Herald
Englewood 10-4-2013
Englewood
October 4, 2013
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A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourenglewoodnews.com
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 93, Issue 33
No bond for suspect in slaying Englewood resident accused in fatal beating of 42-year-old man By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com
PUTTIN’ on the HITS Teammates congratulate Miranda Holman, center, after she hit a grand slam home run Sept. 24 against Elizabeth. The Pirates won the game, 23-6. Find more coverage of the Pirates on page 21. Photo by Tom Munds
Council candidates air views in forum Three contenders in contested races appear before voters By Scott Gilbert
sgilbert@ourcoloradonews.com On the first wintry night of the season, in a room filled with the tantalizing smell of barbecue, candidates for Englewood City Council appeared before voters in a Sept. 27 forum at Moe’s Original Bar B Que on South Broadway. The forum was hosted by Englewood Citizens for Open Government, a pro-transparency group, and drew a few dozen attendees. At-large council candidates Scott Gorsky and Steve Yates fielded questions submitted by audience members, as did District 2 council candidate Rita Russell. Russell’s opponent, incumbent Councilwoman Linda Olson, did not attend. Matthew Crabtree of ECOG joined the council contenders before the crowd, representing the “Save Our Parks” ballot measure. The citizen initiative was prompted by the city’s controversial sale of the Englewood Depot, which fetched $30,000. District 4 Councilmember Rick Gillit, seeking re-election with no opponent on the ballot, spoke briefly, following a schedule giving the bulk of the time to voters’ questions in contested matters. “To run unopposed means they didn’t send somebody after you,” said Gillit, who voted against the depot sale. Incoming Englewood School Board members Tena Prange and Jason Sakry kept their appearances limited to introductory remarks. The school board election was called off because no race was contested, and the subsequent death of incumbent candidate Gene Turnbull created a vacancy that the current board is moving to fill.
Also giving brief presentations were Brian Ewert, the school superintendent; Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder Matt Crane, the county’s chief elections official; and ECOG activist Laurett Barrentine, a former member of city council.
Candidates speak
The forum quickly moved to the main event. Gorsky, the term-limited president of Englewood’s school board, reminisced about the old days at Sport Bowl, the smoky pool hall that long stood at the site where Moe’s is now located. “When the voters speak, I will listen,” he said. When Yates’ turn came, he rapidly focused on the current council’s actions in selling the century-old Englewood Depot, clearly a sore point with many in the audience. “It was a park and our city charter states the people are supposed to vote on that particular issue,” he said. Russell said she had no interest in public office until “things changed about two years ago.” She said there is a lack of fiscal responsibility and leadership on the current council, and said that when she called three councilmembers about city matters, “they dismissed my concerns.” Crabtree, who nearly gained a council seat in a six-way race in 2011, didn’t mince words in blasting the mechanism the council used to sell the depot. The “Save Our Parks” ballot issue, if successful, will give official designation to a list of public areas now treated as parks, clarifying the requirement for a citywide vote on any proposed sale. The recent 5-2 council vote to sell the depot “violated the Englewood city charter” and “exploited a loophole,” Crabtree said. Russell joined Yates in condemning the
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Arapahoe County Clerk Matt Crane briefs Englewood voters on Sept. 27 about election procedures and recent changes in law, such as the availability of same-day registration and the fact that all elections are all-mail now, with four voters’ service and polling centers set to open across the county. Photo by Scott Gilbert depot sale, and Gorsky said, “I would have heard from the people more.”
City finances discussed
Gorsky, “a big believer in lean practice,” stressed his experience in making difficult budget decisions for Englewood schools, on a night when troubling pictures of the city’s financial condition were a frequent topic. Yates questioned whether the city’s shift toward apartments was financially responsible. He said he’s neither for nor against the apartment plans, but said: “We need to listen to the people, not just some banker.” Russell pointed to the dangers of deficit spending and the need for a balanced budget. “We need to encourage policies that will be business-friendly,” she said, adding that business owners are “really dissed” by the current council. “We need to protect our reserves rather than spend them,” she said. When questioned about the schools’ Forum continues on Page 9
A man is dead and a woman is in the Arapahoe County jail after an attack in an Englewood alley. Forsythia Eliese Owen, 30, of Englewood, is jailed without bond, suspected of beating 42-year-old Denzle Rainey to death with a baseball bat in the alley between the 3600 blocks of South Grant and South Sherman streets. After a man found Rainey bleeding badly in the alley, Englewood police arrived at the scene a little after 1 a.m. on Sept. 22. Rainey was taken to Swedish Medi- Owen cal Center and died from injuries received in the beating. An autopsy showed he had suffered serious head injuries, two broken arms, a broken left hand, six broken ribs and a laceration to his liver. Police had already spoken with Owen, but as the investigation continued, they interviewed her a second time about 2 p.m. Sept. 23. According to the arrest affidavit, Owen told officers she believed Rainey had sexually assaulted a child. When asked if she was responsible for the man’s death, she reportedly stood, said she killed him and swung her arms back and forth to demonstrate how she had hit Rainey over and over with a bat. When officers tried to advise her of her rights, she reportedly said she needed a lawyer. But the affidavit states after she signed the papers certifying she had been advised of her rights, she agreed to continue talking to officers without a lawyer present. During that discussion, the affidavit states she told officers she learned Rainey was sleeping in the alley, took a baseball bat from her residence, went to where he was sleeping and began beating him. She told officers he was still breathing when she left the alley to return home. She was arrested and taken to the Arapahoe County jail.
Details emerge of victim’s life
Neighbors, acquaintances put candles at scene of fatal attack By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com Yellow crime-scene tape remains on a garage door and, on the ground nearby, individuals have brought candles to create an impromptu memorial at the site where Denzle Rainey was beaten to death. The garage door and memorial are located a short distance south from East Jefferson Drive, in the dirt alley between the 3600 blocks of South Grant and South Sherman streets. The neighborhood is a quiet area with a mixture of Victim continues on Page 9