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October 22, 2020
JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
JeffcoTranscript.com
VOLUME 37 | ISSUE 15
Mountain lion encounter sparks three-day park closure Officials encourage additional caution after Deer Creek Canyon Park reopens BY BOB WOOLEY BWOOLEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
That number is also more than double the case totals the county was consistently seeing in late August and early September, when the two-week new case totals tended to be in the upper 300s. These latest two-week case number is alarming to Jeffco officials who say it puts the county on the verge of being downgraded to the
Driving toward the trailhead, the natural beauty of the surroundings, like most of Colorado’s wild spaces, evokes a sense of peace that draws people in. It’s one of the reasons so many of us love this state. But occasionally there’s an incident that reminds us of just how wild it can really be. Deer Creek Canyon Park reopened Oct. 13, after a three-day shutdown that allowed officials from Colorado Parks and Wildlife to search for a mountain lion that had reportedly displayed abnormal behavior in an encounter with a cyclist. During the incident which occurred on the evening of Oct., 9, the mountain lion approached cyclist Kathleen McCarthy while she was riding her bike on Red Mesa trail and stalked her for nearly 30 minutes as she tried to back away from it. McCarthy talked with a 911 dispatcher for the duration of the encounter while she waited for help to arrive. According to Matt Robbins, Community Connections Manager at Jeffco Open Space, McCarthy was able to put her bike between herself and the big cat, which was exactly the right thing to do. “Remember that as we have migrated and moved up into the mountains, we’re really living in their environment,” Robbins said. “Maintain space, use rocks, a walking stick, or anything else you have, to keep distance between yourself and an aggressive animal.” In McCarthy’s case, her quick thinking paid off and she wasn’t injured by the cat. Robbins thinks people should always keep
SEE CASES, P8
SEE LION, P3
A small group discusses “fall choices” in their lives at an event organized by the Golden Antiracism Collective and Foothills Art Center. COURTESY PHOTO
A movement comes to the suburbs Anti-racism community groups have sprung up in Jeffco in wake of summer protests BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When demonstrations began springing up in cities around the
nation in response to the killing of George Floyd, Zenat Shariff Belkin was troubled to find no such protests in her home city of Lakewood. “Frankly, I did not feel that
anything was happening in Lakewood,” said Shariff Belkin. “And so I thought it would be a really great opportunity to actually bring awareness to what was happening with Black Lives Matter.” So Shariff Belkin began organizing her own sign-waving protests SEE MOVEMENT, P6
Jeffco now has more new COVID-19 cases than ever County verging on being designated ‘high risk’ by state BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Jeffco public health officials are warning residents to exercise cau-
tion and avoid gatherings after the county has repeatedly reached new highs for new COVID-19 cases in a two-week period during recent days and is now at risk of seeing restrictions tightened. As of Oct. 19, new highs for two-week cases numbers had been reached for five consecutive days, culminating in a new high of 1,117 new cases over the two week period ending on Oct. 18.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 18
DON’T BE TRICKED
There are plenty of ways to have a happy Halloween amid the pandemic
P14