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October 15, 2020
JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
JeffcoTranscript.com
VOLUME 37 | ISSUE 14
Ballot Question 2B would legalize recreational pot and grow houses Ballot backers have ties to existing pot industry BY BOB WOOLEY BWOOLEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
structed on space currently occupied by cooling ponds and parking lots at the front of the current plant and extend to just before the plant’s wellness center to the west. “To give you an idea of the size of the project, it is going to be about 200,000 feet under roof, there’s going to be about 45 miles of pipe and about 150 miles of wire that’s going to be put into this building,” said Peter.
Once and for all. It sounds like it means forever. That the matter is closed. That’s what retired Consulting Civil Engineer Larry Von Thun and his wife Jane thought in 2014 when they took part in a battle at the ballot box to oppose recreational marijuana sales and grow facilities in Lakewood. The city’s mayor at the time was Bob Murphy, and when the issue of the sale of recreational pot came up, he threw it to the people to answer on Election Day — to figure out what the voters of Lakewood wanted, “once and for all.” But “forever” rarely is ... forever, especially in politics. So the Von Thuns and the rest of Lakewood recently found out that the fight over cannabis in Lakewood is still smoldering. The latest flare-up is Ballot Question 2B, which will be on the ballot of every Lakewood resident. It reads as follows: “Shall the City of Lakewood adopt an ordinance adopting regulations governing the operation of retail marijuana stores and retail marijuana cultivation facilities in the City of Lakewood and making corresponding amendments to certain sections of Lakewood Municipal Code, Chapter 5.51 concerning medical marijuana businesses? “ The wording does little to erase the perception that ballot questions can be tricky to understand. Von Thun thinks that this question is trickier than most. In his estimation the wording leads voters to make a decision about regulating
SEE COORS, P5
SEE POT, P16
Guitars hang on a wall at Spaceman Guitars.
PHOTO BY BOB WOOLEY
Spaceman Guitars flying high in Lakewood Change of address, global pandemic haven’t stopped independent music store BY BOB WOOLEY BWOOLEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
On a stretch of West Colfax, nestled between a phone store and
a Kava bar, is a little guitar shop that you may have never noticed. But if you love music, play guitar or simply want to while away some time flipping through stacks of vinyl, you should do yourself a favor and pop in to say hello. Spaceman Guitars is a labor of love. A small store doing its part to keep the music flowing in Lakewood and beyond. Owner Chris Thomas has a downright solid musical history
that started taking shape at a young age. “I always was a fiddle, gadget type of guy fooling around with electronics of all kinds and amps and was wiring up radios and stuff, and when I started playing guitar it just kind of fit, because you could definitely tweak and fine-tune your instruments to perfect them the way SEE GUITARS, P4
Coors announces significant upgrade at Golden plant Three-year project to begin soon, bring 500 workers to Golden at its peak BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Golden’s Coors Brewing plant is about to get a major upgrade.
On Oct. 6, Coors held a groundbreaking event in front of the plant where Peter J. Coors, the son of Molson Coors vice chairman Pete Coors, announced that the brewery will be undertaking a significant project to replace the brewery’s fermenting, aging, filtration and government cellars, which date back to the 1950s. “This will make us much more competitive with our breweries across the network,” Peter Coors said. The new facilities will be con-
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 20
IN THE GAME Esports continues to grow as a competitive outlet for area teens
P14