1
January 16, 2014
75 cents Douglas County, Colorado | Volume 122, Issue 11 A publication of
douglascountynewspress.net
Open-carry ban up in air Castle Rock council to consider repeal By Virginia Grantier
vgrantier@coloradocommunitymedia. com It won’t be OK for attendees at Castle Rock Town Council’s Jan. 21 meeting to openly carry a firearm into town hall. But they could do that in the future if town council approves a proposed ordinance that will be considered at the meeting.
On the agenda is a draft ordinance that would repeal the current ban on the open carrying of firearms in town facilities and parks. The issue, brought up last summer, has taken a couple of U-turns during recent months with council deciding to keep the ban at one point and then doing a reversal at another meeting.
Repeal proposed
Mayor Paul Donahue first brought up the repeal idea at a June 2013 council meeting. At that meeting, Councilmember Clark Hammelman talked about his concern
about people walking into council meetings with guns. “I’d feel a little bit funny if they’re sitting there with their shotguns next to their chairs … and then when they come up to the witness stand they come up with their assault weapons. That would just bother me. It might be intimidating,” he said, and laughed. Donahue, a managing partner of the Centennial Gun Club, has stated that in his years of living in Castle Rock he’s the only one he has seen open-carrying a weapon. He responded to Hammelman’s concern that the “Constitution grants them that right. I’m not in the position to say we
can just arbitrarily restrict that because … it makes us uneasy,” he said. Hammelman and the rest of the council, except Councilmember Chip Wilson who was absent, agreed at that point to let staff research a possible repeal.
Let’s not
At a Sept. 17 council meeting, town council was told the town’s public safety commission, which advises the town council on police and fire matters, recommended against repealing the ban. About 95 percent of town employees Ban continues on Page 12
financial deal OK’d for project Council approves first step for Promenade By Virginia Grantier
vgrantier @coloradocommunitymedia.com
When Jamie LaRue accepted the executive director post in 1990, Douglas County had the worst library system in the state. It’s now the best in the country in its circulation class. Now it’s goodbye. LaRue is leaving Jan. 17. Photo by Virginia Grantier
A REAL PAGE-TURNER
LaRue leaving after transforming Douglas County Libraries By Virginia Grantier
vgrantier@coloradocommunitymedia.com He was age 6, and bored out of his mind one day, while in the middle of playing a baseball game — even then, not a teamsports fan — when he spotted something. And he started walking. He walked right out of the baseball game, no one stopping him, and he kept walking. “I saw this blue shimmer, and it kept POSTAL ADDRESS
getting closer and closer,” recalled Jamie LaRue, now 59, and the long-time Douglas County Libraries executive director. What LaRue saw was a bookmobile in his hometown of Waukegan, Ill., the first one he’d ever been in. Inside, a smiling librarian. And all of those books. At age 10, that same librarian, Mrs. Johnson, handed him “The Dialogs of Plato,” which he said changed his life. He said he still remembers the sentence he opened it to: “Socrates asked `what is wise?’ ” “I’ve been thinking about it ever since,” he said. Eventually he was reading a book a day. At one point LaRue decided to become a theoretical astrophysicist until he tried to get through a trigonometry class and real-
news-press
ized he was the “dumbest kid in the room.” It then occurred to him librarians were the people who had helped him all of his life. “The library for me was a sanctuary and intellectual playhouse,” he said. He doesn’t watch TV. He writes poetry, loves walks, reads while he walks and plays music. A popular song with audiences — when he performed with his guitar and banjo and a friend, an acoustic duo who called themselves the “Tuna Boys” — was “Blow up your TV,” by John Prine. LaRue said he has about 300 books near his bedside that he re-reads every year, and thousands of books about everywhere else in his Castle Rock house.
After hearing both support and concerns at its Jan. 7 meeting, Castle Rock Town Council OK’d a first step for Promenade, the 900,000-square foot proposed development next to Outlets of Castle Rock. Outlets of Castle Rock — concerned about having an outlet-type development next to it that’s twice its size and could lure away some of its 100 tenants — sent a list to Castle Rock’s attorney of about 200 stores it didn’t think the proposed Promenade development should be able to have: Including Starbucks, Subway and others. Castle Rock Councilmember Clark Hammelman — prior to his resignation later that night — told attorney Jim Mulligan, who represents the outlets owner, Craig Realty, the area already “has a bunch of those,” and that it would be unreasonable for the proposed 900,000-square-foot Promenade not to have stores such as Starbucks. A couple of residents also expressed concerns about Promenade: One was worried about impacts to downtown businesses if so much business growth was occurring north of downtown. The other, Stacy Wagner, who lives in The Meadows, which is east of the Outlets of Castle Rock, worried that such massive development would change the town. She said she “chose Castle Rock over Highlands Ranch, Parker and Centennial” because of Castle Rock’s small-town charm. Council OK’d a public finance and
LaRue continues on Page 14
(ISSN 1067-425X) (USPS 567-060)
OffIce: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 PhONe: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Englewood, Colorado, and the towns of Castle Rock, Parker and Larkspur, the News-Press is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media and additional mailing offices. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTeR: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DeADLINeS: Display: Fri. 11 a.m. | Legal: Fri. 11 a.m. | Classified: Tues. 12 p.m.
GET Social WITH uS Colorado Community Media wants to share the news. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Linkedin. Search for Colorado Community Media.
Promenade continues on Page 13
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.