Citizen Centennial 8-16-2013
Centennial
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 39
August 16, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourcentennialnews.com
City explores telecom ballot question Private partnership could deliver faster, cheaper services
first. That opportunity comes in Visit www.centennialthe form of a 42colorado.com mile fiber optic Or call 303-325-8000 backbone used to operate many of the city’s traffic control signals, weather stations and to connect public facilities. Originally designed as a public works effort to improve connectivity between city assets, the network, funded in part by tax
to learn more
By Deborah Grigsby
dgrigsby@ourcoloradonews.com While Centennial Mayor Cathy Noon insists the city is not getting in to the telecom business, she did tell a small group of supporters at her Aug. 6 re-election kickoff that an interesting opportunity may be on the horizon, but it would have to go to voters
dollars, federal ad regional grants, runs primarily along Arapahoe Road and Dry Creek. City officials think the fiber optic lines could also be used in partnership with private broadband service providers to deliver access to advanced telecommunications and Internet services. However, Senate Bill 05-152 prohibits local governments from directly or indirectly providing telecom services to their residents or businesses. This law also prevents the city from partnering with private service providers to use Centennial’s existing fiber optic network.
Showing off
The law does permit the city to take the issue to voters, and that’s what Noon said may happen on this year’s November ballot. City spokesperson Allison Wittern confirmed that city council is exploring putting the issue on the ballot during the upcoming regular election. “The opportunity this gives to our residents and businesses is extraordinary,” said District 3 Councilmember Ken Lucas. Ballot continues on Page 4
Bond denied for suspect in slaying Judge says Kuroki case should go to trial By Deborah Grigsby
dgrigsby@ourcoloradonews.com
This 1933 Dodge Cabriolet was among the many vintage automobiles at the Colorado Mopar Car Show on Aug. 10 at The Streets at SouthGlenn in Centennial. The event also featured some newer model vehicles. Photo by Chris Rotar
Voters may face $80 million decision School board leans toward putting bond issue on ballot By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com The Littleton Public Schools Board of Education appears poised to place an $80 million bond issue on the November ballot. “You guys have definitely proven to me the need,” board member Sue Chandler told members of the financial advisory committee during last week’s school board study session. The committee recommends moving forward rather than waiting until 2014. “The facts themselves and the condition of the buildings are not going to change,” said Jim Woods, the district’s outreach coordinator. Supertintendent Scott Murphy has said the time is right to take advantage of low interest rates for what amounts to refinancing a mortgage — not a tax increase, he stresses. If voters pass the proposed measure, it will keep the amount of property tax they pay at about a total of 57 mills. If not, it will drop to about 55.5 mills, a difference of about $1 a
month for each $100,000 of the actual value of the property. The last time LPS went to the voters was in 2010, when they passed a $12 million mill-levy override, or property-tax increase. That money has maintained the district’s current level of service, despite decreases in state and federal funding. Scott Myers, LPS chief financial officer, said that at about Murphy 8.5 mills, Littleton is on the high end compared to districts around the state, but they’re all in about the same range. Bond revenue can legally only be used for capital improvements like building maintenance and infrastructure. The district estimates the actual need at about $102 million, but, as board member Renee Howell noted, asking for more than $80 million would have raised rather than maintained taxes. “It’s a pattern that has worked in the past,” she said. “It’s not like we’re trying to overburden someone.” The district formed a citizens committee
to prioritize the needs, and members say the $80 million will fund absolute needs, not wishes. “We do have significant deficiencies that do require attention, and the Runyon roof, I think, is the poster child,” said Diane Doney LPS chief operating officer. Murphy stresses that a proposed statewide $1.1 billion tax increase for education — planned to be on the ballot this fall — has absolutely nothing to do with this local question, and that it does nothing to address capital improvements. Board members have wondered whether that will confuse voters or lessen the chances that the LPS measure will pass. “I would like to think that people in our district see our district totally differently than they see the state,” said board president Bob Colwell. Vicki Mattox, managing director of Stifel Public Finance, said waiting until 2014 could cost the district $20 million if interest rates rise as projected, and construction costs could go up. “People have shown their ability to pick and choose and to vote their values,” said. “If you spent another year working on them, I’m not sure they’d learn a whole lot more.”
An Arapahoe County judge says there is sufficient evidence to try the man accused of the first-degree murder of his 81-year-old mother. Behind large thick glasses, David Wayne Kuroki, of Littleton, sat motionless as Judge Elizabeth Beebe-Volz denied bail for the 53-year-old man suspected of killing his ailing mother, Mae Kuroki, inside her Centennial home. Defense attorneys picked at details and witness qualifications, calling the case nothing more than “whole-cloth speculation.” According to affida- Kuroki vits, Kuroki, 53, called his brother Gary Kuroki and a cousin, Dean Iwasaki, on April 2 and admitted he had killed his mother and that he was sorry. Arapahoe County Investigator Johnnie Turnidge, who testified during Kuroki’s Aug. 8 pre-trial hearing, said the elder Kuroki’s body was found in her bed under a blanket with a bloodstained pillow over her face. Crime scene photos show a heavy “brick-like” doorstop next to the elderly woman’s head and multiple stab wounds of varying depth to her torso. Turnidge, who attended Kuroki’s autopsy, testified the victim had a 4-inch skull fracture, defensive wounds on both hands, and 11 stab wounds, one of which penetrated the liver. Shortly after Mae Kuroki’s body was found, a passerby later reported a man lying next to a bush in a semi-fetal position near a golf course south of C-470. Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies responded, along with medical personnel, and found the younger Kuroki, soaked in blood. Deputy John Lynch of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said Kuroki was weak and his hands were covered in blood. When asked what his name was, Kuroki, according to Lynch, said, “Avery Kuroki. I just killed my mother.” Kuroki was transported from the scene to a local hospital for treatment and booked into the Arapahoe County Jail on April 12. His next court date is Aug. 21.
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