August 20, 2015
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A R A P A H O E C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
LittletonIndependent.net
TIME MARCHES ON
WHAT’S INSIDE
Better together: Working out with a partner can offer a needed boost. See Page 13
Price is right: ACC event lures more than 140 artists to sell works. See Page 22
Fall sports: High schools prepare for beginning of season. See Page 23
Fife players and drummers, along with other members of the Association of Living History, march down Littleton’s Main Street during the Aug. 15 Western Welcome Week Grand Parade. They donned uniforms representing members of the American military from the Revolutionary War to the latest action in Afghanistan. Find more coverage of Western Welcome Week’s Festival Day on Pages 4 and 5. Photo by Tom Munds
New school year, new superintendent POSTAL ADDRESS
Ewert arrives at LPS after time in Englewood By Jennifer Smith jsmith@colorado communitymedia.com
LITTLETON INDEPENDENT
(ISSN 1058-7837) (USPS 315-780) OFFICE: 7315 S. Revere Pkwy., Ste. 603 Centennial, CO 80112 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Littleton, Colorado, the Littleton Independent is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media, 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT LITTLETON, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 7315 S. Revere Pkwy., Ste. 603 Centennial, CO 80112 DEADLINES: Display: Fri. 11 a.m. Legals: Fri. 11 a.m. Classifieds: Mon. 5 p.m.
PL E ASE RECYCLE T HI S C OPY
Littleton Public Schools welcomed the kids back to class on Aug. 14, along with their new superintendent, Brian Ewert. “The first thing for me to do is to deeply understand this community,” he said. “This school district is a highfunctioning, well-oiled system that knows how it should work. There’s nothing really to come in and just fix.” Littleton is a long way from his family farm in Ogalala, Nebraska, where he was born to a preacher dad and a pianoteacher mom. Ewert He attended Jamestown College in North Dakota for a year on a track scholarship, and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Nebraska in 1986. At the age of 22 he decided he needed a “big adventure,” so he moved to California to teach and finish his master’s degree at California State University. “That’s where I really began to understand the importance of public education,” he said. “There was abject poverty, and students speaking many different languages.” At the time, he said, teaching
‘I get no sense that Littleton is interested in creating a political battleground.’ Brian Ewert, Littleton Public Schools superintendent in California was complicated and there were not enough resources for schools. “So I thought, I can’t do this and do it well, so I need to find somewhere I can do it well or get out,” he said. “Colorado cares about education, regardless of funding problems.” He landed in Colorado Springs as a principal for five years, then went on to eventually become the director of human resources in the Douglas County School District. He left in 2010 before the controversy there began to really swirl. “I am cautious whenever we have partisan politics in the board room,” he said of what’s going on there and in Jefferson County now. “I don’t care if it’s right or left, we need to check that at the door. … The board of Ewert continues on Page 12
A worker removes a red-light camera on the corner of Littleton Boulevard and Broadway on Aug. 3. Photo by Jennifer Smith
Littleton stops red-light cameras Police chief says results were mixed Staff report Love them or hate them, either way, they’re almost gone. Crews from American Traffic Solutions, which operates Littleton’s red-light cameras, were spotted on Aug. 3 beginning to take them down at Littleton Boulevard and Broadway. It could take up to a month to remove all the equipment, according to the Littleton Police Department. Littleton City Council voted unanimously in March to not renew its contract with ATS, so it ended July 31. “We think it’s been successful in a way, and not as successful as we’d hoped in a way,” Littleton
Police Chief Doug Stephens told council at the time. When council implemented the program in 2009, increasing safety was the stated priority. But data showed injury accidents only decreased at three of the intersections — with the biggest drop at Broadway and Littleton Boulevard — while actually increasing at the other two. Noninjury accidents increased at all of them except Broadway and Littleton Boulevard. Violations in general decreased from a high of 16,000 in 2010 to 9,000 last year. That meant a couple of things, said Stephens. First, the lights did what they were supposed to do and changed driving behavior. Second, the cost to the city per violation was getting increasingly Cameras continues on Page 12