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June 27, 2014
75 cents Arapahoe County, Colorado | Volume 94, Issue 19 A publication of
englewoodherald.net
Man sentenced in school vandalism Trickel’s agreement includes probation, restitution, community service By Tom Munds
tmunds@coloradocommunitymedia.com Michael Trickel, one of three suspects accused of vandalizing Englewood High School, won’t serve any more jail time. But he will serve five years on probation, do 1,000 hours of community service plus begin to pay for the more than $200,000 in damage the vandalism caused.
Trickel, who had been in Arapahoe County jail since he was arrested, was in court June 20 for sentencing wearing a blue jail jump suit and shackles. He confirmed he was entering a guilty plea to second-degree arson, a Class 4 felony, and second-degree burglary, a Class 2 misdemeanor. Trickel While Christopher Cross, 18th Judicial District Judge, accepted Trickel’s guilty plea, he told the 23-year-old this was a very difficult case and he considered rejecting
the district attorney’s sentencing recommendation because the crimes involved an attack on a school. The judge said a school is an institution established to help people and the defendants should spend considerable time behind bars. The judge eventually said, for a number of reasons, he would accept the recommendation for no additional jail time. But he then increased the length of probation from a recommended four years to five years. He ordered that, during the probation, Trickel must attend and complete drug, alcohol and mental health treat-
ments recommended by the probation office. Additionally, he must successfully complete a cognitive behavior program as well as intensive outpatient treatment programs. Trickle will be subject to random tests for drugs and alcohol and must complete 1,000 hours of community service. He must also begin to repay $201,566 in restitution to the Englewood School District. The judge said he and, if they are
Trickel continues on Page 9
City seeks land-swap approval Residents must approve trade of city-owned Douglas County land By Tom Munds
tmunds @coloradocommunitymedia.com
Tony Arnoldy, left, and Ashley Summer use cans of spray paint to cover up graffiti on a drain pipe in the Lincoln-Broadway alley. Arnoldy heads up the once-a-month paint-out program, where volunteers spend three hours moving around Englewood looking for graffiti they can paint over. Photo by Tom Munds
Volunteers paint out graffiti Crew seeks out, paints over markings made around city By Tom Munds
tmunds @coloradocommunitymedia.com A team of Englewood volunteers spent about three hours June 21 searching for graffiti and painting over it when it was found. Tony Arnoldy, Englewood Police community relations officer, organizes the graffiti paint-out once a month. Several people signed up to be members of the June 21 team but Arnoldy and two volunteers began the paint-out on their own. The team checked the Broadway-Lincoln alley from Yale to Hampden looking for graffiti. When graffiti was spotted, team members grabbed the appropriate color of spray paint and went to work. Ashley Summer said she volunteered
for the paint-out because she felt it was a good way to meet new people and to help clean up the city. “This is my first time to volunteer for a city project like this,” she said. “I have been in the city a couple years. I signed up for Next Door, a system providing information about city activities and events. I read about the paint-out and saw it an opportunity to get involved in my community.” The other volunteer was Meagan Eastin. “This is the second year I have volunteered to work with Tony,” she said. “I do it because I like to meet people and it is a good way to get out of the house. I wish more people would volunteer for projects like this. I guess the best way to get people interested in joining us is to talk about it and tell them what we are doing to make Englewood a nicer place to live.” Councilmember Steve Yates also joined the team on June 21. He said he
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was pleased to see the graffiti found was only on dumpsters and signs. “There was a time not too long ago when graffiti was a problem in Englewood. There is a lot less of it now,” Yates said. “Like Tony says, I guess the people who do the graffiti get tired of seeing it painted over so they go somewhere else.” Arnoldy agreed. She said when the program started several years ago graffiti was a problem, covering signs, trash bins and buildings. But there has been a lot of removal work and she said she has been seeing less graffiti recently. “I guess people don’t like seeing graffiti in their community because a lot individuals and groups work together to locate and paint out the graffiti,” she said. “When code enforcement officers find graffiti, they take pictures and forward the pictures and locations to me. I also have residents who do the same thing and frequently those individuals paint over the graffiti. Once a month, our volunteer try to clean up any that is left.” She said a lot of people are volunteering to help make Englewood look nicer. For example, she said the TNL Church and Pastor Phil Owens frequently organize volunteers who go out to pick up litter and paint out graffiti. “There was a time when there was so much graffiti that our paint-out crew would run out of paint,” Arnoldy said. “There seems to be less graffiti now than there used to be.”
Englewood plans to ask voters to approve a proposal to swap 12.3 acres of city-owned land in Douglas County for a nearby parcel of the same size and value. The city-owned land in Douglas County is part of the property Englewood bought in the 1950s to construct McLellan Reservoir. In recent years, there has been interest in developing portions of the cityowned land so the council appointed department directors to serve as members of the Englewood/McLellan Reservoir Foundation that manages the property. Rick Kahm, public works director and a foundation member, told the city council at the June 16 study session the proposal is to exchange 12.3 acres of the land Englewood own in northern Douglas County with a nearby parcel owned by Shea Developers. He said the parcels are the same size and the same value. “Our parcel of land has a slope on one end that would make it difficult to develop,” said Stu Fonda, foundation member. “However, the slope and the land would make a nearby Shea parcel more desirable for development. At the same time, the land we would get from Shea would be flatter so our whole parcel would be a more desirable location for development.” Dan Brotzman, city attorney, said swapping city-owned land falls under the same requirement for voter approval as sale of city-owned land therefore the land-swap question must be put on the November ballot. The city council gave consensus approval to put the issue on the ballot and to move ahead with land-swap negotiations. The city attorney’s office is developing the wording for the ballot issue so the council can approve placing it on the ballot. Englewood’s ownership of Douglas County land dates back to the Land swap continues on Page 9