten. It loves wildly and wastefully like its supply is endless because hope ensures love’s well never runs dry. The audacious love that is fuled by hope speaks truth with grace, not judgment. It weeps with the grieving and celebrates the victorious. The love that hope kindles is generous and selfless. It notices loneliness in a crowded room and nudges someone to extend an invitation. It rallies volunteers to rebuild a family’s storm-ravaged home. It patiently tutors struggling students. It always responds to need with compassion. And in the process, hope-inspired love transforms its own wounded heart. As we lift others’ loads, our shoulders feel lighter too. Serving

cures self-pity. Washing strangers’ callused feet softens our calluses. Lifting the lowly elevates our whole being. Love powered by audacious hope awakens purpose and deep joy. It knows endless tomorrows await beyond today’s tears. With hope as its north star, love finds its way home. In life’s stormiest seasons when foundations crumble, Paul urges us to cling to faith, hope and love, three pillars of spiritual strength. While each matters greatly, he declares love supreme: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Why does love reign supreme? Love outlasts because love bears all things. When grief shreds our heart or betrayal stabs our back, love weeps alongside us yet refuses to let pain poison its purpose. When we want to raise our fists in rage, love keeps our arms open. Its flame never flickers. Love uplifts because love believes all things. When crushed dreams and failed plans shatter our optimism, love gently whispers, “I still see your potential. Purpose awaits.” When we hang our head in shame, love lifts our chin, assuring, “You are forever worthy.” Its eyes never dim. Love empowers because love hopes all things. When challenging circumstances threaten to snuff out

our hope, love fans its fiery embers. “There is more unfolding,” love insists. “You were made to weather this storm.” When we despair of better days, love stands resolute, declaring, “Morning comes. Joy awakens.” Faith, hope and love — these three dance in harmony when rooted in God’s heart. But love leads the way. Its reach is boundless, its fire unquenchable, its vision unclouded by storms. Love bears, believes, and hopes without end. That is why when all else fades, love remains. When human bonds break, love’s loyalty persists. When even faith and hope waver, love stands firm as our anchor. It is the greatest gift heaven offers. Love never fails. Hope, peace, joy, and now love. May your hearts be filled with all four as you enjoy the beauty and blessings of the holidays. I would love to hear your holiday story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when we fill our days with hope, peace, joy and love, it really will be a better than good life.

housing and the lack of affordable options, it makes more sense for her to live at home since she can’t afford to buy a place of her own. There are many others with a story much like ours — something needs to be done. Our county and state are growing, and with growth comes growing pains. I don’t want to stand in the way of my daughter’s

future success — affordable housing options are desperately needed for the next generation of residents in Colorado. Condominiums are great housing options for someone like my daughter because as an owner she can build equity as she pays off her mortgage and the value of the property increases. And she’s setting herself up for success

to own a single-family home in the future if she so chooses. But that choice is virtually nonexistent for this generation of professionals just beginning their careers. Like my daughter, many of them are stuck (literally and figuratively) in their parents’ basement,

via postal mail. Put the words “letter to the editor” in the email subject line. • Submit your letter by 5 p.m. on Wednesday in order to have it considered for publication in the following week’s

newspaper. • Letters must be no longer than 400 words. • Letters should be exclusively submitted to Colorado Community Media and

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

WINNING WORDS

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.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Housing options needed now

I am a longtime resident of Colorado and parent to a teacher. I’m very aware of the challenges we are facing regarding affordable places to live. Our daughter is a young professional, teaching the next generation of children, hoping to give back to the community she works in. Unfortunately, due to the high cost of

SEE LETTER, P10

ABOUT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Colorado Community Media welcomes letters to the editor. Please note the following rules: • Email your letter to michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com. Do not send

January 4, 2024

Get emergency alerts through Douglas County’s CodeRED BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Colorado just reached the twoyear anniversary of the historically destructive Marshall Fire, a tragedy that called attention to the problem of some people receiving little or no notice to leave their homes in an emergency. The devastating fire in Boulder County destroyed more than 1,000 homes. Two people are believed to have died in the December 2021 fire that put tens of thousands of people under evacuation alerts. Many people don’t know that they might only receive alerts for certain emergencies if they’ve signed up for a free notification service. In Douglas County, that’s where the CodeRED system comes in: It can alert you by phone call, text message and email. The alerts are sometimes known as “reverse 911” calls. “This system is paid for by the Douglas County Emergency Telephone Service Authority, and there is no cost for you to sign up,” the Town of Castle Rock’s website says. You can sign up at tinyurl.com/ SignupforCodeRED. “Officials will send messages to alert you of emergency details, instructions or precautions that you need in order for you to make wellinformed decisions and remain safe,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office’s website says of CodeRED. The system will notify you about police activity, wildfires and other emergencies nearby, Douglas County’s website says. However, the system does not include weather alerts in general, Castle Rock’s website says. “The town encourages our resi-

LETTER FROM PAGE 10

with little hope that their situation will ever improve. How are our residents supposed to thrive if we only provide singlefamily homes? What about the

dents and businesses to use … weather radios, subscribe to any of the free weather apps, and/or monitor local media for information during severe weather,” the website adds. For CodeRED, the Parker Police Department highlighted the potential problem of relying on a landline that does not work when the power goes out. “The CodeRED sign-up form allows you to indicate both a primary and alternate phone number,” the Parker police website says. “Cell phone and / or work phone numbers can be entered as alternate phone numbers. Both primary and alternate phone numbers will be contacted when a notification is sent.” For those who do not have internet service, the Town of Parker encourages residents to talk to their family, friends and neighbors for help using the internet to sign up. “Dispatchers and other emergency response personnel cannot register users over the phone,” Parker’s website says. For CodeRED, you don’t need to renew your registration unless your contact information changes, the sheriff’s office site says. “However, it is a good idea to log in annually to assure your information is accurate,” the sheriff’s office site says. “If you move, you must update your information to continue receiving CodeRED notifications.” The county urges the public to spread the word about the system. “Please encourage friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers to register. Businesses should also sign up,” the county’s website says. single-income earners? Single parents? Young professionals or first responders? We need to provide options for them to give back to the communities they work and invest in. Coloradans, like my daughter, need affordable housing options now. Holly Coffee, Castle Pines

Memory In Loving

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

January 4, 2024J

LOCAL

LIFE

PUTTING THEIR SOULS INTO SOLES Shoeshining and repairs bring purpose to local craftsmen BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

n 1838, photographer Louis Daguerre captured what is often cited as the first-ever photograph of a person. The black-and-white image shows buildings and trees lining a cobblestone street in Paris. Although it was a busy street, the length of the photographic exposure rendered the passersby and horse traffic invisible in the final image. But on that spring day more than 185 years ago, two individuals remained still enough to show up in the photo. In the bottom left-hand corner, on the sidewalk near the street, one person polishes another’s shoes. The photograph unexpectedly became a time capsule of the age-old tradition of shoeshining, which although less common than it once was, continues to be an indispensable part of some people’s personal and professional routines. From Denver to Centennial, several shoeshine and shoe repair craftsmen aim to make their customers’ lives sparkle by pro-

viding service, beauty and powerful interpersonal connections. The skill of shoe repair

For Edward Koinov, the owner of Re-Nu Shoe Repair in Centennial, business is buzzing. Over the course of an hour one Friday in December, customers entered Koinov’s shop in a continuous stream — asking him for advice, getting quotes or picking up their shoes. In addition to shining, Koinov changes soles, replaces heels, adds stitching, makes color corrections and sometimes even adds embellishments. And because he knows what he’s doing with leather, people often bring in other items, like purses and bags. “I’ll never say no,” he said, unless a customer requests an impossible repair. “Most of them, I fix.” Koinov’s space reflects the popularity of his service, which seems to have bounced back after a lull during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of shoes sit on shelves, awaiting repairs and pickups. And despite rising costs of supplies, Koinov is making things work. He said he works on about 25 pairs of shoes per day, and business is especially busy in the winter. SEE SOLES, P15

Edward Koinov smiles as he stands at the entrance to his workshop at Re-Nu Shoe PHOTO BY NINA JOSS Repair in Centennial.

January 4, 2024

SOLES FROM PAGE 14

“People love shoes,” he said. Koinov, who grew up in Russia, learned to make shoes from scratch in a factory when he was 17 years old. In 1989, he moved to New York City and later relocated to Colorado for the weather and the mountains, he said. Previous to his shoe shop, Koinov opened a car dealership and a Russian restaurant in the metro Denver area. He said he lost money from both of these endeavors and decided to go back to his roots in the shoe business. When asked why shoes are interesting to him, Koinov joked, “What am I going to be, a lawyer?” He said that people are good at different things — and for him, it’s always been shoes. “This is not one year, two years to learn this job,” he said. “This job is years (and) years. You need to know how to fix the shoes. You need to know this job.” The ‘secret recipe’

North of Centennial, another tenured shoe professional, Vincent Wayne Robinson, owns his own shoeshining company in Denver. Like Koinov, Robinson fell into the shoe business as a teenager. He was working with a carpenter on converting a grocery store into a nightclub in Oklahoma City in the 1970s. At 17 years old, Robinson wanted to attend the nightclub once it opened — but he knew he was too young to get in. So when chatting with the club owner one day during construction, he had what he calls a “vision.” Out of the blue, he asked the owner if he had ever considered having a shoeshine stand in the club. “The thought came from me, out of nowhere,” he said. “I felt like something spoke through me, because it was nothing I was conscious of. I know that’s crazy, but that’s the way it was.” Robinson had no experience in shining shoes, but he told the club owner that he could provide the service. He asked his cousin, a reliably confident person, to join him in the endeavor. With little to no experience, the two of them started a gig shining

Vincent Robinson started his own business after falling in love with the art of shoeshining while working at the Denver International Airport shoeshine stand. PHOTO BY NINA JOSS

shoes at the club. “I started figuring it out — it became a nice little hustle,” Robinson said. “But it didn’t come to a business until I moved to Colorado.” In the early 2000s, Robinson started working at the shoeshine stand at Denver International Airport. There, he said, he learned how to shine professionally. “I learned so much from the owner,” he said. “And that’s where the love began.” After that, Robinson decided to open up his own company, Vincent’s Shoe Shine of Cherry Creek, which now operates out of a space on Ogden Street in Denver, among other locations. The process of shining a shoe, Robinson said, is a “secret recipe” of cleaning, conditioning, waterproofing and “spit-shining.” In the past, people would use saliva for the shining part of the process — but these days, Robinson said “spitshining” involves using a water mist and a specific motion with a rag. He said shoeshining is an art, and that it’s an important process to add longevity to leather shoes. “Some people, they may have a pair of shoes that they can’t really

find again,” he said. “We come in a situation where it’s their grandfather’s shoe, it’s their mom’s shoe … it’s just an item that they really love and cherish.” Robinson said the way a person looks at the shoeshining business is important, and people who look at it wrong may struggle to stay afloat in it. “I choose to look at it from the same point of view that I learned from somebody who understood the fiber of just having a shoeshine in their business,” he said. “They know it’s for a certain customer — it won’t be for everybody — but that certain customer is definitely going to be a person who has a lot of pride in what they do.” Connecting across a shoeshine stand

Even more than an art form, shoeshining is a valuable social experience for some in the business. Starting as close family friends, Robinson trained Dominick Martinez in shoeshining. They started working together after Martinez finished high school, and it’s been an important part of Martinez’s life since then. “I’m a person that’s capable …

of doing anything,” Martinez said. “But I kinda never left this situation … It’s always come back around full circle to this.” For him, the purpose of shoeshining has little to do with shoes. Instead, it’s about the people. “Sometimes, some people like that one-on-one kind of interaction,” he said. “It’s refreshing. It’s not about what you pay for, it’s about what you get in the process.” He compared the shoeshining experience to going to a barbershop or a beauty salon — where people come partially for the service itself, but largely for the connection with the person providing it. He said this human connection is something that artificial intelligence can’t take away. “There’s a reason why you need that interaction,” he said. “It don’t matter what’s going on behind that interaction — but our problem is we don’t let that interaction happen anymore, and this lets the interaction happen. You can’t put a price on that.” Robinson, who also said the customers are his favorite part of the job, said he hopes his company can help share the tradition of shoeshining. At his shop in Denver, he teaches courses to train the next generation of shiners. “I started out with my kids, we started out with (Martinez’s) kids,” he said. “Now, we’re gonna manufacture it into a classroom situation.” Martinez added that shoeshining is a trade that can help young individuals get on their feet and support themselves. “We always need those trades and those personal interactions,” he said. Robinson said shoeshining is a great way to teach kids about creating things and making money at a young age. “At the end of the day, we want to see fathers and sons sitting in their garage, doing these things together, and just keep putting (relationships) between people,” he said. “Everybody has to walk around with shoes.” When reflecting on the tradition, Martinez referenced the early French photograph of shoeshining. “This came a long time before us and it’s gonna be here a whole lot longer,” he said. “And there’s a reason for that … The interactions are something different.”

January 4, 2024Jan

Veteran, ‘Perry Mason’ extra and more Parker man reflects on ‘good life’ as he turns 93 BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

U.S. Air Force veteran. TV extra. Exercise instructor. Those are just a few of the things that Parker resident Donald Hagerman has accomplished in his lifetime. And, he’s still at it. He recently celebrated his 93rd birthday by swimming with dolphins in Cancun, Mexico. Hagerman was initially wary when his eldest grandson and grandson’s wife said they wanted to take him to Cancun. But it ended up being one of the most exciting trips he can remember. He hasn’t stopped talking

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@ C m Donald Hagerman, a Parker resident, celebrated his 93rd birthday in Cancun, Mexico with his family. They celebrated by swimCOURTESY OF DAWN OLSON ming with dolphins, driving golf carts, taking walks on the beach and enjoying delicious food.

about it since. “I finally said, ‘I’m doing it,’” said Hagerman. “With the dolphins, my gosh. You hop on the dolphins and they scoot real fast.” It is just one of the many stories Hagerman has to share. Born in Clinton, Iowa, Hagerman was the third eldest of four brothers and four sisters. He remembers growing up in a quiet neighborhood and quitting high school after his freshman year to work at the toy factory with his dad. In the 1940s, America was at war. And, like many young men from across the country, Hagerman enlisted into the Navy in 1948 with a waiver that his mom signed because he was 17. He served on the USS Manchester, a Cleveland-class light cruiser. Hagerman was not the only sibling to serve in the military, his brothers and one sister served in all branches of the military. After four years in the Navy, Hagerman made a switch from to the Air Force in 1953 and remained there for 21 years. “I told myself it’s going to be a ca-

reer most likely,” said Hagerman. “I thought it would be better for a family life being in the Air Force rather than being out on a ship somewhere.” He served in Thailand during the Vietnam War where he was trained to use morse code. He was then assigned to Korea - after the Korean War - then back to the United States to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where he met the love of his life: Helen, who would cross the border from Ontario, Canada with her cousins. “Well in those days in Canada, they had bars and taverns and everything, but they had a men’s entrance and a lady’s entrance,” said Hagerman. “So a lot of Canadians used to come over to Sault Ste. Marie because most of the places there had entertainment.” Hagerman was later assigned to Wisconsin where their first daughter was born. The family later moved to bases in California, England, Washington D.C., Germany and Texas. While in the Air Force, Hagerman earned his GED in addition to being part of the bowling and softball teams overseas.

“Everything worked out so great,” said Hagerman. F When Hagerman retired from the military as a master sergeant in 1974, the family moved to East Lansing, Michigan because it was directly in between his wife’s hometown and his. His children began to start families of their own when Dawn, his eldest daughter, invited her parents out to Colorado in the 1980s. When they returned to Michigan, they decided to move. They put their house up for sale and came to Parker in 1987. Dawn’s siblings also moved to Colorado and Hagerman said he was lucky to have had the chance to be part of his grandchildren’s lives. J He helped teach the kids how to @ play baseball, attended their sports R games, graduations and weddings. tl “Mom [Helen] and I were so grateful that we could come out here and spend so many years with the fam- A ily,” said Hagerman. Ta Throughout the years, the couple @ would travel across the country and Ta internationally, attending a reunion Pa SEE HAGERMAN, P18

January 4, 2024

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DJ Rockstar Aaron: Forbidden Bingo Wednesdays - 'Bout Time Pub & Grub @ 8:15pm Bout Time Pub & Grub, 3580 S Platte River Dr A, Sheridan

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Chuck Briseno

Treaty Oak Revival

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@ 8pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood

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Jay_Martin @ 7:30pm Rocker Spirits, 5587 S Hill St, Lit‐ tleton

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Anavrin's Day: AD @ the Tailgate Tavern (Inside)

Treaty Oak Revival

@ 8:30pm Tailgate Tavern & Grill, 19552 Mainstreet, Parker

@ 8pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, Englewood

Thu 1/11 Featured

Sun 1/07 Jazz Ambassadors Winter 2024 @ 2:15pm / $395 Jan 7th - May 19th Rock Canyon High School, 5810 McArthur Ranch Road, Band Room, Highlands Ranch. 520-392-6226

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Mon 1/08 HERO Cartwheels and Tumblin' Time Gymnastics & Mindfulness Yoga Flow @ 10am / $108 Jan 8th - Feb 26th The Village Child Development Center, 9400 E Belleview Ave, Greenwood Village. 720-593-8409

Middle School Strength and Conditioning Camps - Camp 1 (TUES / THURS) @ 6pm / $275 Jan 8th - Feb 9th Valor Stadium Weight Room, 3775 E Grace Blvd, Highlands Ranch. 303-4713000

The best place to promote your events online and in print. Visit us @ https://littletonindependent.net/calendar

North Mississippi Allstars @ 7pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood Bag Men @ 8pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐ wood

North Mississippi Allstars @ 8pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, Englewood

Calendar information is provided by event organiz‐ ers. All events are subject to change or cancella‐ tion. This publication is not responsible for the ac‐ curacy of the information contained in this calendar.

January 4, 2024Jan

HAGERMAN FROM PAGE 16

at Welford Air Force Base in England and going on a week-long cruise to the Mexican Riviera for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2007. Hagerman has also been active with the Parker Senior Center. He used to do volunteer work driving people to their doctor’s appointments along with bread pickups from the grocery store. Now, he participates in their exercise program three mornings a week. “I enjoy it,” said Hagerman. “It really helps me.” But being active was just a part of his life. Hagerman has worked as a bellhop at a hotel, a postman, a railcar coupler (keeping the train cars connected), at the former Gates Rubber Co. in Denver and even as an actor. He was an extra and stand-in on Colorado productions of “Perry Mason” TV-movies, “Father Dowling” shows and Dick Van Dyke’s “Diagnosis Murder” mysteries, as well as some silver screen productions.

On one of the “Perry Mason” episodes, Hagerman stood on the front steps of the Highlands Ranch Mansion, where he said his three syllable line, “Lieutenant.” About 30 years ago, the Douglas County News-Press wrote about Hagerman’s days as an actor, everything from how he was scouted in a local airport to the sets he worked on. “It’s been a good life,” said Hagerman. “That’s for sure.” Despite his run-ins with medical emergencies, including cancer, knee surgeries and an aortic aneurysm, Hagerman said everything has been good lately. He lost his wife in 2019, but remains a bright light in his family’s lives and to those around him. Dawn Olson, his eldest daughter, said her father is a man who is so full of integrity that it is hard to put her sentiments into words because of how amazing he has always been. Hagerman said life is simply all about respect and being a good human being. “You just gotta be respectful and just try to live life,” said Hagerman.

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Donald Hagerman holds his display of military medals. Starting at 17 years old, Hagerman served in the Navy and later switched to the Air Force. For more than two decades, Hagerman was assigned to different bases across the country and overseas. COURTESY OF DAWN OLSON

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January 4, 2024

Copper Mountain volunteer boot packers stomp trails to reduce avalanche danger BY JASON BLEVINS THE COLORADO SUN

The hardy skiers shoulder their skis and wade into the waist-deep powder atop the steep Patrol Chute in Spaulding Bowl at Copper Mountain. Reed Ryan, the ski area’s snow safety boss, warns the crew of looming avalanche hazards. “We may hear some whumpfs. We may see some cracking. That’s fine. That’s what we are here for,” he says as the line of boot packers begins stomping down one of the steepest lines at Copper Mountain. They plug their ski boots deep into the snow, mixing the powder on the top layer with the sugary facets closer to the ground. When they’ve trampled Patrol Chute, they move over to the next. It’s a grueling day for the unpaid volunteers. “But it’s fun and outside and so beautiful and I’m hanging with great people,” says John Murtha, a 48-yearold from Frisco who is finishing up his second year boot packing at his home hill. In 2015, Copper Mountain ski patrollers started recruiting volunteers to boot pack the ski area’s steepest

Volunteer boot packers work their way down Copper Mountain’s Spaulding Bowl in Summit County.

terrain. There were about 20 skiers who signed up that first winter. Now there are 75 and a long waiting list. Most of the skiers keep coming back every winter. Boot packing is an important part

of avalanche mitigation at other ski areas like Aspen Highlands, Crested Butte and Silverton Mountain. Steep ski areas have long enlisted volunteers who wade through snow in exchange for passes or lift tick-

PHOTO BY HUGH CAREY THE COLORADO SUN

ets. Their boots stabilize snowpacks through compaction, mixing up the snowpack to reduce the risk of catastrophic slides. SEE AVALANCHE, P20

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January 4, 2024Jan

AVALANCHE FROM PAGE 19

There’s another, overlapping purpose of boot packing: snow conservation. “We want to keep the snow up where we can ski it,” says Bill Blair, a former Copper Mountain ski patroller who now works as director of mountain operations. “Every flake is gold.” By getting skiers stomping through steep snow, the chances of a big slide scouring a mountainside to dirt in January is reduced. That’s how it was in the old days: wait for the rotten early season snow to avalanche and then wait for more snow to fill in the avalanched slopes. Now, ski patrollers direct a choreographed swirl of mitigation that includes digging pits, hurling bombs and directing snow-blending boot packers, all of which enable skiers to

get into the steeps early in the season. Copper Mountain patrollers have been able to open the mountaintop Spaulding Bowl with as little as 60 inches of snowfall. This season, they are still working in the bowl after 75 inches of snow. The season’s winds and long weeks of snowless, highpressure weather systems have required additional mitigation efforts. Following the last big storm in late November, ski patrollers ski-cut Spaulding Bowl, carving diagonal tracks across open faces of snow. The dissected chunks help limit the potential of a massive slab of snow releasing. As boot packers two weeks ago stomped down the steep lines on the south-facing slopes, a pair of patrollers were digging a pit on a northfacing slope. They were testing the snow to see how previous boot packing work has broken up the rotting, dangerous layer on the ground. Depending on what the snow pit

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reveals, the boot packers might be called back to the north-facing zone. The snow-stomping crew typically winds down after the first of the year. They get a free pass for seven days of work. But where a ski pass is a big motivator at resorts like Aspen Highlands — where 15 days of boot packing earns a $3,000 Premier Pass — the Copper Mountain boot packers are not necessarily working for a ticket to ride lifts. “They get to be behind the curtain a little bit and see how we operate,” says Ryan, who has hired six boot packers over the years to join the Copper Mountain patrol. “And they usually get a little bit of soft snow to ski.” Atop Spaulding Bowl, the boot packers are happy to share some important tips. Like: tuck the gaiter under the cuff of your ski pants underneath the buckles of your boots to keep snow from sneaking into your boots. And clasp your buckles tight because they pop open when plugging deep snow. And sort of pre-step your hole before fully weighting your downhill leg, so you can get deep into the snow and reach those weak facets near the ground. “This is kind of perfect boot packing snow,” Ryan says as the line of packers slowly descends Patrol Chute, most of them hip deep in powder. At the bottom of the steep, Ryan makes the call to put on skis. After a couple minutes of side-stepping down, it’s time to ski and the packers stack tidy squiggles in the apron of snow beneath the chute. Jim Bradley, a 33-year-old from Leadville, takes the opportunity beneath the ski tracks to ask Ryan and Blair about their favorite places to ski at Copper Mountain. He listens closely as they describe wooded nooks and hidden patches. Bradley has boot packed at Copper

Mountain for five winters. He likes how the work delivers insights into the snowpack before the backcountry season gets rolling. How elseFR could he spend time in the north-(t facing Alpine without exposing him-co self to serious avalanche risks? Andby he likes listening to the Copper vetsth tell their stories. ta “Just going on the different slopesto and feeling the different snow packs4t at different angles, different sun exposure, different wind exposure, itLo really does help you get a kind of aas feel, early season, for what the snow-A pack is gonna be like for the rest ofde the year,” he said. “And it’s so fun toru hang with these very knowledgeableca ski patrollers and pick their brains. Just so much information to glean,in you know.” se Maria Leech is a full-time ski pa-to troller at Breckenridge who enjoys skiing Copper Mountain. For thew early season, she spends her days offpo from Breck boot packing at Copper. Pr “Just one more lap to go,” she saysad on her seventh day, nibbling peanut noodles from a Tupperware container in the Copper patrol headquarters. “l get to see another patrol’s operations and it’s something to do outside before the skiing gets really good.” Two years ago Murtha, the volunteer from Frisco, was rushed to Denver via Flight for Life after suffering a stroke. Now, he says,”I say yes to a lot of adventures.” Like boot packing. “I mean, come on. Look at how beautiful this is,” he says, riding a chair up for his final lap of the day burrowing through precipitous powder. “I’m pretty lucky. I’m living life, baby!” This story was printed through a news sharing agreement with The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonprofit based in Denver that covers the state.

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BOEBERT FROM PAGE 1

(the 4th District) — a vastly different constituency. This desperate stunt by Boebert may not only jeopardize the Republican Party’s ability to retain (the 3rd District), but if she were to win the primary, could place [the 4th District] at risk as well.” Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas’ name has come up as a possible candidate for the seat. After Boebert’s announcement, she declined to specify whether she will run and stayed neutral on Boebert’s campaign. “There is now a woman candidate in this race with a record of public service in elected office,” Thomas told Colorado Community Media. Boebert has stirred controversy with her boisterous approach to politics. In 2022, she interrupted President Biden’s State of the Union address and this fall Boebert vot-

ed against ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, calling proceedings a distraction, according to The Colorado Sun. And, in September, her personal life came under scrutiny as she and a male friend were kicked out of the musical “Beetlejuice” in Denver for vaping and talking loudly. Boebert later apologized to constituents after a video showed her and her companion apparently touching each other during the performance, according to the Sun. In her announcement, Boebert called the decision the best move for her personally and for the conservative movement in Colorado, saying it would ensure the 3rd District would not be taken by Democrat. Boebert, who lives in Garfield County, added that she plans to move to the 4th District. “I promised I would do whatever it takes to stop the socialists and communists from taking over our country and that means staying in the fight,” she said. “It also means not

allowing Hollywood elites and progressive money groups to buy the 3rd District, a seat they have no business owning.” Boebert narrowly won reelection in 2022 by 546 votes against Democratic challenger Adam Frisch, who is running again in 2024 to represent the 3rd District, which includes Pueblo, Grand Junction, Aspen, Durango and many rural mountain communities. The margin was so close that it necessitated an automatic recount. Another hopeful for the seat, state Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron on the Eastern Plains, called Boebert’s move “seat shopping.” “If you can’t win in your home, you can’t win here,” Holtorf said in a statement. He said Boebert could not possibly know the 4th Congressional District as well as candidates from the area. “She is grossly lacking in understanding the needs of the 21 counties in Eastern Colorado that make up this district,” he stated. “She knew

she’d lose in her own district and I’ll show her that she’ll lose here too.” Several other conservatives have announced their intent to campaign for the 4th District seat, including conservative talk show host Deborah Flora and Logan County Commissioner Jerry Sonnenberg, a former state senator. Also vying for the seat is Weld County Councilman Trent Leisy, who reacted to Boebert’s announcement with a post on X. He said Boebert is in effect giving the 3rd District away to the Democrats. “I’m not backing down,” he added. Boebert said she believes the 3rd and 4th districts are similar in their mostly rural make-up and desire for strong conservative representation. “Colorado’s 4th District is hungry for an unapologetic defender of freedom with a proven track record of standing strong for conservative principles,” Boebert said. Reporter Ellis Arnold and editor Michael de Yoanna contributed to this story.

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January 4, 2024

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January 4, 2024

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PUBLIC NOTICES

Public Notices call Sheree 303.566.4088 Legals Public Trustees PUBLIC NOTICE Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2023-0189 To Whom It May Concern: On 10/31/2023 10:31:00 AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County. Original Grantor: MARCOS VIRAMONTES AND MEGAN GOULDING Original Beneficiary: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR M2 LENDING SOLUTIONS, LLC, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: PHH MORTGAGE CORPORATION Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 11/9/2022 Recording Date of DOT: 11/14/2022 Reception No. of DOT: 2022072098 DOT Recorded in Douglas County. Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt: $515,000.00 Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $514,436.31 Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Borrower's failure to make timely payments as required under the Evidence of Debt and Deed of Trust. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust. Legal Description of Real Property: LOT 69, LINCOLN CREEK VILLAGE FILING NO. 1, 10TH AMENDMENT, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO. Which has the address of: 6699 Longpark Drive, Parker, CO 80138 NOTICE OF SALE The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust described herein, has filed written election and demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust. THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, February 28, 2024, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended. First Publication: 1/4/2024 Last Publication: 2/1/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press

Dated: 10/31/2023 DAVID GILL DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is: DAVID R DOUGHTY Colorado Registration #: 40042 9540 MAROON CIRCLE SUITE 320, ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO 80112 Phone #: (303) 706-9990 Fax #: (303) 706-9994 Attorney File #: 23-031127 *YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/ Legal Notice No. 2023-0189 First Publication: 1/4/2024 Last Publication: 2/1/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press PUBLIC NOTICE Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2023-0187 To Whom It May Concern: On 10/24/2023 10:10:00 AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County. Original Grantor: ELYSEE ILUNGA Original Beneficiary: U.S. BANK N.A. Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 12/20/2002 Recording Date of DOT: 1/10/2003 Reception No. of DOT: 2003004574 DOT Recorded in Douglas County. Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt: $111,800.00 Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $84,466.56 Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust and 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 75, BLOCK 2, TOWN AND COUNTRY VILLAGE SUBDIVISION, FILING NO. 2, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO. Which has the address of: 10749 Foxwood Ct, Parker, CO 80138 NOTICE OF SALE The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust described herein, has filed written election and demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust. THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 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

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said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended. First Publication: 12/21/2023 Last Publication: 1/18/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press Dated: 10/24/2023 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 #: 00000009922311 *YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/ Legal Notice No. 2023-0187 First Publication: 12/21/2023 Last Publication: 1/18/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press PUBLIC NOTICE Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2023-0172 To Whom It May Concern: On 10/12/2023 8:43:00 AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County. Original Grantor: JARET C. YENDREK Original Beneficiary: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR PRIMELENDING, A PLAINSCAPITAL COMPANY, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: COLORADO HOUSING AND FINANCE AUTHORITY Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 9/24/2021 Recording Date of DOT: 10/5/2021 Reception No. of DOT: 2021113837 DOT Recorded in Douglas County. Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt: $305,550.00 Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $301,668.73 Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Borrower’s failure to make timely payments as required under the Evidence of Debt and Deed of Trust. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust. Legal Description of Real Property: Parcel 1: Condominium Residential Unit 22-203, Ironstone Condominiums at Stroh Ranch according to the Condominium Declaration of Ironstone Condominiums at Stroh Ranch recorded May 6, 2004 at Reception No. 2004046471 in the records of the Clerk and Recorder of the County of Douglas, State of Colorado and as further defined and de-

scribed in the Condominium Plat for Ironstone Condominiums at Stroh Ranch recorded April 23, 2004 at Reception No. 2004041009 and Affidavit of Correction recorded May 6, 2004 at Reception No. 2004046470, as amended from time to time, County of Douglas, State of Colorado Parcel 2: Condominium Garage Unit G55, Ironstone Condominiums at Stroh Ranch according to the Condominium Declaration of Ironstone Condominiums at Stroh Ranch recorded May 6, 2004 at Reception No. 2004046471 in the records of the Clerk and Recorder of the County of Douglas, State of Colorado and as further defined and described in the Condominium Plat for Ironstone Condominiums at Stroh Ranch recorded April 23, 2004 at Reception No. 2004041009 and Affidavit of Correction recorded May 6, 2004 at Reception No. 2004046470, as amended from time to time, County of Douglas, State of Colorado Which has the address of: 12912 Ironstone Way, Apt 203, Parker, CO 80134-7111 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, February 7, 2024, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended. First Publication: 12/14/2023 Last Publication: 1/11/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press Dated: 10/12/2023 DAVID GILL DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is: ALISON L. BERRY Colorado Registration #: 34531 9540 MAROON CIRCLE SUITE 320, ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO 80112 Phone #: (303) 706-9990 Fax #: (303) 706-9994 Attorney File #: 23-030959 *YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/ Legal Notice No. 2023-0172 First Publication: 12/14/2023 Last Publication: 1/11/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press PUBLIC NOTICE Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2023-0173 To Whom It May Concern: On 10/12/2023 8:26:00

AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County. Original Grantor: Theodore James Veltrie AND Kelly Lynn Veltrie Original Beneficiary: Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc, as beneficiary, as nominee for New Day Financial, LLC Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: U.S. Bank Trust National Association, as Trustee of Cabana Series V Trust Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 10/21/2006 Recording Date of DOT: 11/3/2006 Reception No. of DOT: 2006094817 DOT Recorded in Douglas County. Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt: $315,000.00 Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $299,611.84 Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust and/or other violations of the terms thereof. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust. Legal Description of Real Property: ALL THE REAL PROPERTY TOGETHER WITH IMPROVEMENTS, IF ANY, SITUATE, LYING AND BEING IN THE COUNTY OF DOUGLAS AND STATE OF COLORADO DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS: LOT 31, BLOCK 1, STROH RANCH FILING NO. 6-A, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO. BEING THE SAME PROPERTY CONVEYED TO THEODORE JAMES VELTRIE AND KELLY LYNN VELTRIE, JOINT TENANTS BY DEED FROM THE RYLAND GROUP, INC., A MARYLAND CORPORATION RECORDED 03/21/2000 IN DEED BOOK 1821 PAGE 2006, IN THE OFFICE OF THE CLERK AND RECORDER OF DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO. Which has the address of: 19252 East Hollow Creek Drive, Parker, CO 80134-3424 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, February 7, 2024, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended. First Publication: 12/14/2023 Last Publication: 1/11/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press Dated: 10/12/2023

Parker | Elbert Legals January 4, 2024 * 1

January 4, 2024Jan

Public Notices

DAVID GILL DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is: ARICYN J. DALL Colorado Registration #: 51467 216 16TH STREET SUITE 1210, DENVER, COLORADO 80202 Phone #: (720) 259-6714 Fax #: (720) 259-6709 Attorney File #: 23CO00350-1 *YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/ Legal Notice No. 2023-0173 First Publication: 12/14/2023 Last Publication: 1/11/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press PUBLIC NOTICE Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2023-0181 To Whom It May Concern: On 10/24/2023 9:30:00 AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County. Original Grantor: NICHOLAS SIMINGTON AND BAILEY SIMINGTON Original Beneficiary: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR AMERICAN FINANCING CORPORATION, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: MSR Asset Vehicle LLC Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 12/14/2017 Recording Date of DOT: 12/18/2017 Reception No. of DOT: 2017085022 DOT Recorded in Douglas County. Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt: $424,100.00 Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $469,151.05 Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Borrower’s failure to make timely payments as required under the Evidence of Debt and Deed of Trust. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust. Legal Description of Real Property: LOT 231, MERIDIAN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CENTER FILING NO. 7C, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO Which has the address of: 14154 Double Dutch Circle, 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, February 14, 2024, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended. First Publication: 12/21/2023 Last Publication: 1/18/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press

Dated: 10/24/2023 DAVID GILL DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is: DAVID R DOUGHTY Colorado Registration #: 40042 9540 MAROON CIRCLE SUITE 320, ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO 80112 Phone #: (303) 706-9990 Fax #: (303) 706-9994 Attorney File #: 22-028606 *YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/ Legal Notice No. 2023-0181 First Publication: 12/21/2023 Last Publication: 1/18/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press

PUBLIC NOTICE Parker NOTICE OF SALE Public Trustee Sale No. 2023-0185 To Whom It May Concern: On 10/24/2023 10:26:00 AM the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in Douglas County. Original Grantor: Robert T. Hinds, Jr. Original Beneficiary: Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as Beneficiary, as nominee for Broker Solutions, Inc. dba New American Funding, its successors and assigns Current Holder of Evidence of Debt: New American Funding, LLC FKA Broker Solutions Inc., DBA New American Funding Date of Deed of Trust (DOT): 10/13/2017 Recording Date of DOT: 10/19/2017 Reception No. of DOT: 2017071316 DOT Recorded in Douglas County. Original Principal Amount of Evidence of Debt: $493,350.00 Outstanding Principal Amount as of the date hereof: $458,968.65 Pursuant to C.R.S. §38-38-101 (4) (i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: failure to make timely payments as required under the Evidence of Debt and Deed of Trust. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. The property described herein is all of the property encumbered by the lien of the deed of trust. Legal Description of Real Property: Lot 29, EXCEPT the following described parcel: A parcel of land being part of Lot 29, Block 6, Ponderosa-Hills Filing #2, described as: Beginning at a point on the West line of said Lot 29, said point being 20 feet South of the Northwest corner of said Lot 29; thence North 20 feet to said Northwest corner; thence East 150 feet to a point on the North line of said lot; thence South 82°24`19" West 151.33 feet to the point of beginning; And That portion of Lot 30, more particularly, described as follows: Beginning at a point on the East line of said Lot 30; said point being 20 feet North of the Southeast corner of said Lot 30; thence South 20 feet to the Southeast corner of said Lot 30; thence West 150 feet to a point on the South line of said Lot 30; thence North 82°24`19" East, 151.33 feet to the point of beginning, Block 6, PONDEROSA HILLS-FILING NO. 2, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO. Which has the address of: 12191 Evergreen Trail, Parker, CO 80138 NOTICE OF SALE The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust described herein, has filed written election and demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust. THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that on the first possible sale date (unless the sale is continued*) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, February 14, 2024, at the Public Trustee’s office, Philip S

Miller Building Hearing Room, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado, I will sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. If the sale date is continued to a later date, the deadline to file a notice of intent to cure by those parties entitled to cure may also be extended. First Publication: 12/21/2023 Last Publication: 1/18/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press Dated: 10/24/2023 DAVID GILL DOUGLAS COUNTY Public Trustee The name, address and telephone numbers of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is: AMANDA FERGUSON Colorado Registration #: 44893 355 UNION BLVD SUITE 250, LAKEWOOD, COLORADO 80228 Phone #: (303) 274-0155 Fax #: Attorney File #: CO22365 *YOU MAY TRACK FORECLOSURE SALE DATES on the Public Trustee website: https:// www.douglas.co.us/public-trustee/ Legal Notice No. 2023-0185 First Publication: 12/21/2023 Last Publication: 1/18/2024 Publisher: Douglas County News Press ______________________________________ Public Notice INVITATION FOR BID (IFB) #068-23 2024 DESIGN-BUILD RUETER-HESS DOCK PROJECT The Parks, Trails & Building Grounds Division of Douglas County Government, in conjunction with the Parker Water and Sanitation District (PWSD), respectfully requests bids from responsible and highly-qualified contractors for the provision of all services related to the design-build of the RueterHess Dock Project, as specified. It is the intention of this project to offer a paddleboard, canoe, kayak, and fishing dock at Rueter-Hess Reservoir. ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024 @ 1:00 P.M., THERE WILL BE A MANDATORY SITE VISIT RELATED TO THIS PROJECT. THE MANDATORY SITE VISIT WILL ALLOW ALL POTENTIAL BIDDERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO VIEW THE WORK SITE LOCATION AND DISCUSS THE PROJECT DETAILS. THE MANDATORY SITE VISIT WILL BE HELD AT THE RUETER-HESS RESERVOIR, 9343 DOUBLE ANGEL ROAD, PARKER, COLORADO 80134. PLEASE CALL 720-733-6944 FOR DIRECTIONS, IF NEEDED. ONLY THOSE PROSPECTIVE BIDDERS ATTENDING THE MANDATORY SITE VISIT 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. Bid responses shall be submitted in a sealed envelope plainly marked “IFB No. 068-23, 2024 Design-Build Rueter-Hess Dock Project” 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 2:00pm on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 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. Please direct any questions concerning this IFB to Carolyn Riggs, Purchasing Supervisor, 303-660-

7434, criggs@douglas.co.us, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Legal Notice No. 946620 First Publication: January 4, 2024 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Douglas County News-Press _____________________________________ Public Notice INVITATION FOR BID (IFB) #069-23 RECREATION EQUIPMENT RENTAL SERVICES at RUETER-HESS RESERVOIR The Parks, Trails & Building Grounds Division of Douglas County Government, in conjunction with the Parker Water and Sanitation District (PWSD), respectfully requests bids from responsible and qualified companies for the provision of a recreational equipment rental service at Rueter-Hess Reservoir. 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. Bid responses shall be submitted in a sealed envelope plainly marked “IFB No. 069-23, Recreation Equipment Rental Service” 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 2:00pm on Thursday, January 25, 2024 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. 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. 946621 First Publication: January 4, 2024 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Douglas County News-Press

City and County Public Notice NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the proposed budgets for the County of Douglas and all its agencies, the Douglas County Law Enforcement Authority, the Douglas County Woodmoor Mountain General Improvement District, and the Douglas County Local Improvement District No. 07-01-Lincoln Station have been submitted to the Board of County Commissioners of Douglas County for the ensuing year 2024. The Board of County Commissioners will hold a public hearing to consider the adoption of the proposed budgets on January 9, 2024 beginning at 2:30 p.m. or as soon thereafter as possible, in the Commissioner’s Hearing Room, Phillip S. Miller Building, 100 Third Street, Castle Rock, Colorado. Any interested elector of Douglas County may file an objection to the proposed adopted budget prior to its final adoption by the Board of County Commissioners. A copy of said resolution may be obtained for inspection on-line at www.douglas.co.us. Legal Notice No. 946593 First Publication: January 4, 2023 Last Publication: January 4, 2023 Publisher: Douglas County News-Press Public Notice REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) #001-24 MENTAL/BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES The Douglas County Board of County Commissioners (Board) is pursuing various options related to the provision of mental and behavioral health services in Douglas County. The County

submitted an application for Community Project Funding through State Representative Jason Crow’s Office, and was awarded funding by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to create an Enhanced Model of Service (the Model). The funding term ends September 30, 2024. The RFP documents may be reviewed and/or printed from the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System website at www.rockymountainbidsystem.com. RFP documents are not available for purchase from Douglas County Government and can only be accessed from the above-mentioned website. While the RFP documents are available electronically, Douglas County cannot accept electronic proposal responses. RFP responses will be received until 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 by Douglas County Government, Finance Department, Purchasing Division, 100 Third Street, Suite 130, Castle Rock, Colorado 80104. Five (5) original hard-copies of your proposal response must be submitted in a sealed envelope, plainly marked “Request for Proposal (RFP) #001-24, Mental/ Behavioral Health Services”. Proposal responses will not be considered which are received after the time stated. Please direct any questions concerning this RFP to Carolyn Riggs, Purchasing Supervisor, 303-660-7434, criggs@douglas.co.us, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Legal Notice No. 946622 First Publication: January 4, 2024 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Douglas County News-Press

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PUBLIC NOTICES

It’s your right to know what the city and county governments are changing and proposing. ~~~ See the ordinances on these legal pages. ~~~ Read the public notices and be informed!

Parker | Elbert Legals January 4, 2024 * 2

January 4, 2024

UTILITIES FROM PAGE 10

don’t think they realize the impact.” In the last five years the General Assembly has passed at least 14 bills directing the state’s utilities and PUC to initiate programs to do such things as such as promote energy efficient appliances and electric vehicles, and to develop clean energy plans. Those laws allowed utilities to do things like add charges to customer bills for new programs. Or they enabled Xcel Energy to accelerate recovery of funds or include performance incentives, offering a bonus if the utility contains project costs

and meets deadlines. Xcel Energy in its filings with the PUC points out that base rates have not risen much above the rate of inflation, and that its price per kilowatt-hour in Colorado is lower than the national average. In 2022, the average Xcel Energy residential charge was 12.7 cents a kilowatt-hour compared with a national average of 15 cents, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Utilities are also allowed to pass the cost of fuel directly to customers from the Energy Cost Adjustment. That adjustment “goes up and down,” Levis said. “With something like Storm Uri you get a big charge.” That winter storm in Texas shutdown natural gas fields in February 2021 and sent natural gas prices

Public Notices Legals

Legal Notice No. 205106 First Publication: January 4, 2024 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Elbert County News

If you fail to file your answer or other response to the Complaint in writing within the applicable time period, the Court may enter judgment by default against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint without further notice.

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Elbert County, Colorado on or before Monday April 29, 2024, or the claims may be forever barred.

Public Notice

District Court

NOTICE OF BUDGET Pursuant to 29-1-106, C.R.S.

Elbert Combined Courts 751 Ute Ave., Kiowa, CO 80117 Phone: 303-621-2131

Dated this 22th day of December 2023. ELIZABETH FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT BY:/s/ Wayne Austgen, Secretary

This story was printed through a news sharing agreement with The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver that covers the state. This story is also part of the Sun’s ongoing series talking to Coloradans about their challenges, their fears and their solutions to the rising costs of living. More at www. ColoradoSun.com

a/k/a Larry Dean Smiley, Deceased Case Number: 2023PR30074

Summons and Sheriff Sale

Join Microsoft Teams https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetupjoin/19%3ameeting_NDg4NzdhZGMtN2YxNi 00ZDE0LThlNTktODdiOGU2MGY1NWQw%4 0thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a% 2283c70a80-5bf9-4478-8615-5cdde7020a88 %22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22131273ff-dae44865-bf6a-3f6c41d47e81%22%7d

Those ratepayers, or customers, are left with a cryptic electric bill with 13 different charges pumped up by four rate increases, one on top of another, since 2020 — a phenomenon consumer advocates call pancaking. So, the High Cost of Colorado series serves you a full stack, along with an overdue side of explanations.

Elbert County Legals

Metro Districts Budget Hearings

Notice is hereby given that a proposed budget has been submitted to the ELIZABETH FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT for the 2024 fiscal year. A copy of the proposed budget has been filed in the office of the ELIZABETH FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT, where same is open for public inspection. The proposed budget will be considered at a regular meeting of the ELIZABETH FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT to be held at Station #1, 155 W. Kiowa Ave., Elizabeth, Colorado at 6:00 P.M. on January 9th, 2024. Any interested elector of the ELIZABETH FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT may inspect the proposed budget for 2024 and file or register any objections thereto at any time prior to the final adoption of the budget. This meeting will be held via Microsoft Teams:

soaring 300%. Xcel Energy incurred an extra $500 million in charges that Colorado customers are now paying off in installments over 30 months. Last winter natural gas prices spiked again, doubling and tripling utility bills (mainly for natural gas heating) and sent thousands of families scrambling for help with their bills from government and non-profit organizations. Meanwhile, Xcel Energy has met or exceeded its earnings guidance for shareholders for 18 consecutive years and between 2018 and 2022 corporate profits rose 38% to a record $1.7 billion. “They never take a write-off against shareholders for something like Storm Uri,” Levis said. “It is always on the ratepayers.”

Plaintiff: Advanced Contracting Group, LLC v. Defendants: Axis Exploration, LLC, et al. Attorneys for Plaintiff Nick A. Swartzendruber, #38705 Austin Cole, #52534 Poulson, Odell & Peterson, LLC 1660 Lincoln Street, Suite 1500 Denver, Colorado 80264 Phone No.: (303) 861-4400 Facsimile: (303) 861-1225 E-mail: NSwartzendruber@popllc.com ACole@popllc.com Case Number: 2023CV30073 Division: 1 DISTRICT COURT CIVIL SUMMONS TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS: Blanca Peak Energy, LLC; FMS, LLC; Lotus Land & Minerals, LLC; Lilis Energy, Inc; Vessels Oil & Gas Company

Summons has been published for 5 consecutive weeks. Your answer or counterclaim must be accompanied with the applicable filing fee.

Dated: December 7, 2023 POULSON, ODELL & PETERSON, LLC /s/ Austin Cole Nick A. Swartzendruber, #38705 Austin Cole, #52534 1660 Lincoln Street, Suite 1500 Denver, Colorado 80264 Phone: (303) 861-4400 Facsimile: (303) 861-1225 E-mail: NSwartzendruber@popllc.com ACole@popllc.com Attorneys for Plaintiff Advanced Contracting Group, LLC Legal Notice No. 205102 First Publication: December 21, 2023 Last Publication: January 18, 2024 Publisher: Elbert County News

Misc. Private Legals Public Notice Plaintiff’s Attorney: M. Scott Phillips Phillips & Sellers, P.C. P.O. Box 2272 Columbus, GA 31902

LONI YVONNE MARTINEZ, LIBEL FOR DIVORCE Plaintiff, vs. MUSCOGEE SUPERIOR COURT Date Filed: October 24, 2023 SOFIA HERNANDEZ SOSA, Defendant. Date of Order for Service By Publication: December 8, 2023 TO: SOFIA HERNANDEZ SOSA Last known address: 4501 River Highlands Loop Elizabeth, CO 80107 You are hereby commanded to be and appear at the Superior Court of Muscogee County, Georgia, and file with the clerk, and serve upon Plaintiff’s attorney, an answer within sixty (60) days of the date of the first publication of notice. Witness the Honorable Bobby G. Peters, Judge of said Court, this 14th day of December, 2023. /s/ Danielle F. Forte DANIELLE F. FORTE, Clerk CASE # SU2023DM-002192 Legal Notice No. 205102 First Publication: December 28, 2023 Last Publication: January 11, 2024 Publisher: Elbert County News

Notice to Creditors

Brent Smiley, Personal Representative N7184 Lakeshore Avenue Elkhorn, WI 53121 Legal Notice No. 205103 First Publication: December 28, 2023 Last Publication: January 11, 2024 Publisher: Elbert County News Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of FRANCES ELIZABETH SPROCH; a/k/a FRANCES E. SPROCH; a/k/a FRANCES SPROCH Case Number: 2023PR30062 All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Elbert County, Colorado on or before April 22, 2024, or the claims may be forever barred. Dennis Sproch, Personal Representative c/o SGR, LLC 326 Main Street Sterling, CO 80751 Legal Notice No. 205101 First Publication: December 21, 2023 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Elbert County News

Get Involved!

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED and required to file with the Clerk of this Court an answer or other response to the attached Complaint. This publication service of the Summons and Complaint was made upon you within the State of Colorado, and you are required to file your answer or other response within 21 days after this

STATE OF GEORGIA COUNTY OF MUSCOGEE

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Larry D. Smiley, a/k/a Larry Smiley,

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Parker | Elbert Legals January 4, 2024 * 3

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