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July 9, 2020
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
EnglewoodHerald.net
VOLUME 100 | ISSUE 20
Killer gets life sentence in case from 1980 Students at Englewood Middle School will return to in-person learning this August for the first time since March. A task force for Englewood Schools is assembling guidelines for a return to in-person learning. COURTESY OF ENGLEWOOD SCHOOLS
Englewood schools prepare for in-person learning Task force seeks guidelines for fall instruction BY JOSEPH RIOS JRIOS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Tasked with finding a way to safely bring students back to in-person learning while striving to provide
critical student needs like food, Englewood Schools is finalizing frameworks that will guide a return to in-person learning. Last month, the school district announced the formation of a task force, made up of district administrators, teachers and principals, that will come up with frameworks that will guide decisions surrounding the return to school in August. The task
BY JOSEPH RIOS JRIOS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Despite non-essential businesses being closed due to the pandemic for two months, Englewood officials remain confident the financial impact of COVID-19 on the city won’t be severe. Sales and use taxes collected
from Jan. 1 through May 31 total $13,289,414 and are 40.7% of budgeted revenue for the fiscal year, Englewood documents read. The fiscal year for the city was 41.7% complete as of the end of May, and around 61% of general-fund revenue in Englewood stems from sales and use tax. April sales and use taxes collected in May were around $180,000 below the same time frame in 2019, according to Englewood documents. “Our sales and use tax revenues are tracking just below what our
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10 | SPORTS: PAGE 12
BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
expectations were,” said Englewood Finance Director Maria Sobota. She presented the sales and use tax revenues at a June 22 Englewood City Council meeting. Englewood had some one-time payments from year-long audits that helped partially offset modest declines in overall sales and use tax revenues. Sobota is projecting a net revenue shortfall of at least $1.6 million for the year — a projection that hasn’t
It has been 40 years since Helene Pruszynski was killed, but for her family and friends, it might as well have been yesterday. That was the theme of a July 1 sentencing for the man who pleaded guilty to raping and killing the young woman. Pruszynski was kidnapped Jan. 16, 1980 after getting off an RTD bus in Englewood. The 21-year-old had recently traveled to Colorado from Massachusetts for an internship with KHOW radio. She had dreams of becoming a journalist. The morning after her disappearance, she was found dead in a field in Douglas County. Deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office arrested James Curtis Clanton, 62, in December of last year after cracking the case using genetic genealogy. After he was arrested, he admitted to the crime and pleaded guilty in February. On July 1, he was sentenced by Douglas County District Court Judge Theresa Slade to life in prison. He has a chance to receive parole after serving at least 20 years, she said. During the hearing, Pruszynski’s loved ones spoke about the impact the crime had on their lives. “I cannot find the words to accurately express the pain, the anguish,
SEE BUDGET, P6
SEE COLD CASE, P19
force is divided into different subcommittees that include preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, food, health and safety and remote learning groups. Englewood Schools is planning to offer both in-person and remote learning, giving families an opportunity to decide if they want to send SEE SCHOOL, P5
COVID-19 hits city finances; damage limited City projects revenue shortfall of at least $1.6M
Slaying of Helene Pruszynski left loved ones with pain for decades
GET WILD AND WOOLLY
PERIODICAL
COVID-19 is still around, but there’s no need to shy away from safe summer activities for the whole family P10