Denver Herald Dispatch 0727

THIS JUST IN: Dry needling offers an option for treating pain P14

July 27, 2017

DENVER Since 1926

D D

II

S S

P P

A A

T T

C C

H H

DENVER, COLORADO

A publication of

SUMMER FUN: Harvey Park festival helps residents beat the heat P6

A SAFE PLACE: New moms offered baby supplies and sleep space P3

‘A DESTINATION’: El Alamo has developed a loyal customer following P4

HER HEART IS HERE: For decades, Jan Marie Belle has been dedicated to improving the community P9

THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL

‘I think that one of the great opportunities we have to pull people together in this country at a time when our politics is so divided is service in our communities.’

Michael Bennet, U.S. senator | Page 8 INSIDE

VOICES: PAGE 10 | CALENDAR: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 VOLUME 90 | ISSUE 40

2 Denver Herald-Dispatch

July 27, 2017

Councilmembers want to solidify immigration policies Public safety seen as crucial so people aren’t afraid to seek help

BY ERICA MELTZER EMELTZER@DENVERITE.COM

Denver City Council members Paul Lopez and Robin Kniech want to enshrine the city’s practices and policies around immigration and law enforcement in an ordinance that would also end the practice of notifying immigration authorities when non-citizens are due to be released from jail.

“The problem is that people are afraid to call the police,” Lopez said as he introduced the proposal at a Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee meeting on July 19.

Kniech said the proposal is about public safety, not “political pronouncements,” but it’s almost certain to further cement Denver’s reputation as a city at odds with the federal government — even though it’s not a formal sanctuary city.

President Trump has signed an executive order threatening to withhold funding from cities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Denver complies with federal requirements to share finger-

prints with the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, so immigration authorities know when someone they’re looking for is in the Denver jail. That’s the letter of what federal law requires, and for that reason, Denver officials say they are in compliance and not in danger from Trump’s executive order. Nonetheless, Denver is supporting a lawsuit on the part of the city of San Francisco and Santa Clara County, California, to block enforcement of that executive order.

However, Denver — like nearly every county in Colorado — does not generally collect immigration information about people with whom police have contact and does not honor immigration detainers, which are requests from ICE that local jails hold people beyond their standard release date so that immigration agents can arrest those people.

The Denver Sheriff ’s Department does notify ICE of the pending release of inmates the agency is interested in arresting. The city faced intense backlash when that notification didn’t take place until the last minute, late at night, with one particular inmate, and he was later arrested in connection with a murder.

“I believe this city, Denver, we’re doing things right,” Lopez said.

“There have been great positions taken by the mayor’s office. Unfortunately, the community doesn’t know

that. Our community is very, very afraid. … They’re afraid to call the cops. They’re afraid to call 911 in an emergency. They don’t want to go into the emergency room when they’re injured.”

Lopez and Kniech said the purpose of their proposal is to take current practice and turn it into law. That way, it will be clearer to the community in general where the city stands, and if the policy changes in the future, it will be through a public process with plenty of notice and discussion.

Enshrining these practices in ordinance also means it would become a violation of law to share information with ICE in many circumstances, and if employees did act contrary to city policy, there would be greater consequences.

And their proposal also makes one significant change: ending the policy of notifying ICE of pending releases from the jail, except in certain situations involving people convicted of gang- or terrorism-related offenses and violent felonies.

The proposal has four elements: Denver would not hold people on “immigration detainers” past their normal release date from the county jail.

Denver would not ask for or record immigration status unless required SEE IMMIGRATION, P5

Tell us your breast cancer stories

Are you living with breast cancer, or serve as support to a loved one currently going through treatment? Do you worry about treatment options? Did you overcome a breast cancer diagnosis?

We want to hear from you.

Over the next month, M Colorado Community Media d will be collecting stories from s women whose lives and experiences can help educate and inform others about breast cancer and other health issues facing women today. We are looking for stories from all ages.

In honor of overall women’s health, we are also looking for stories from readers who have overcome health obstacles, or have worked with doctors and nurses who have gone above and beyond in care.

If your story is selected, a member of the Colorado Community Media staff will contact you for an interview. Send your information to Thelma Grimes at grimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com. t s C

b e e n H D b i u

b d

b e C g a

w p f

c t F

c a

t o b s

B

e t r i s

Denver Herald-Dispatch 3

July 27, 2017

CALM AFTER THE STORM

SM

Michelle Vick, co-founder of The Baby Box Co., left, and Luanne Williams, executive director of Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation, stand in front of the first shipment of baby boxes for new Colorado parents.

SHANNA FORTIER

Baby box program gives women ‘breath of fresh air’

3. If you select direct delivery, your Baby Box will ship to the address you provided when you registered on Baby Box University. If you select local pick-up for more immediate receipt, bring your Baby Box University certificate to the closest participating distribution site.

SEE BABY BOX, P18

www.JKRoofing.com Serving the greater Denver Metro area and the foothills.

Thank you for voting us

Best of the Best!

do

a

crease Finland’s infant mortality rate.

The 2016 infant mortality rate for Finland is 2.5 per 1,000 babies, the fourth lowest in the world, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook. In the United States, the infant mortality rate is 5.8 per 1,000 babies, which Vick said is “shockingly high for a developed country.”

“We want to do what we can to try to help that,” Vick said.

The statewide program earmarked approximately 66,500 free baby boxes for distribution, the estimated number of Colorado babies expected to be delivered within one year, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Partners for the Colorado program include Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation, Denver Health Foundation, Denver Department of Public Health, Lansinoh and multiple other healthcare organizations

INSURANCE PREFERRED CLAIM EXPERTS MANUFACTURER PREFERRED

ia

All expecting parents living in Colorado are eligible to receive a Baby Box, which includes newborn essentials such as diapers, baby wipes, activity cards from the Bezos Family Foundation, nursing pads and nipple cream for breastfeeding mothers, a onesie, waterproof tote bag and more.

or

Box promotes safe sleep habits The Finnish initiative, which enables every expecting woman in the country to claim a free baby box once she receives prenatal care and parenting information from a healthcare professional, is credited with helping to de-

2. Watch the 15- to 20-minute Colorado Best Start Program syllabus at BabyBoxUniversity. com. After taking a short quiz, you will receive a certificate of completion and then select local pick-up or direct delivery of your Baby Box.

C ol

New and expecting moms throughout the Colorado now have access to free, safe place for babies to sleep with the Colorado launch of the baby box.

The Baby Box Co., the company behind the global initiative to equip expecting families with vital parenting education and resources, has partnered with Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation (RMCHF) and Denver Health Foundation (DHF) to bring the initiative to Colorado, making it the fifth U.S. state to offer families a universal free baby box program.

A launch was held for the Colorado boxes July 13 at Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation in Arvada.

“The baby box is not just a cardboard box,” explained Luanne Williams, executive director of Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation. “It has gone through a lot of testing to be rated as a bassinet.”

Inside each box is a firm mattress with an organic sheet along with diapers, wipes and breastfeeding supplies for the new mom to utilize.

The Baby Box Co. co-founders Michelle Vick and Jennifer Clary based their company and product off the Finnish baby box program.

Vick said she was inspired to start the company after reading a BBC article about the program.

“Every baby who is born in the country receives this baby box,” Vick said of Finland. “And that means that every baby that’s born in the country has a safe place to sleep.”

1. Register for free online at BabyBoxUniversity. com as a Colorado resident. Include your correct contact information, including mailing address.

Call for a FREE INSPECTION!

303-425-7531

ed

BY SHANNA FORTIER SFORTIER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

HOW TO GET A BABY BOX

M

State initiative encourages safe sleep practices for parents and infants

C o m m u nit

y

4 Denver Herald-Dispatch

July 27, 2017

El Alamo’s authentic Mexican cuisine still going strong Restaurant-bakery is legacy of Mexican-American small-business triumph

b t a i r b a l

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

At the gateway to Morrison Road and the heart of the Westwood neighborhood sits El Alamo, a restaurant and bakery that serves traditional Mexican food and pastries — menudo, gorditas, conchas and more — to a loyal customer base. And at 24 years old, it shows no signs of stopping.

“It’s kind of becoming a destination here, so it’s pretty cool,” said Nestor Castillo, the restaurant’s owner.

El Alamo started at West 38th Avenue and Irving Street, when its current owner was only 1 year old.

“I grew up there — they used to bathe me in the sink,” said Castillo, laughing, about his parents. Both originally from Mexico, they started the business themselves with no prior knowledge of how to run a bakery, Castillo said.

Now, Castillo, 25, owns the new location at Morrison Road and West Nevada Place, which opened more than three years ago. The restaurant is still a staple for those who remember the old Irving Street location — and Castillo treats the new faces like family too.

People like Fabian Borrego, 42, have been coming to El Alamo “since it opened on 38th.”

“They’re friendly, all family-oriented around here,” said Borrego, a Westwood resident.

And Castillo said he’s been seeing more business over the past three years.

“I’ve seen a lot of the same faces since I was 5,” Castillo said. “A lot of customers don’t even know the area, but they come here ... a lot of new customers (too). People come, and I guess they recommend.”

Castillo said the name El Alamo comes from same name of a small town in northern Mexico where his father, Hector, was born — his mother, Blanca, is from the same area. Castillo keeps two pictures of a cathedral in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, a city near that town, where he was baptized.

“That’s how it started,” Castillo said. “We try to keep to those roots.”

His father came to the United States from Mexico when he was about 13, and his mother came when she was 14 or 15, Castillo said. They met in Denver working at a chip factory about 10 years after she emigrated and started the first El Alamo soon after.

“They just jumped on,” Castillo said. “They didn’t know about running a bakery — they didn’t know any of that. They learned through the process, through growing.”

The restaurant was an Italian bakery before his parents took it over, Castillo said. They kept mak-

m t m s w f w r p p m F j

r f t a c

Nestor Castillo, 25, eating menudo, a traditional Mexican soup, with a side plate with bread at El Alamo July 19. Castillo, the son of the couple who started the business, now owns the newer El Alamo location in the Westwood neighborhood.

PHOTOS BY ELLIS ARNOLD ing Italian pastries but changed the name, and “little by little,” El Alamo transitioned into making more Mexican foods.

“There weren’t as many Mexicans in the area at that time,” said Castillo, who said the culture has changed since then.

Castillo said his father, now 57, and mother, now 50, divorced when he was 16, and his mother went to Texas, where her family had other restaurants. His father, Hector, still helps out at the restaurant here and there, Castillo said. Three years after Castillo took over when the new location opened, he said he’s planning to keep running El Alamo until he’s old, too.

The new location became necessary mainly because of gentrification in the Highlands area, Castillo said, but he’s staying afloat with rising rent in southwest Denver.

“It does affect” us, Castillo said.

“The good thing is we have a good customer base, so we don’t have to worry too much about that ... it’s made things a little harder ... you have to hike up your prices a little bit.”

But El Alamo remains popular, selling about 1,000 pounds of menudo — a traditional Mexican soup — per week, Castillo said. The restaurant also wholesales to other restaurants in places in the area as far as Golden and Thornton, Castillo said.

We sell “the bread for other restaurants for tortas, for plates that they have,” Castillo said. El Alamo sells to about 15 restaurants at any given time, he said.

Castillo said he’s heard of the plan to make the Morrison Road area into a cultural and commercial district — Denver City Council approved the

s t t D t f c g s n t t r

h c s o r t s o A j p

Conchas, donuts and other pastries on display at El Alamo restaurant and bakery at 3548 Morrison Road in Denver July 19. Started by a Mexican-American immigrant couple, it’s been in business at different locations for 24 years. plan for Westwood last July — that would involve more street art, more retail stores that reflect the MexicanAmerican heritage of the area, and more art and music in street spaces.

“I think it’s a pretty awesome idea,” Castillo said. “It would bring a lot of people here. There’s nothing like that here.”

Castillo said the effect of a new cultural district is “something that we saw over there in the Highlands” area. He said it’s “not a bad thing,” but it did change the culture.

“The north side used to be a bunch of gangsters, and it changed like crazy,” Castillo said. “Right now, people think of (this) as a bad area.

r c o o t t w t

It’s gonna help the area out a lot.” s Castillo had advice for other people t p looking to start up a restaurant.

“It’s gonna be really hard at first, a but well worth it later on,” Castillo S said. “Seek advice. It’s better to learn c from other people than to learn from c o your mistakes.”

His methods have made it a place p where employees enjoy working, too.

Gloria Diaz, a 41-year-old who lives I near Sheridan Boulevard and West e 41st Avenue, has worked at El Alamo m w for 2 1/2 years and came to Denver from Mexico almost 23 years ago.

When asked what her favorite part w of the job is, she said, “Atender a las t t personas” — serving the people.

Denver Herald-Dispatch 5

July 27, 2017

IMMIGRATION

A spokesman for the Denver Sheriff ’s Department referred questions to the mayor’s office. Jenna Espinoza, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael FROM PAGE 2 Hancock, said he shares the goals of by federal or state law. This is already Lopez and Kniech that immigrants feel welcome in Denver and safe coopthe most common practice, but there erating with law enforcement. are situations where it has occurred, “We continue to stand with Denincluding one case where a man was ver’s immigrant and refugee comreported to ICE by a state-level promunities and are committed to bation officer. This ordinance would protecting them and their contribuapply to city employees, but not statetions to the vitality of our city from level law enforcement officers. the Trump administration’s chaotic Denver would not share any inforimmigration policies,” she said in an mation about immigration status for the purposes of immigration enforce- email. “… This is why we took steps ment, except as required by federal or to reform sentencing laws, created plea by mail and joined litigation state law. Exceptions include people challenging the White House’s imwho have been convicted of a violent migration orders. As a result, Denver felony in the last seven years, people is recognized as a national model for who have been convicted of ganghow cities can keep families together related offenses under federal law, and neighborhoods safe. But we are people who are suspected of particineither satisfied nor finished, and our pation in terrorism per the Departwork will continue.” ment of Homeland Security or the She said the mayor is reviewing the FBI and people for whom there is a language of the proposal with a focus judicial warrant. on public safety.

Denver would not use any public Members of the Denver City resources to help immigration enforcement, including providing access Council were briefed on legal issues around the proposal in executive to private facilities and areas. This is session. Lopez said he believes the also the predominant practice in the Constitution is on the city’s side, and city already.

Denise Maes of the Colorado chapKniech and Lopez said they are not ter of the American Civil Liberties stopping ICE from arresting people Union said the city would still be they seek, and if they want assisfully compliant tance, such as with federal law Denver provides if it adopted the to other law enordinance. Issues forcement agenaround immicies, ICE should grant detainers get warrants have never been signed by judges, litigated all the not the adminisway up to the trative warrants Supreme Court, that ICE curbut numerous rently uses. lower court rul“The courts ings have found have been very that cities and clear,” Kniech counties cannot said. “There is hold people in one kind of warjail without a rant in this counjudicial warrant. try, and that’s one In public comsigned by a judge ments to the comor a magistrate. mittee, Salvador Anything else is Hernandez, an just a piece of immigrant from paper.”

Salvador Hernandez, Mexico who Denver has came to the U.S. repeatedly Mexican immigrant when he was 15, clashed with ICE described being over the practice shot five times of agents going and left for dead to courthouses on the street in to arrest people who are there to deal with criminal or North Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I had the confidence to go to the traffic offenses. police and cooperate with them “Having ICE hanging out outside because I knew they would not quessensitive areas and tackling people, tion my undocumented status,” he that’s not an appropriate place to proceed,” Kniech said. “The appropri- said. “I don’t know what would have ate way to proceed is to get a warrant. happened if I had to face immigration consequences on top of being a victim Show it to the sheriff. Anytime this of a crime. I don’t think that would city is presented with a warrant, we be fair. It shuts the door on folks who comply. Getting a fax and hanging want to seek justice.” out in an alley is not a safe way to Hernandez, an organizer with Mi proceed.”

Familia Vota, said that even though That said, Denver cannot prohibit he has documents now through the ICE agents from waiting outside or DACA program, he has a lot of fear even inside public areas of governand would do anything he could to ment buildings, and this ordinance avoid going to court. He called the would not change that. ordinance a step in the right direcICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said it would be inappropriate for the agency tion, though he would like to see it go further, including a total prohibition to comment at such an early stage of on notifications about release. Some the process.

‘I had the confidence to go to the police and cooperate with them because I knew they would not question my undocumented status.’

undocumented immigrants released from jail may go on to commit violent crimes, but that’s just as true of citizens who are released from jail, he said, and the two classes of people shouldn’t be treated differently.

Denver officials report that at least nine domestic violence victims have withdrawn from prosecution specifically because they feared drawing attention to their immigration status if they went to court. And in the first few months of the year, reports of crime from Latinos in Denver went down, even as reports of crimes in

those same categories went up among other groups. The numbers are small, and it’s hard to draw firm conclusions — but Denver police said they are monitoring the trend.

Kniech and Lopez plan to introduce this proposal as an ordinance at the Aug. 2 SAFEHOUSE committee meeting, from which the ordinance would go to the full city council.

Denverite is an online local news source for everything you need to know about Denver in 5 minutes. Visit denverite.com/subscribe for more.

RED ROCKS CONCERTS

1964

THE #1 BEATLES SHOW IN THE WORLD

"

The Tribute

"

August 24

September 21 1-888-9-AXS-TIX

6 Denver Herald-Dispatch

July 27, 2017

Festival brings food and all kinds of fun to neighborhood Food trucks, Mexican snacks, live band music and fireworks drew hundreds

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

It was summertime and the living was easy at the fourth annual Harvey Park Improvement Association Summer Festival — but attendees didn’t need the Denver Municipal Band, who played the “Summertime” jazz standard, to tell them that.

“We do the festival to strengthen our community,” said Xochitl Gaytan, president of Harvey Park Improvement Association. “And to bring other communities to Harvey Park.”

Hundreds came to the July 22 festival at Harvey Park, which offered four food trucks, a Mexican snacks cart, DJed music, live music by the Denver Municipal Band and more than 60 booths by businesses and community organizations. Kids enjoyed the facepainting, colorful beach balls, balloon animals and a game that involved catapulting rubber chickens at a target.

Denver City Councilmember Kevin Flynn took part in that one.

Flynn, a familiar face in Harvey Park, said the festival gets bigger every year.

“The first year, we had (two or three) booths,” said John Robinson, vice president of HPIA. “It was humble beginnings.”

David Piacenti, an HPIA board mem-

ber, said these days, it’s important to interact with people in person, and the festival helps people do that.

“I think right now, with social media being so extreme and intense, it’s important for people to physically get together,” he said, and see the “people in the community who support you.”

The community-centric event has grown from small beginnings to boasting a bustling park scene that included booths from political candidates in local races. Robert Rodriguez, a Democratic candidate for state Senate District 32, met festival attendees at a booth. Gaytan, a candidate for Denver Public Schools Board of Education District 2, also had a booth.

“Harvey Park is the heart of the district, so I wanted to come out and meet people in the community — and overindulge on food trucks,” said Zach Neumann, a Democratic candidate for state Senate District 32. “I think (the festival) represents the best of Denver — a bunch of communities coming together to have fun with family.

“It’s kind of a beautiful thing.”

Valencia Yazzie, a 27-year-old Harvey Park resident, and her husband came with their children after “driving by,” her husband said.

“So far the food” was her favorite part, Yazzie said. Her children enjoyed an activity with bean bags, she said.

For Helen Garrison, a 69-year-old neighborhood resident, the best part was taking everything in.

“Just walking around watching everything,” she said.

It was her first time coming to the festival, and she said she plans to come next year.

Rafael Diaz, 77, poses with his cart of popsicles at the Harvey Park summer festival July 22. He walked around ringing bells on the cart to signal to customers.

Karen Johnson, 39, stands with her dog, Dakota, at the Harvey Park Improvement Association Summer Festival July 22.

She stood with, from left to right, Leilani Ortega, 14; Presais Ortega, 12; Bella Lucero, 11; Olivia Lucero, 2; and Adrian Ortega, 13.

Johnson’s business, Suncrest Hospice, had a booth at the festival, she said.

Fireworks at the conclusion of the Harvey Park Improvement Association Summer Festival July 22. The Riviera Circle Lake Club and the Harvey Park Improvement Association worked together to put on the fireworks show.

PHOTOS BY ELLIS ARNOLD

Dalton Dennis, 24, a Harvey Park Recreation Center employee, stands at a table where July 22 Harvey Park summer festival attendees spun a wheel that gave them actions they could do — like squatting or dancing — to win free prizes.

From left to right, The Real Deal, Kona Ice and Hey PB&J food trucks parked along the Harvey Park summer festival July 22. A food truck in the form of a trailer sat, not pictured, to the left: Pavy’s Sandwiches.

Bikes lined up for a free giveaway at the Harvey Park summer festival July 22. The giveaway was organized by Recycle Bicycles, a nonprofit program.

Denver Herald-Dispatch 7

July 27, 2017

Denver bond discussion features big decisions, big bucks Proposed $937 million program moving toward scrutiny by voters

BY ERICA MELTZER EMELTZER@DENVERITE.COM

When Denver City Council members sat down recently to discuss a proposed $937 million bond program, many of them felt like it just wasn’t enough money.

Denver needs new, permanent revenue streams to adequately fund parks and rec and transportation needs, they said. This bond package is the largest that Denver ever will have presented to its voters, but roughly half of it will go to deferred maintenance. Lots of projects that didn’t make the cut now go into the ongoing capital improvement program budgets of city departments, while new facilities brought online will come with their own operating costs and their own maintenance needs down the road.

“I’m thrilled that our parks number went up,” Councilman Jolon Clark said of additional projects added by Mayor Michael Hancock after a committee pared the project list down to $749 million earlier this summer. “I don’t need to tell anyone in this room that parks are critical to our city. While I’m thrilled that this number went up, it’s not enough. Not ‘not enough in this bond,’ but not enough.”

Here are six things to keep in mind as the Denver City Council finalizes its bond decision: Sources of money Denver does a major bond program every 10 years, give or take.

The city borrows money and pays it back with a dedicated property tax mill levy. Because the city is retiring debt, it can bring on new debt without raising the property tax rate, but because most homeowners saw their assessments go up in recent years, the city can generate more money from that same tax rate than it did in the past. Another way of saying this is that property owners will be paying more.

Earlier this year city finance officials estimated the city could support up to $900 million in new debt, and apparently that wasn’t the actual ceiling.

Voters will have to sign off on the whole thing in November.

Prioritizing a possibility Many of the projects in the 2007 Better Denver bonds were built during the Great Recession when contractors were desperate for work. Projects came in underbid, and it was relatively easy to deliver on the promises. Another bust may be coming, but right now, officials are warning that projects are more likely to come in overbid.

If that happens, an oversight committee will make decisions about how to prioritize the spending.

Other revenues murky This isn’t really part of the bond process per se, but the bond process highlighted the limitations of waiting for a once-a-decade shot at building infrastructure and the problems created by a lot of deferred maintenance. So the idea of tapping new revenue sources is coming up now.

Many communities in Colorado have dedicated sales taxes or property taxes for roads, parks, libraries and so on. In his state of the city address, Hancock said the city needs to invest $2 billion in transportation infrastructure over 12 years. About half of the money will come from the bond and the annual budget allocation. The rest will require a new revenue source.

He said he’s considering everything except a new property tax to pay for it. So that could be a sales tax or downtown parking fees or something else entirely.

Denver has untapped property tax potential that wouldn’t necessarily require going to the voters — the city is using it to pay for a portion of its affordable housing fund, for example. Increased sales taxes would require a vote of the people, while new fees would not.

Expect this discussion to stretch into 2018.

Tough tradeoffs City council members combed over the list, asking why this police station and not that one, why this amount for sidewalks and that amount for parks.

“Help me understand why that money is so chopped down,” Councilman Paul Kashmann said about the $30.7 million for sidewalk construction, down from an original $49 million. “It’s great that we’re doing playgrounds. God bless ‘em.

The choices we are making here are Sophie’s Choice-type choices. … But help me understand this.”

And Councilman Chris Herndon asked city staff members to determine the absolute most amount of money that Denver could borrow without raising the property tax levy that funds debt service.

He wants to know if he can fit something in without making that hard choice.

‘In the next 10 years, if a welcome center is not built at the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum still thrives, whereas $20 million worth of projects in communities have more signficant impact.’

Rafael Espinoza, Denver councilman

OUR SUMMER SEASON IS MADE FOR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES AND FAMILY GET-AWAYS.

• Hiking

• Events

• Mini Golf

• Golfing

• Bike Trails

• Nature Walks

• Zip Lining

• Disc Golf

• Bungee Jump

Political considerations The project list includes $64 million for projects in Globeville and Elyria-Swansea, long-neglected neighborhoods in north Denver where residents wonder what they’ll get out of the massive investment in the National Western Complex. It also includes a Westwood Recreation Center that residents of that neighborhood fought hard for with the support of Councilman Paul Lopez.

SEE BOND, P11

VISIT COPPERCOLORADO.COM FOR DETAILS

8 Denver Herald-Dispatch

July 27, 2017

Bennet shares thoughts on range of issues Senator talks about matters related to life quality, national politics

BY TOM SKELLEY TSKELLEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

After his address to AmeriCorps graduates in Lone Tree on July 14, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet granted an exclusive interview to Colorado Community Media to talk about food insecurity, healthcare, Russian election interference and how he feels volunteer service can lead to opportunities for jobs and unity.

On volunteer service: “I think that one of the great opportunities we have to pull people together in this country at a time when our politics is so divided is service in our communities … I’ve seen teams of veterans, returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan working in teams, in service, to do fire mitigation in the forests and then after that successful completion of a fellowship of some kind, going on to be hired by the Department of Agriculture or the BLM and the Department of the Interior. Having a pipeline (to employment) for young people, for veterans, even for people who are switching careers, through a year or two of service, I think would be a very positive thing for this country.”

On economic recovery and those left behind: “We’re fortunate in many ways because Colorado has the lowest unemployment rate of any states in the country. But even in our state, you see the people who haven’t had the benefit of that …

People are earning the same, in their wages, as they were earning 20 years ago … but their cost of housing, their cost of healthcare, their cost of higher education, their cost of early childhood education is conspiring to create much less purchasing power for them to move their family ahead or to be able to save. Even in a county as wealthy as Douglas County we see that (food insecurity) exists and that’s why it’s so great that (the Parker Task Force) is here and that’s why I’m going to see it.

It’s not just about what the federal government can do, it’s about what we can all do to help.”

On Senate Republicans’ latest healthcare bill: “Whether you support the Affordable Care Act or you don’t, I think people are deeply dissatisfied with the way our healthcare system works … I wish we were focused on those questions — how do we create more affordability for families, how do we create more predictability and more transparency? We’re not, because what

United States Senator Michael Bennet applauds as graduates from the Americorps National Citizen Community Corps enter the CU South auditorium. Bennet spoke at the organization’s 23rd graduation ceremony and stressed the need for state and local communities to address issues like affordable housing and food insecurity when the federal government “retreats.”

TOM SKELLEY

‘Whether you support the Affordable Care Act or you don’t, I think people are deeply dissatisfied with the way our healthcare system works.’

Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator

Mitch McConnell is focused on is a seven-year campaign promise to repeal Obamacare, which they’re having a very hard time doing, because it turns out what they said Obamacare was, it actually wasn’t, and the American people and people in Colorado have said ‘don’t do any more damage to our system than we already have, we want to see improvements’ …

“So they ought to scrap this very damaging bill. The cuts to Medicaid are just brutal, and start over again with a bipartisan bill and see if we can actually address some problems.”

On Russian election interference: “The heads of (President Trump’s) intelligence agencies have all said that Russia interfered with our election. And anybody that’s seen that intelligence, and I have, knows that it’s very, very serious.

Now there’s a whole other question

about whether the Trump campaign was involved.

“I have no idea about that, but I do know that Bob Mueller, who has been appointed the special prosecutor in this case, is somebody who’s respected by everybody in Washington. I think we should let him do his work, let the committees in the House and the Senate do their work.

But I don’t think we should blow this off.

“There are people who are saying this is a distraction, it’s not.

This was an attack by Russia on our electoral process whether the Trump people were involved or not, and that needs to be responded to, because if we don’t respond to it they’ll do it again and they’ll do it again. They’re already doing it in Europe, and if you speak to any of the European ambassadors to the United States, it raises the hair on the back of your neck, what they’ve said the Russians are doing.”

On the political divide in the United States: “I live in a state that’s a third Republican, a third Democrat and a third independent, and I believe that if left to our own devices here in Colorado, that in all these counties, whether they’re Republican, Democrat or neither, there’s about a 75 percent consensus around things like infrastructure, higher education, the economy, and if you can get (politicians) into a place where they are considering what we’re doing for the next generation of Americans … if that were our organizing principle in Washington, I think you’d see a lot of this divisiveness just go away … It’s up to all of us, those of us who care about it and believe the republic needs to be sustained for another generation of Americans … to rise above the partisan nonsense of the day and take a longer view. And that’s going to require not just senators, but citizens to take that view.”

Denver Herald-Dispatch 9

July 27, 2017

Get to know Jan Marie Belle, a true southwest Denver native After three decades of service to area, Belle will retire in 2018

Jan Marie Belle, executive director of the Southwest Improvement Council nonprofit in the Westwood neighborhood of Denver, stands with her greyhound Rexie July 20 on a plot of land SWIC bought in 1995 — a community garden sits on the land just steps away. Belle stood on the part of the land that SWIC remade into what it calls a “native land reclamation project” — an effort to maintain the land as a space that plants and wildlife can survive or spend time on. ELLIS ARNOLD

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Jan Marie Belle has lived at 15 different addresses in the Denver metro area, and she can rattle off every block.

An Abraham Lincoln High School graduate who’s gone from living in Athmar Park to modern-day Englewood to Mar Lee and most recently to Harvey Park South, Belle, 69, has been entrenched in the Denver area for decades.

She’s the executive director of the SouthWest Improvement Council, a nonprofit in Westwood that works to bring nutrition, housing assistance, computer literacy lessons and afterschool programs to more than 3,000 people each year, its website says.

Along the way, she’s worked to preserve the beauty and dignity of the places she’s called home. Here’s more about Belle.

First generation off the farm Belle’s parents were farm kids during the Great Depression who moved to Denver right after getting married.

Her father, born in 1923, lived on a farm near Peetz, Colorado, which is less than four miles from the NebraskaColorado border. Just over that line sits Sidney, not far from where Belle’s mother, born in 1927, grew up on another farm.

“One year, a man came to their house, when my dad was a child” during the depression, Belle said. “A man came by and said he’d sell an automobile for 5 dollars, but (his) family did not have 5 dollars cash. They knew what it was like to have no money.”

Belle said after her father got home from what was likely Army training, he met her mother when she was singing at a choir in the United Service Organizations, which offered soldiers entertainment, she said. Her father’s sister introduced them, and they wrote to each other all through his deployment during World War II, during which he taught military officer candidates how to type.

Robert Schweitzberger Jr. and Lenora Messing married Nov. 14, 1946, upon Robert’s return and moved to Denver immediately after.

From a mobile home park to Harvey Park Belle first lived as a child at Indian Village mobile home park, which once sat near West Alameda Avenue and South Lipan Street in the Athmar Park neighborhood. Her family cycled through several homes in the Denver area.

They moved to West Harvard Avenue and South Raritan Street, where there was an “annexation battle between Denver and Englewood, and Englewood won” and zoned it as a “heavy industrial” area, Belle said. Junk yards moved in, and the family moved to Westwood in 1960, a neighborhood in which Belle’s lived at five different addresses in her

life.

A year after her 1965 high school graduation, she got married. A teenage mother, she graduated with honors at the University of Colorado Denver with an English major and later studenttaught at Cole Middle School and her old high school.

Six houses later, she ended up at 809 S. Osceola in her third marriage after her second husband was unfaithful. But in 1993, a water main break flooded her basement, swallowed much of her husband’s belongings and led to a struggle with the Denver Water board to cover her costs. The incident caused strain, and her marriage ended after that.

Two houses later, she’s a Harvey Park South resident at South Vrain Street and West Dartmouth Avenue.

‘People these days don’t have the opportunities I had’ After writing leaflets and newsletters and working as a business agent for a labor union in Denver — Service Employees International Union Local 105 — starting in 1974, Belle left 12 years later and founded the SouthWest Improvement Council nonprofit.

Its first programs were painting over graffiti, food-sharing, after-school activities and organizing neighborhood volunteers. It became a tax-exempt 501(c) (3) nonprofit in 1987.

The organization sprang out of a “social concerns committee” at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church — where it first started — in Westwood, just a few blocks away from the modern-day SWIC office at 1000 S. Lowell Blvd. Belle’s organization moved to that building in 1992 and got the lease in 1993, she said.

SWIC gives opportunities for people who need food, fitness programs and even “foreclosure prevention” services — it’s also a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-certified housing counseling agency.

A legally separate nonprofit called SouthWest Neighborhood Housing Corporation, which has the same board and staff as SWIC at the same office,

Belle said, rents out 19 units of multifamily affordable housing to people who qualify. SWIC formed that nonprofit in 1995.

Belle said she recognizes that people didn’t have the opportunities she did.

Her parents once helped talk a seller into letting her buy one of her houses without a real estate agent involved, Belle said. When she was young, her parents were able to buy property behind their house and built three rental units.

These days, residents are lucky to be able to be renters in Denver.

Fighting to stay afloat Belle said that in the whirlwind of rising rent, property values and population levels in Denver, she’s seeing more people come to SWIC who may be homeless.

“They’re wearing the same clothes for weeks; they’re always very hungry,” Belle said. “They stay in our bathrooms for a long time and come out cleaner.”

She also lamented a lack of good-paying jobs in her area and cost of living in general, saying it’s a problem for all income levels.

“The problem right now is that people can’t obtain enough money in their pockets to live with dignity,” Belle said.

“We see it every day, people coming in, people calling us. People would be surprised that in every income level and in every neighborhood in southwest Denver, this is happening.

“I don’t know how the mayor can put more money in people’s pockets, but that’s what they need,” she said.

Retiring soon After about 30 years with the organization, SWIC on July 20 announced Belle’s retirement, which will happen in June.

“Jan has been instrumental in the continued success” of the organization, said the letter from board president Tony Oum. “She has helped countless people in the community and has made it a better place to live because of her compassion.”

When she retires, she wants to create and save habitats for urban wildlife, “especially prairie dogs,” she said.

“And also see where else I can help renew the face of the earth,” Belle said.

“For all that lives and gives life.”

Twice as large as any other show in Colorado!

The Denver Mart • August 5th & 6th Saturday 9am - 5pm • Sunday 9am - 4pm $10 Admission for all Denver shows • $7 for Active Military • Good for both days!!!

$1 OFF COUPON

www.tannergunshow.com

10 Denver Herald-Dispatch

QUIET DESPERATION

Craig Marshall Smith

LOCAL

July 27, 2017

VOICES The sound of disapproval leads to personal removal

T

o boo is not taboo. To boo is human.

But what’s the point? The point is to express disapproval when there are no other options.

You are at a Rockies game, and the opposing pitcher throws to first, to hold the runner.

You boo. Why? An opposing coach or the manager walks to the mound to talk with the pitcher.

You boo. Why? “It’s tradition.”

Or maybe it’s because the guy next to you is booing, and the guy next to him is booing, and the guy next to him is booing. There is something about a collective that validates

individual behavior.

Do you laugh in a comedy club because something is genuinely amusing, or do you laugh because others are laughing?

“Others are laughing” is the theory behind one of the most despicable, condescending, demeaning artifices of television.

The laugh track. If it has one, I don’t watch it.

Booing, audibly expressing a thumb’s down, has been around for a long time.

If the court jester came out and said, “Take my wife, please,” he could have and should have been yanked from stage right by a long-handled hook, amid elderly tomatoes in the air at his head. Along with boos.

e In the coliseum, a thumb’s down may c have meant that you were to become a lion’s t w kabob, Bob. The etymology of “boo” dates from 1738 y t Scotland, when a writer named Jacob Curate used it as a word to scare children. t Thereafter, ghosts picked up on it, and so did the children in Arthur Radley’s neigh- t D borhood.

When baseball came along, booing took on B a new connotation. You’re not really trying o t to scare the Cubs or the Tigers, are you? d I have yet to boo. I am waiting for the perfect moment. Actually there have been SEE SMITH, P11

Gerrymandering: The dark side of political districting

I

ABOUT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Colorado Community Media welcomes letters to the editor.

Please keep in mind the following ground rules: • Limit your letter to 300 words or fewer.

• Keep it polite: Do not resort to name calling or “mud slinging.”

• Include a source for any information that is not common knowledge. We will not publish information that cannot easily be verified.

• Submit your letter by 5 p.m. on Friday in order for it to appear in the following week’s newspaper.

DENVER Since 1926

• Only submit ideas and opinions that are your own — and in your own words. Colorado Community Media will not publish any letter that is clearly part of a letter-writing campaign.

• Include your full name, address and phone number. We will only publish your name and city or town of residence, but all of the information requested is needed for us to verify you are who you say you are.

• Email your letter to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com Thank you, and we look forward to your letters.

JERRY HEALEY President

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Majors/Classified Manager

ANN MACARI HEALEY Executive Editor

MEREDITH THOMPSON Marketing Consultant

ahealey@coloradocommunitymedia.com

mthompson@coloradocommunitymedia.com

CHRIS ROTAR Editor

AUDREY BROOKS Business Manager

crotar@coloradocommunitymedia.com

abrooks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ELLIS ARNOLD Community Editor

ERIN FRANKS Production Manager

jhealey@coloradocommunitymedia.com D D

II

S S

P P

A A

A publication of

A publication of

9137 Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 Phone: 303-566-4100 To subscribe call 303-566-4100

T T

C C

H H

earnold@coloradocommunitymedia.com

eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

efranks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager

lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

nstead of saying “he who has the gold makes the rules,” a more appropriate expression concerning political district CROSS boundaries CURRENTS for congressional or state elections might be “the party in power once a new federal Census gets released gets to keep power for the next Bill Christopher 10 years.”

With that introduction, we give you the concept of gerrymandering.

To put it in a more PC term, it is known as “reapportionment” or “redistricting.” The intended approach, according to both our federal and state constitutions, is to set the respective boundaries for each of the 435 Congressional districts and all the state Senate and House districts based on an even division of population and a fair balance of registered voters between the two major parties.

Columnists & Guest Commentaries Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Herald-Dispatch.

We welcome letters to the editor. Please Include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

Email letters to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com Deadline Fri. 5 p.m. for the following week’s paper.

That sounds fair. But hold the phone: In reality, it often does not work that way and genuine competitiveness in many districts is a myth.

Analysis shows power of who draws boundaries The concept and practice has been around in America for over 205 years. Yes, both parties are guilty of it when given the opportunity.

However, due to computers, data gathering and analytical programs, it has gotten more sophisticated. That is where “gerrymandering” shows its nasty, conniving, greedy, power-hungry self.

With the U.S. Supreme Court’s willingness to address the issue in its upcoming fall session, a lot is coming out about analysis after analysis that shows how the party in power at the time has reaped the benefit in loading up districts with more of party faithful in certain districts.

An Associated Press analysis of the 2016 election results concluded that the Republicans had a real advantage. The AP used SEE CURRENTS, P11

Denver Herald-Dispatch (ISSN 1542-5797)(USPS 241-760) A legal newspaper of general circulation in Denver, Colorado, the Herald-Dispatch is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media, 1345 Perry St., Denver, CO 80204.

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT DENVER, COLORADO and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129

Denver Herald-Dispatch 11

July 27, 2017

BOND FROM PAGE 7

With these types of projects, backers of the bond can say they’re following through on obligations that were overlooked in past years. (Which is not to say they’re not also the right thing to do.)

Cultural institutions like the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Zoo and the Denver Botanic Gardens have a bit of a defense against cuts to their requests because decision-makers expect their

boards and volunteers to be active in campaigning and raising money to pass the bond.

Councilman Rafael Espinoza said he’s going to ask for an amendment to reduce funding for the art museum’s north building renovation and instead put those dollars into community projects. He calls this “admittedly a third rail.”

“In the next 10 years, if a welcome center is not built at the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum still thrives, whereas $20 million worth of projects in communities have more signficant

CURRENTS FROM PAGE 10

a new statistical method of calculating partisan advantage designed to detect potential political gerrymandering. In part, the study stated, “...the analysis found four times as many states with Republicanskewed state House or Assembly districts than Democratic ones. Among the two dozen most populated states that determine the vast majority of Congress, there were nearly three times as many with Republican-tilted U.S. House districts.”

Also, the study concluded that Republicans won 22 additional U.S. House seats over what would have been expected based on the average vote share in Congressional districts across the country.

Highest court to hear Wisconsin case One of the most notorious states to manipulate district boundaries has been Wisconsin. Most recently, Republican lawmakers went all out to draw legislative boundaries to favor their party. The state was sued and a lower court struck down the district maps as unconstitutional last year. The case has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the case.

Finally, after decades in

impact,” he said.

And then there is the issue of sticker shock. Including more projects gives more voters a reason to say yes, but the larger the number gets, the more risk there is that voters could balk at the total price tag.

No on shelters All in Denver, an advocacy group made up of people who work in community development, housing, education and the arts, made a pitch earlier this year that the 2017 GO Bond should treat housing like infrastructure. Hancock didn’t

which the high court stayed away from the issue, there will hopefully be an opportunity for states and their legislatures to be given detailed legal guidance on how to draw up districts to meet the constitutional test.

However, it remains to be seen how the high court will focus on the case and to what extent it will spell out a set of definitive criteria and procedures. We can only hope.

Politicians should not pick their voters One of the problems in being able to avoid heavy political persuasion in drawing fair, balanced districts among residents of both political parties has been the fact that many states have the state legislature draw the boundaries. That goes beyond simply letting the fox guard the hen house. It is more like inviting the fox inside the hen house to do all the damage he can do.

Some states have independent commissions do the analysis and drawing of the boundaries. The trick here is who gets to select the members of the commission and which party is favored.

Barbara Mattison, a member of the Colorado League of Women Voters, put it succinctly by saying, “We really believe votes should count. Voters should pick their politicians.

Politicians shouldn’t pick their voters.”

agree with that approach, but until a fairly late stage, the project list included money for homeless shelters. That money is not in the package that went to city council. Councilwoman Atlarge Debbie Ortega called that “unfortunate,” and that may not be the last word.

Next steps Denver City Council was scheduled to meet as a committee of the whole at July 24 (after the Denver Herald’s press time), to continue their discussion of the bond package.

Denver City Council is set

Thanks to Colorado League Of Women Voters In Colorado, there is a bipartisan coalition led by the League of Women Voters working on a 2018 ballot initiative which seeks to significantly reduce the political influence of the two major parties in drawing Colorado district boundaries starting after the 2020 census is completed and released, sometime in 2021.

The draft proposal would call for a minimum of three unaffiliated voters serving on the 11-person commission alongside representation from both major political parties.

It would also try to enforce bipartisan consensus by requiring a supermajority vote to adopt any district map.

The League of Women Voters is to be commended for its government approach, but should beef up the number of unaffiliated voters to five, leaving three slots for each of the two major parties.

Let’s hope between the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision and the League’s proposed ballot issue for next year that we can reduce the partisan influence in crafting fair and balanced districts starting in 2021. Then our votes would have more legitimacy!

Bill Christopher is a former Westminster city manager and RTD board member. His opinions are not necessarily those of Colorado Community Media.

to hold a first reading and public hearing on the bond package at its Aug. 7 meeting. The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. This is the public’s last big chance to influence the final project list.

Denver City Council holds a second reading on the bond package Aug. 14. This vote will determine the package that goes to voters in November.

Denverite is an online local news source for everything you need to know about Denver in 5 minutes. Visit denverite.com/subscribe for more.

SMITH FROM PAGE 10

plenty of perfect moments already, if I believed in booing. But I don’t. As you know by now, I disapprove of many things. Booing seems senseless.

I have this forum, however, and that enables me to boo, as it were, without booing.

But what if you are at Coors Field, and the umpire clearly misses a call at the plate?

Should you accept it as a consequence of an imperfect system of judgment, namely that a human being made the call?

Or should you join in with the throaty drones and boo?

Booing, ultimately, is a waste of time and energy and vocalization, except as a momentary catharsis.

There is something called Crowd Behavior that embraces booing, and can lead to taunting, and even racist and sexist remarks. Crowd Behavior is one of the reasons why I no longer attend. That and endless phoning and photographing.

Do you go to a ball game expecting to boo, and pack a few boos along with your binoculars?

I have stood in front of coffee prices, and I have wanted to boo.

I have seen flip-flops on airplanes, and I have wanted to boo.

I have heard puns, and I have wanted to boo.

Such as the photo caption, “Reese with her spoon, and Reese without her spoon.”

Booing is not for me, and lips that touch boos will never touch mine.

(Maybe you can explain to me why “boo” doubled turns into that wound on your big toe.)

Craig Marshall Smith is an artist, educator and Highlands Ranch resident. He can be reached at craigmarshallsmith@comcast.net

Local Focus. More News.

17 newspapers. 20 websites. Connecting YOU to your LOCAL community.

ColoradoCommunityMedia.com

12 Denver Herald-Dispatch

THINGS to DO

THEATER

‘On Golden Pond’: 7:30 p.m.

Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays and 2 p.m. Sundays from July 29 to Aug. 26 at the John Hand Theater, 7653 E. 1st Place, Denver.

Presented by Lowry’s Spotlight Theatre, the heart-warming love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer and their long life together.

Contact 720-530-4596 or www. thisisspotlight.com ‘Annie’: through Aug. 6 at the Stage Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1400 Curtis St., Denver. Presented by Phamaly Theatre Company, which casts actors with disabilities (including the dog, Sandy). Call 303-8934100 or go to phamaly.org/annie for tickets and details.

‘Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story’: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Aug. 19 at The Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St., Denver. Presented by Equinox Theatre Company. Recommended for mature audiences only. Go to www.EquinoxTheatreDenver.com One-Man Comedy Show: Aug. 2-20 at the Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway.

“My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m In Therapy” stars Peter J. Fogel. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 7:30 p.m. Fridays; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Sundays.

Tickets are available at lakewood. showare.com or by calling 303987-7845.

MUSIC

this week’s TOP FIVE The Magic Within: 7 p.m. Saturday, July 29 at the Mercury Café, 2199 California St., Denver. Psychic Explorations with Magician Erica Sodos. Reserve tickets at 303-294-9258 or buy at the door. Additional 2017 shows are Sept. 30, Oct. 28 and Dec 30.

Sci-Fi Film Series: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2 (Arrival); Wednesday, Aug. 9 (A Scanner Darkly) at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, in the Phipp’s Auditorium.

Museum scientists and Dr. Vincent Piturro, English and film professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, break down the science behind these alternative possibilities and separate fact from fiction. Go to http://www.denverfilm.org/programs/ series/sci-fi-film-series/ for tickets and information.

Rob Proctor’s Garden Tour: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 29-30, at 3030 W. 46th Ave., Denver. Proceeds from the tour benefit the Dumb Friends League. A horticulturist, Proctor has entertained Colorado gardeners for a decade during his segments on 9News. Go to http://www.ddfl.org/event/ rob-proctors-garden-tour/ Summer Sidewalk Sale: Friday, July 28 to Sunday, July 30, at Highlands Square, 32nd Avenue and Lowell Boulevard. Eleven vendors offer discounts on clothing and accessories; snacks and sips also will be served. No cost to attend. Go to www. highlands-square.com.

City Park Jazz: 6-8 p.m. Sunday, July 30 (JoFoKe); and Sunday, Aug. 6 (Alpha Schoolmarm Orchestra) at City Park, 1600 City Park Esplanade, Denver. Bring blankets or chairs, and set up in the grassy area in

and summer block party. Go to http://msudenver.edu/cva/exhibitions/.

‘The Western: An Epic in Art and Film’: open through Sept. 10 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with extended hours until 8 p.m. Fridays. Closed Mondays.

Western genre, including moving pictures. Requires special tickets.

18 and younger admitted free. Go to www.DenverArtMuseum.org.

Hudson Gardens Concert: 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 28, Chris Isaak; Sunday, July 30, Creedence Clearwater Revisited at 6115 S. Santa Fe Drive, Littleton. Tickets on sale at www.altitudetickets. com. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. For information, call 303-797-8565 or go to www.hudsongardens.org.

Parking is free. Lineup includes: Sunday, Aug. 6, Lynyrd Skynyrd; Sunday, Aug. 13, Los Lobos & Los Lonely Boys; Saturday, Aug. 19, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts; Sunday, Aug. 20, Kool & The Gang; Sunday, Aug. 27, The B-52s; Sunday, Sept. 3, YES featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman.

‘At the Water’s Edge: Floral and Fowl’: open through Sept. 30 at Old South Frame and Gallery, 1588 S. Pearl St., Denver. Features artwork of Michael Warren and Darryl Trott. Call 303-715-3828.

concerns as to what may happen as tensions rise. Join Active Minds for a closer look at this delicate situation. This program is brought to you by the Stapleton Master Community Association.

Dinos! Live Traveling Exhibit: through Oct. 31 at The Denver Zoo, 2300 N. Steele St., Denver. Exhibit features 21 life-sized dinosaurs, 18 of which are animatronic.

Sculptures will mostly be located near a Denver Zoo animal species that shares common traits. Go to DenverZoo.org for details about the exhibit and about the special events planned.

Spain: 2-3 p.m. Friday, July 28 at the Virginia Village Library, 1500 S. Dahlia St., Denver. From its heights as the dominant country in the world in the 16th century, Spain is now one of the European countries struggling with debt.

Join Active Minds as we explore the roots and legacy of the Spanish Empire and how this important country fits into the regional and global puzzle today.

EVENTS

Eleanor Roosevelt: 9:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 27 at Rosemark Senior Living, 833 Jersey, Denver. As the longest-serving first lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt was both outspoken and, at times, quite controversial. Join Active Minds as we examine her life and the impact it had on important causes such as human rights and the successful launch of the United Nations. Call 303-770-7673 to RSVP.

ART/FILM

Water Line: A Creative Exchange: Friday, Aug. 4 to Oct. 21 at Metropolitan State University of Denver Center for Visual Art, 965 Santa Fe Drive, Denver. Exhibit features 19 artists working in photography, mixed-media installation, video, ceramic and sculpture. The opening reception runs from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, during the Art District on Santa Fe’s First Friday

front of the stage. Concerts are free, and take place in the pavilion. Go to http://cityparkjazz.org/

‘Calder Monumental’ Sculptures: on display through Sept. 24 at Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York St., Denver. Sculptures by American artist Alexander Calder (1898-1976). The Gardens also presents concerts this summer. Go to https://www.botanicgardens. org/ for details.

Turbulent Waters: Conflict in the South China Sea: 6:45-7:45 p.m. Thursday, July 27 at Sam Gary Library, 2961 Roslyn St., Denver. The South China Sea is an incredibly strategic body of water located between China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. At stake is one of the busiest trade routes in the world as well as oil and fishing rights.

Recently China has been pressing its claim to long disputed parts of the South China Sea, raising

Cuba: Past, Present & Future: 2-3 p.m. Saturday, July 29 at Athmar Park Library, 1055 S. Tejon St., Denver. With former President Obama’s announcement signaling a historic shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba, join Active Minds for a past, present and future look at our communist neighbor to the south.

We will cover Castro’s revolution, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Guantánamo Bay and current implications of the change in U.S. policy.

The Soviet Union: The Road After Collapse: 10-11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1 at the Jewish Community Center, 350 S. Dahlia St., Denver.

July 27, 2017

Join Active Minds as we explore the history of the Soviet Union as well as the causes of its failure. No RSVP needed. Call Lil Shaw, 303316-6359, for information.

Buddhism: 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2 at the Cherry Creek Library, 305 Milwaukee St., Denver. Join Active Minds for an examination of its origins, teachings, beliefs and practices. RSVP not required.

Putin’s Russia: 1-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, at Central Library, 10 W. 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver. Join Active Minds as we examine the story of Russia under the influence of Vladimir Putin. No RSVP required.

Princess Diana: 6:45-7:45 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 10 at Sam Gary Library, 2961 Roslyn St., Denver.

Twenty years after the death of Princess Diana, join Active Minds as we review her life and legacy.

No RSVP needed.

Teddy Bears and Tea Cups High Tea: 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at Highlands Masonic Temple, 3550 Federal Blvd., Denver. Presented by the El Mejdel Daughters of the Nile. Vendors, 50/50 raffle and entertainment. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Space is limited; reservations required. Tickets on sale now through Saturday, Oct. 28. Contact Jo Ann Van Trump, 303-232-3542.

NATURE/OUTDOORS

Butterflies at Chatfield: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Sept. 24 at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms, 8500 W. Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton. This seasonal habitat, in partnership with Butterfly Pavilion, is home to hundreds of native butterflies, such as swallowtails, monarchs, mourning cloaks and painted ladies. There are more than 50 native plant species in this garden. Go to www.botanicgardens.org.

Editor’s note: Calendar submissions must be received by noon Thursday for publication the following week. Send listings to calendar@coloradocommunitymedia.com. No attachments, please. Listings are free and run on a space-available basis.

Denver Herald-Dispatch 13

July 27, 2017

Rents around Denver starting to hold steady Older buildings tend to cost less for tenants

BY MEGAN ARELLANO MARELLANO@DENVERITE.COM

Home prices may be shooting up, but at least Denver rents are looking pretty consistent this year.

For the second quarter in a row this year, rents rose by about $37, according to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver’s latest Apartment Vacancy and Rent Report.

That means an average rent of $1,419.74 for metro Denver, according to the report. The median rent is lower, $1,377, because medians aren’t inflated by super high rents.

Considering the average rental discount, which went up again, the average rent increase is smaller anyway, according to the group. Discounts and concessions offered to renters increased by $17 during the

It’s Almost Here!

same period, the survey found.

“The result is that, on average, renters are paying $20 more per month now than they were in the first quarter of 2017. That’s an increase of about 65 cents per day,” said Christopher Dean, vice president of communications at AAMD, in a release.

However, the survey does not indicate whether those concessions are spread across more than high-end buildings.

If you’re looking to pay less than $1,300 or $1,400 a month, embrace the charm of an older building. Rental units in apartments built in the 1970s generally cost more like $1,100, the report says. Contrast that with units built since 2010, which cost closer to $1,800, according to the survey.

Denverite is an online local news source for everything you need to know about Denver in 5 minutes.

Visit denverite.com/subscribe for more.

Pot smell detected by dog not enough to spur search, court rules Colorado decision similar to those in states including Arizona, California ASSOCIATED PRESS

Drug-sniffing police dogs in Colorado may need new training if they can detect marijuana, after a recent ruling by the Colorado Court of Appeals that sets a new precedent for drug cases.

A three-judge panel agreed that if a drug-sniffing dog is trained to alert officers to marijuana and other drugs, cops need more cause to search a vehicle without permission.

The decision came out of a 2015 case in Moffat County, where a drug-sniffing dog named Kilo alerted officers to the presence of an illegal drug in a truck driven by Craig resident Kevin McKnight, The (Grand Junction) Sentinel reported.

But because Kilo could not tell officers whether he smelled pot or other drugs, the search was illegal, judges wrote. The dog was trained to identify to detect cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, methamphetamine and marijuana.

Marijuana possession by adults over 21 is legal in Colorado.

“A dog sniff could result in an alert with respect to something for which, under Colorado law, a person has a legitimate expectation of privacy,” judges wrote in the ruling.

“Because a dog sniff of a vehicle

could infringe upon a legitimate expectation of privacy solely under state law, that dog sniff should now be considered a `search’ ... where the occupants are 21 years or older.”

Courts in other states with legal marijuana for medical or recreational purposes have said that a pot smell alone is insufficient for a warrantless search. Those states include Arizona and California.

The smell of marijuana in a Colorado search is still sufficient if there are other factors that raise an officer’s suspicion.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that a drug dog’s smell test can “contribute” to a probable cause determination if the suspects are doing something else to raise suspicion.

“The odor of marijuana is still suggestive of criminal activity,” the Supreme Court wrote in that decision.

But in the Moffat County case, judges concluded that the dog’s alert did more than “contribute” to a decision to search the car, because the man gave no indication he was impaired or doing anything illegal.

“The police lacked the requisite reasonable suspicion to subject McKnight’s truck to a dog sniff,” judge wrote.

The resulting search turned up a glass pipe commonly used to smoke meth, and McKnight was later convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.

The decision reverses McKnight’s conviction.

Do you have the cutest pet in town?

Do you want to help decide who does?

Coming in August!

NS

O SP

Y DB

E OR

Presented by

Presented by

14 Denver Herald-Dispatch

LOCAL

July 27, 2017

LIFE

On and Dry needling a different technique to treat pain, promote healing

i t

w i t u

BY TOM SKELLEY | TSKELLEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

S

itting in her Highlands Ranch office after working with a patient, Samantha Hovel explained the biggest problem she has when discussing a little-known treatment with some of her patients.

“Nobody likes the word ‘needle,’ ” she said.

When she sees a patient with soft tissue pain that affects mobility, Hovel, clinic director at Rocky Mountain Spine and Sport, often recommends dry needling, a treatment begun in the late 1970s that has been gaining traction with physical therapists over the past three decades.

No drugs are injected through the solid “dry” needle used to penetrate the skin, muscles and tendons, giving the process its name. Hovel locates trigger points, or painful areas in a muscle or tendon, then inserts a monofilament needle, the same kind used for acupuncture, into the tissue until the patient feels a “deep ache” or the muscle twitches. Electrical stimulation from a 9-volt battery is sometimes used to spur the twitching response in muscles.

“It can physically inhibit the transmission of pain signals through the nerves,” Hovel said. “My patients see a better range of motion, increased healing rates in tendons and increased blood flow to the area.”

Hovel’s patients range from teens with posture issues to athletes recovering from injury to seniors with chronic pain. She stresses that it’s a piece of her treatment plan, not a cure-all, but says 75 to 80 percent of patients report improvement after a session or two.

“I tell them it’s 100 percent your choice, but this could help you faster than anything else,” she said.

Some patients are skeptical, and some balk at the suggestion altogether, but Hovel said she sees more skeptics become believers than the other way around.

POKING AROUND

a t s

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DRY NEEDLING AND ACUPUNCTURE

p o 2 n a U

Acupuncture:

Traditional Chinese medicine holds that stimulating the meridians balances the flow of energy, known as chi, flowing through pathways in the body, also called “meridians.” By inserting needles into specific points along these meridians, acupuncturists believe that the energy flow will restore that balance and resolve medical issues such as pain or illness.

r o

r C fi p s t t o

Dry needling:

Dry needling is a technique in which a monofilament needle is inserted superficially into the skin, or more deeply into muscles, ligaments or tendons, to relieve pain, break up scar tissue or increase circulation. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine endorsed the practice in 2010 as effective, minimally invasive and “low risk,” though it added that further research was needed to determine the effectiveness of superficial needling.

Source: Mayo Clinic

Global research, western technique Dry needling derived from clinical trials in the United States in the 1940s that injected trigger points with corticosteroids, analgesics and saline. In the 1970s, Czechoslovakian Dr. Karel Lewit found that patients showed signs of improvement from just the needling effect, whether or not any drugs were injected.

Canadian physician Dr. Chan Gunn took things a step further. Gunn, widely acknowledged as the innovator of the practice in North America, dubbed the technique “intramuscu-

Samantha Hovel holds one of the tools of her trade, a monofilament needle like the ones she uses to perform dry needling on her patients. Hovel says about 75 to 80 percent of her clients experience better results when dry needling is incorporated in their therapy regimen.

TOM SKELLEY lar stimulation.” He theorized that peripheral nerve pain caused trigger points to tighten and compress, but if pain signals were interrupted by the insertion of a needle, the muscle would return to its natural state.

Gunn’s decades of research, practice and proselytizing led to his technique being adopted worldwide, and a course in Intra Muscular Stimulation is offered to physicians at the University of British Columbia.

Two sides of the same needle Despite a basis in medical sci-

ence, not everyone is convinced of dry needling’s benefits, particularly acupuncturists.

A lawsuit, filed in March by the Acupuncture Association of Colorado, is pending in Denver District Court. No date has been set for proceedings to begin.

The suit alleges physical therapists in Colorado are insufficiently trained to perform the invasive procedure, noting that dry needling requires 46 hours of training while acupuncturSEE NEEDLING, P15

Denver Herald-Dispatch 15

July 27, 2017

Monofilament needles prptrude from the back of a patient in Nicole Stevens’ Golden office during a dry needling treatment. Needles penetrate muscles in the procedure, interrupting pain signals sent from the brain and eliciting a twitch response that allows muscles to “reset” and relax.

NICOLE STEVENS

FROM PAGE 14

ists must receive 1,905 hours of training to be certified.

Nicole Stevens, a physical therapist who operates her own practice, Point in Motion, LLC, disputes the assertion that needling practitioners like her are undertrained.

“We all have four years of undergrad and a two-year doctorate or master’s,” to become physical therapists, Stevens said.

Stevens received a master’s degree in physical therapy from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 2000, and was certified to perform dry needling in 2010. Hovel earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Regis University in 2007.

“All we’re doing is using a needle to reach a point we couldn’t reach with our hands,” Stevens said.

Dr. Byron Jones, a Lakewood physiatrist and director of the Lutheran Spine Center, was skeptical of dry needling at first, but an internal study with his own patients changed his mind. He and his staff now incorporate needling, in addition to exercise and other therapies, to treat tendonitis, injuries and a variety of muscle issues.

Relieving pain, respiting surgery One of Hovel’s patients, Paul Bergstrom, says dry needling is helping him stave off back surgery.

Bergstrom, a 72-year-old Littleton resident, has a herniated disc in his spine. He tried chiropractic to no avail, and he wasn’t eager to follow doctors’ orders to have some of his vertebrae fused. After a recommendation from his son, Bergstrom paid a visit to Hovel.

Almost two years later, Bergstrom said Hovel’s regimen of core-strengthening exercise, massage, spinal adjustments and dry needling has allowed him to regain 80 to 90 percent of his day-to-day activity without pain.

“It’s not going to cure it, but I don’t know that surgery necessarily will cure it either. Right now this is the best answer and I hope it stays that way,” he said. “When you’re in pain, it’s hard to get stuff done. And I’ve got a lot of chores to do.”

Answers

Solution © 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.

NEEDLING

“I have to say I was not a fan of dry needling when they first started doing it,” Jones said. “Physical therapists have proven to me there is a significant benefit. I have found it to be a very effective form of adjunctive treatment.

The problem is, some therapists believe this is all you need to do, and the research doesn’t support that.”

THANKS for

PLAYING!

16 Denver Herald-Dispatch

July 27, 2017

An evening of music at Drums Along the Rockies

T

housands of spectators flocked to Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver on July 15 to watch colorful performers put on a musical spectacle for the 54th Drums Along the Rockies. The annual marching event is hosted by Ascend Performing Arts, a youth performing arts organization based in Denver.

The evening featured performances by 10 elite drum and bugle corps — made up of 150 people ages 15 to 21 — from across the country, including the Denver metro area’s Blue Knights.

Performers spend hundreds of hours practicing for the competition, which draws national and international guests. Sanctioned by Drum Corps International, featured corps are some of the best in the world, said George Lindstrom, operations manager of the event.

Events, such as Drums Along the Rockies, are in preparation for the Drum Corps International World Championships in Indianapolis in August.

“The grind in this — it’s not casual,” Lindstrom said. “It is absolute precision and uniformity.”

PHOTOS BY ALEX DEWIND

The Mandarins, of California, put on a theatrical performance featuring music and acrobatics at the 54th Drums Along the Rockies at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on July 15.

The Columbians, of Washington, strike a pose at the 54th annual Drums Along the Rockies marching music event at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The marching band kicked off the July 15 event, which featured 10 drum and bugle corps from across the country.

The Battalion, a marching band from Utah, put on a colorful performance at the 54th Drums Along the Rockies at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on July 15. The group was one of 10 national drum and bugle corps to perform at the annual event.

Members of BKXperience, an educational clinic hosted by Ascend Performing Arts, lead the opening ceremony of Drums Along the Rockies on July 15 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. At the clinic, students learn performance techniques from the Blue Knights, Denver’s drum and bugle corp.

Denver Herald-Dispatch 17

July 27, 2017

Men’s roller derby team represents Mile High City Englewood man skates with Denver’s Ground Control squad

BY TOM MUNDS TMUNDS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Roller derby began as an allwomen’s sport but with its rebirth in 2001 in Texas, programs also included men’s teams, and Englewood resident Josh Souz signed up when he learned about Ground Control, the Denver Roller Derby men’s team.

Souz and other members of the men’s team took part in the Denver Roller Derby July 12 practice and scrimmage at the Glitterdome in Denver, where the male skaters scrimmaged with the women.

“I have been roller skating most of my life. I was on the rink at a Skate City when I was asked to become a member of the men’s roller derby team and a roller hockey team on the same night,” Souz said. “I hadn’t been in an organized sport for a while, I had played roller hockey, so I decided to figure out what roller derby was all about. That was almost seven years ago and I am still with it.”

The scrimmage was a series of matches called jams. Each team sends five players out onto the flat oval-shaped track, four blockers and a jammer. When the starting whistle blows, the blockers focus on keeping the other team’s jammer from breaking free while opening a route for their jammer to race around the track and score points by passing opponents.

When a jammer got out of the pack during the jams at the scrimmage, her teammates set up to slow the pack while her opponents set up to keep her from passing them.

Blocks were physical, often sending one or more players to the track surface. But the players quickly got up and returned to the battle.

Often one member of the men’s team joined the group when a jam was called. It seemed no one payed attention to whether the opponent was a man or a woman and frequently it was a man who got knocked to the skating surface.

“It is always intense out there on the track,” the Englewood man said during a break in the action. “We don’t have a lot of skaters on the men’s team so we scrimmage with the women. The contact is physical and everyone skates hard.”

Souz uses his skating skills and speed as a jammer for the team. He said the most fun for him is when he circles the track and his blockers set things up for him so he can zip through the pack and score points by passing the opposing players.

The 32-year-old said roller derby is fun and his biggest challenge

Englewood resident Josh Souz looks to block an opponent during the July 12 Denver Roller Derby practice and scrimmage at Denver’s Glitterdome. Souz is a member of the DRD men’s team but since the roster is small, the men practice and scrimmage with the women. Souz has been competing in men’s roller derby for six years because it is a good way to stay physically fit and to have fun.

TOM MUNDS

‘We don’t have a lot of skaters on the men’s team so we scrimmage with the women. The contact is physical and everyone skates hard.’

Josh Souz, Denver Roller Derby player

when he joined the sport was learning to use the quad-wheel skates instead of in-line skates.

“I had been using in-line skates almost all my life,” he said. “The only time I had four wheels per skate was when I was a little kid. It took some time getting used to the difference in the skates but it was part of the fun of being a roller derby skater.”

All roller derby athletes are amateurs with full-time jobs to make a living. Souz is a member of a military family and grew up in a number of different places. He has lived in Englewood for more than two years and works in an information technology position as a site liability engineer.

Roller derby was popular in the 1940s and 1950s when the competition was on a banked track. The modern version on a flat track

was reborn in 2001 in Texas. It grew nationally and internationally to where there are more than 1,200 leagues around the world.

An entry on the internet stated that flat track roller derby is being considered to be added to the list of sports at the 2020 summer Olympics.

A game is divided into two 30-minute periods. Jams can run the full two minutes or be cut off by the lead jammer. Usually there are about 20 jams per half.

Denver Roller Derby’s largest program is for women, but there is also a men’s team plus a youth program for skaters under 18.

The Denver A level team, called the Mile High Club, is currently ranked seventh among the world’s A-level teams.

SEE SKATE, P18

CLASSIFIED Health and Beauty THE PRODUCTS YOU USE MATTER Safer - No Harsh Chemicals or Toxins Higher Quality - Natural - Green Products Wholesale Pricing - Convenient Shopping Largest Online Wellness Shopping Club Text or Call for Product Information

303-807-8753

SERVICES Master Electrician.

Licensed.

Call for a free estimate.

Residential or commercial, big or small, we do it all.

Quality work at a competitive price.

Call James at (303) 505-3543, if no answer leave a message and I WILL return your call.

TM

HOME REPAIRS & REMODELING • Drywall • Painting • Tile • Trim • Doors • Painting • Decks • Bath Remodel • Kitchen Remodels • Basements & Much More!

Call Today for a FREE ESTIMATE 303-427-2955

Landscape & Concrete

Landscaping • Yard Cleanup • Sod Concrete • Sprinklers • Fertilization Tree Trimming/Cutting • Planting Retaining Walls • Flagstone Fencing • Gutter Cleaning Power Raking • Aerating

720-436-6158

18 Denver Herald-Dispatch

July 27, 2017

Millsap joins Nuggets in happy return to scene of hard times Player spent 12 years of childhood living in northeast Denver neighborhood

By Pat Graham Associated Press

Paul Millsap was welcomed back to his old neighborhood with a reception that included a drum line and cheering children.

It was a contrast to how the newest Denver Nuggets player left town years ago as a kid — his mom struggling to make ends meet.

That wasn’t lost on the four-time All-Star forward as he was introduced at a recreation center July 13 after signing a three-year deal worth $90 million. He spent nearly a dozen years in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood before returning to Louisiana for high school and college.

“My history had a lot to play into (signing with Denver), actually,” said Millsap, who was touched by the band that greeted him, along with the throng of children. “It felt like it was unfinished business here, being here years ago and leaving under the circumstances we left.

To help this community out, this organization out, that played a big factor.”

Searching for a fresh start, Millsap’s mother moved the family to Denver when he was just a toddler.

But it was a struggle. His mom, Bettye, said she used to make $12 last for two days’ worth of meals for her four sons.

In 1999, the Millsap family returned to Louisiana, where she had relatives to lend a hand.

“When I came to Denver in 1988, I was crying all the way in shame and had my head down,” Bettye Millsap said. “When I came back this time, I cried tears of joy and I could hold my head up.”

The 32-year-old Millsap gives the youthful Nuggets a proven veteran to pair with budding star Nikola Jokic. Millsap averaged a careerhigh 18.1 points last season with 7.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists.

“I’m looking for (Jokic) to make my job a little easier,” Millsap cracked. “And vice versa. I want to make his job easier. I want to help the younger guys around me become better players.”

For landing the highly coveted free agent, give an assist to Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall.

Marshall’s sales pitch helped sway Millsap’s decision.

“Brandon was able to look Paul in the eyes and talk about what this city means to him, not just as a player but as a guy who lives here full time, and talk about what it’s like to win in Denver,” Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said. “I certainly had goosebumps.”

It definitely got Millsap’s attention.

“The way (Marshall) explained the fans, the way he explained the city, it made me think, `I want to be part of it,’” Millsap said. “We’re looking, not to take the Denver Broncos fans — they’re the Broncos, let’s be honest — but for them to be with us, too. To take a ride with us, just like we were with them.”

Denver (40-42) improved by seven games this year but still missed the playoffs for a fourth straight season.

Millsap’s presence helps the Nuggets remain in the playoff conversation even in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

“I’m excited about that challenge.

We don’t run from that,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “He’s going to help us tremendously.”

That’s partly because Millsap brings a defensive-minded mentality

SKATE

BABY BOX

FROM PAGE 17

FROM PAGE 3

doctors always caution against cosleeping — the baby can suffocate.

So, having a box right next to your bed is pretty convenient.”

The program also has a second-level team, the Bruising Altitude, and a C-level team called the Standbys. The B and C teams travel to compete in tournaments around the country. The men’s team, Ground Control, competes nationally and currently is ranked 18th.

In additional to traveling to tournaments, Denver Roller Derby has a local league with four teams that compete from January to April.

All individuals involved in roller derby are amateur athletes. Each player provides his or her own equipment which at least includes a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads. Traditional four-wheels-perboot skates are used in roller derby. In-line skates are not allowed.

Denver Roller Derby athletes pay a $50 monthly membership fee. The money is used to cover the cost of renting space for games and practices, paying officials and other charges associated with the team.

When a team travels, each player is responsible for his or her own expenses.

throughout the state.

One way baby boxes are utilized is to promote safe sleep habits, which can be challenging for sleep-deprived parents and particularly for breastfeeding mothers. According to a recent study released by Temple University Hospital, 59 percent of mothers who exclusively breastfed their babies and used a baby box said it made breastfeeding easier, due to the proximity of the baby boxes at night. This study also found that baby boxes cut co-sleeping rates in breastfeeding mothers by half since mothers can keep the baby box close by without having to co-sleep out of convenience.

“For moms that are trying to breastfeed, it allows baby to be next to the mom while she’s sleeping, which will hopefully reduce the amount of co-sleeping — where the baby is sleeping in the parents’ bed — which we know is not the safest place for a baby to sleep,” said Jan Kennaugh, neonatologist at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children.

Denver mom Sarah Widmann was one of the first recipients of a Colorado baby box from The Baby Box Co. at the launch held July 13 at Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation in Arvada.

“I’m super excited that this is a program that’s offered for new moms,” said Widmanm, while breastfeeding her 6-month-old daughter. “Everything you read,

Boxes tailored to Rocky Mountains Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation is working with The Baby Box Co. as part of the foundation’s Best Start Program which aims to provide evidence-based resources and education to ensure that every newborn in Colorado has a safe place to sleep, can reap the benefits of human milk and will thrive by building a strong and healthy brain.

“At Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation, we are committed to giving every baby born in Colorado the best start in life,” said Kennaugh, who also sits on the foundation’s board. “One way we are doing this is by working to improve breastfeeding rates. It is our hope that the educational resources contained in Baby Box University and through Mothers’ Milk Bank and the convenience of the baby boxes will aid in this effort.”

The Colorado baby boxes are designed specifically for the state with pictures of mountains, trees, big sky and momma and baby animals native to the state.

“We love it when a box can be tailored to the local community,” Vick said. “Community is important to us and these boxes scream Colorado.

We love that.”

Baby boxes will be available to all Colorado moms free of charge after completing an online syllabus, developed specifically for Colorado

to the court. That and an unselfish style of play, which complements such young players as Jokic, Jamal Murray and Gary Harris.

“We feel in Nikola and Paul, we have the most talented, most unselfish, best playmaking front-court in the NBA,” Malone said.

As a kid in Denver, Millsap developed into quite a quarterback and thought his future might lie on the field, not the court.

He blossomed into a basketball player when he returned to Louisiana, where he became a standout at Louisiana Tech. Millsap was a second-round draft pick by Utah in 2006. He spent his first seven seasons with the Jazz, before signing with the Hawks in 2013.

After years of striking out on landing big-name free agents, the Nuggets finally got one — with roots to the community, too. It means a lot to him to return to his old neighborhood, to his former city.

“You don’t want to leave something on a bad note and never return to it,” Millsap said. “To return in the situation we’re in now as opposed to where we were, it’s unbelievable.

Hopefully, I can get out and help this community. Because without them, where would I be?”

by RMCHF in partnership with Denver’s Department of Public Health, through the educational platform, Baby Box University.

The educational component, Vick and Williams both said, is one of the most important part.

“We were worried that if you gave a parent the box — or a really expensive crib — they might still not follow safe sleep rules,” Vick said.

“There’s a need to provide parents with the safe sleeping resources but also the education.”

At Baby Box University, parents can watch videos about safe sleep practices, how the baby box should be used, breastfeeding and other ways to keep baby healthy and safe.

Once the course is completed, parents can pick up their Baby Box at any distribution center.

Colorado has 35 distribution centers as of July 13, with more being added each day. Many distribution centers are concentrated in the Denver metro area.

Robin Engleberg, program manager at the Denver Health Foundation, said they plan to distribute the baby boxes in each of their nine community health clinics located in the most vulnerable areas across the city.

Widmann, who was excited to take her baby box home and let her daughter Layla explore it, said the launch of baby boxes in Colorado was a “lovely breath of fresh air.”

“To give women resources instead of threaten that they’re going away …” she said. “It’s nice to see something positive happen in the community.”

Notices

Denver Herald-Dispatch 19

July 27, 2017 PUBLIC NOTICE

Public Notices

Public Notice

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS Child In Need Of Care Proceedings Under Chapter 38 of K.S.A.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Georgella Barner, Deceased Case Number: 2016 PR 346

Public Notice

Name Changes PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of CLINTON E. BROMLEY, Deceased Case Number: 2017 PR 30833

Notice To Creditors

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before November 21, 2017, or the claims may be forever barred.

Public notice is given that a Petition for a Change of Name of an adult was filed with the Denver County Court on July 14, 2017.

Beverly Boosinger, Personal Representative 7546 Quay St. Arvada, CO 80003

The Petition requests that the name of Craig Matthew Eidson be changed to Craig Mateo Eidson Case No.: 17 C 02158

Legal Notice No.: 8131 First Publication: July 20, 2017 Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: The Denver Herald-Dispatch

By: Judge B. J. Campbell

Public Notice

Legal Notice No: 8137 First Publication: July 27, 2017 Last Publication: August 10, 2017 Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

Notice To Creditors PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of EVERETT C. TERRY, also known as EVERETT CLYDE TERRY and EVERETT TERRY, Deceased Case Number: 2017 PR 30787 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before November 13, 2017 or the claims may be forever barred.

DIANA L. TERRY, Personal Representative 401 Elm Street Denver, Colorado 80220

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Thomas A. Siratovich, a/k/a Thomas Adam Siratovich, a/k/a Thomas Siratovich, and a/k/a Tom Siratovich, Deceased Case Number: 2017PR30825 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before November 27, 2017, or the claims may be forever barred.

Alexandra E. Tindle, Personal Representative 35 South Hoyt Street Lakewood, CO 80226 Legal Notice No.: 8136 First Publication: July 27, 2017 Last Publication: August 10, 2017 Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch PUBLIC NOTICE

Legal Notice No: 8128 First Publication: July 13, 2017 Last Publication: July 27, 2017 Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of CLINTON E. BROMLEY, Deceased Case Number: 2017 PR 30833

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before November 21, 2017, or the claims may be forever barred.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Georgella Barner, Deceased Case Number: 2016 PR 346 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before November 20, 2017 or the claims may be forever barred.

Thomas R. Leemon, Esq. Attorney to the Personal Representative 1777 South Harrison Street, Suite 1500 Denver, Colorado 80210 Legal Notice No: 8132 First Publication: July 20, 2017 Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: The Denver Herald-Dispatch

Beverly Boosinger, Personal Representative 7546 Quay St. Arvada, CO 80003

Do you know what laws / ordinances are changing in your community?

Legal Notice No.: 8131 First Publication: July 20, 2017 Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: The Denver Herald-Dispatch

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before November 20, 2017 or the claims may be forever barred.

Thomas R. Leemon, Esq. Attorney to the Personal Representative 1777 South Harrison Street, Suite 1500 Denver, Colorado 80210

Notice To Creditors

Legal Notice No: 8132 First Publication: July 20, 2017 Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: The Denver Herald-Dispatch PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of John Bernard Van Heuvelen, aka John B. Van Heuvelen, aka John Van Heuvelen, Deceased Case Number: 2017 PR 30795 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, on or before November 21, 2017, or the claims may be forever barred.

Susan Van Heuvelen Personal Representative c/o Katz, Look & Onorato, P.C. 1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 1100 Denver, Colorado 80203 Legal Notice No: 8135 First Publication: July 20, 2017 Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

Misc. Private Legals Public Notice Cellco Partnership and its controlled affiliates doing business as Verizon Wireless (Verizon Wireless) proposes to collocate wireless communications antennas at a top height of 35 feet on a 31-foot rooftop at the approx. vicinity of 1373 Cook Street, Denver, Denver County, CO 80206. Public comments regarding potential effects from this site on historic properties may be submitted within 30 days from the date of this publication to: Trileaf Corp, Sara, s.spagnolo@trileaf.com, 10845 Olive Blvd, Suite 260, St. Louis, MO 63141, 314-997-6111.

Legal Notice No.: 8139 First Publication: July 27, 2017 Last Publication: July 27, 2017 Publisher: The Denver Herald-Dispatch PUBLIC NOTICE Third Judicial District Court, State of Utah, Salt Lake County In the matter of the adoption of E.B., Case No. 172900263 STATE OF UTAH TO: Unknown

NOTICE OF HEARING

To advertise your public notices call 303-566-4100

PUBLIC NOTICE

Misc.

Private Legals Third Judicial District Court, State of Utah, Salt Lake County

In the matter of the adoption of E.B., Case No. 172900263 STATE OF UTAH TO: Unknown A petition for adoption has been filed in the Third Judicial District Court, State of Utah, regarding a child born on May 23, 2017, in Utah to J. Warfield.

IF YOU INTEND TO INTERVENE IN OR CONTEST THE ADOPTION, YOU MUST FULLFIL THE REQUIREMENTS OF UTAH COD Eยง78B6-110(6), INCLUDING FILING A MOTION TO INTERVENE WITH THE COURT, WITHIN 30 DAYS OF RECEIVING THIS NOTICE. IF YOU DO NOT, THE COURT WILL ENTER AN ORDER THAT YOU HAVE WAIVED ANY RIGHT TO FURTHER NOTICE IN CONNECTION WITH THE ADOPTION OF THE CHILD, FORFEITED ALL RIGHTS IN RELATION TO THE CHILD, AND ARE BARRED FROM THEREAFTER BRINGING OR MAINTAINING ANY ACTION TO ASSERT ANY INTEREST IN THE CHILD. Any motion must be filed with the Third Judicial District Court, 8080 S. Redwood Rd, #1701, West Jordan, UT 84088, and a cop ymailed to Larry Jenkins, 50 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84111. A motion must set forth specific relief sought accompanied by a memorandum specifying factual and legal grounds on which the motion is based. For a copy of the petition, contact Mr. Jenkins at (801) 328-3600.

Legal Notice No: 8130 First Publication: July 20, 2017 Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch Public Notice IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS Child In Need Of Care Proceedings Under Chapter 38 of K.S.A. In the Interest of BROOKLYN LOGAN Date of Birth 07/28/16 Case No.17JC00110: Division 10 NOTICE OF HEARING TO: Robert Logan, father, any unknown putative fathers, all unknown grandparents of the above Respondent, Brooklyn Logan, and all other persons who are or may be concerned: The name of the mother is Malena Bunch.

A Petition has been filed in the aforementioned Court by Erica A. Miller, Assistant District Attorney for Johnson County Kansas, alleging that pursuant to K.S.A. 38-2202, Brooklyn Logan is to be determined a Child in Need of Care in that the subject child is without proper parental care; control; subsistence; education, as required by law; or other care or control necessary for the child's physical, mental or emotional health; and the lack of such control is not due solely to the lack of financial means of the child's parent(s); and by reason of the inability and/or unwillingness of the parent(s) to provide the child with proper and necessary support and care the child is presently in the care, custody and control of the Secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

TO: Robert Logan, father, any unknown putative fathers, all unknown grandparents of the above Respondent, Brooklyn Logan, and all other persons who are or may be concerned:

Misc. Private Legals

The name of the mother is Malena Bunch.

A Petition has been filed in the aforementioned Court by Erica A. Miller, Assistant District Attorney for Johnson County Kansas, alleging that pursuant to K.S.A. 38-2202, Brooklyn Logan is to be determined a Child in Need of Care in that the subject child is without proper parental care; control; subsistence; education, as required by law; or other care or control necessary for the child's physical, mental or emotional health; and the lack of such control is not due solely to the lack of financial means of the child's parent(s); and by reason of the inability and/or unwillingness of the parent(s) to provide the child with proper and necessary support and care the child is presently in the care, custody and control of the Secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

The Petition further requests that by reason of the foregoing, the Court issue Orders of protective, temporary and permanent custody.

The evidentiary hearing on the Petition will be to determine if the said minor child is a Child in Need of Care and if so, to ascertain whether the care, custody and control of the said minor child shall continue to be with the Secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

Each of you is required to appear before the Court at 8:30 o'clock a.m. on the 10th day of August, 2017, in the Juvenile Section of the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas, City of Olathe, Division 10 or prior to that time file your written response to the pleading with the Clerk of the Court. If the child is determined a Child In Need of Care and the Court finds the parent(s) to be unfit, the court may issue an Order permanently terminating the parent(s) parental rights.

Christian Webb, an attorney, has been appointed to represent the child as the Guardian Ad Litem. Paul Morrison, an attorney, has been appointed as attorney to represent the natural mother of the minor child. Each parent or legal custodian of the child has the right to appear and be heard personally either with or without an attorney. The Court will appoint an attorney for a parent or legal custodian who is financially unable to hire one.

Clerk of the District Court Legal Notice No: 8141 First Publication: July 27, 2017 Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

BE Informed!

A petition for adoption has been filed in the Third Judicial District Court, State of Utah, regarding a child born on May 23, 2017, in Utah to J. Warfield.

IF YOU INTEND TO INTERVENE IN OR CONTEST THE ADOPTION, YOU MUST FULLFIL THE REQUIREMENTS OF UTAH COD Eยง78B6-110(6), INCLUDING FILING A MOTION TO INTERVENE WITH THE COURT, WITHIN 30 DAYS OF RECEIVING THIS NOTICE. IF YOU DO NOT, THE COURT WILL ENTER AN ORDER THAT YOU HAVE WAIVED ANY RIGHT TO FURTHER NOTICE IN CONNECTION WITH THE ADOPTION OF THE CHILD, FORFEITED ALL RIGHTS IN RELATION TO THE CHILD, AND ARE BARRED FROM THEREAFTER BRINGING OR MAINTAINING ANY ACTION TO ASSERT ANY INTEREST IN THE CHILD.

Any motion must be filed with the Third Judicial District Court, 8080 S. Redwood Rd, #1701, West Jordan, UT 84088, and a cop ymailed to Larry Jenkins, 50 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84111. A motion must set forth specific relief sought accompanied by a memorandum specifying factual and legal grounds on which the motion is based. For a copy of the petition, contact Mr. Jenkins at (801) 328-3600.

Legal Notice No: 8130 First Publication: July 20, 2017 Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

Read the legal notices and you will!

In the Interest of BROOKLYN LOGAN Date of Birth 07/28/16 Case No.17JC00110: Division 10

The Petition further requests that by reason of the foregoing, the Court issue Orders of protective, temporary and permanent custody.

The evidentiary hearing on the Petition will be to determine if the said minor child is a Child in Need of Care and if so, to ascertain whether the care, custody and control of the said minor child shall continue to be with the Secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

Eac h of you is required to appear before the Court at 8:30 o'clock a.m. on the 10th day of August, 2017, in the Juvenile Section of the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas, City of Olathe, Division 10 or prior to that time file your written response to the pleading with the Clerk of the Court. If the child is determined a Child In Need of Care and the Court finds the parent(s) to be unfit, the court may issue an Order permanently terminating the parent(s) parental rights.

Christian Webb, an attorney, has been appointed to represent the child as the Guardian Ad Litem. Paul Morrison, an attorney, has been appointed as attorney to represent the natural mother of the minor child. Each parent or legal custodian of the child has the right to appear and be heard personally either with or without an attorney. The Court will appoint an attorney for a parent or legal custodian who is financially unable to hire one.

County and city governments run legal notices each week in this newspaper. Find out which laws are changing or new laws being considered; the county Clerk of how the District Court / city is spending your tax dollars; liquor licensing requirements; bidding on government projects; final settlements for those projects; times and Legal Notice No: 8141 First Publication: 27, 2017 dates of public hearing; and others. Remember, theJulygovernment works for you.

Last Publication: August 3, 2017 Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

Denver Herald * 1

20 Denver Herald-Dispatch

July 27, 2017