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February 18, 2021
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
LittletonIndependent.net
VOLUME 76 | ISSUE 17
Schools’ nutrition chief: Keep lunch free No-charge school lunches during COVID era demonstrate need, says Jessica Gould BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
walls painted with backdrops of cities, freight yards and mountains, sprawled Cook’s colossal Lionel train display. The culmination of more than 30 years of planning and building, and a lifetime of collecting, Cook called it his “great opus.” “Actually, a friend called it that, and I had to look up the word ‘opus,’ but I’d say it fits,” said Cook, a retired attorney. Standing at the control module of the freight yard, Cook’s hands began to work the buttons, switches and dials with the dexterity of
The sun did little to chase away the single-digit cold on Feb. 12 as Sarah Kinney hopped from foot to foot outside Arapahoe High School. Standing beside a tall rack loaded with bags of food, Kinney — who serves as Littleton Public Schools’ nutrition supervisor — waited for parents to drop by. For no charge, families could take home a week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches and produce for students. Many students are spending the year of COVID taking classes from home as part of the district’s online learning program. Others are under quarantine after exposure to positive cases in classrooms. But for parents who want to take food home, there are no questions asked, no forms to fill out. All parents need to do is pull up at a distribution site, load up on food and drive off. “To see the relief on their faces is so rewarding,” Kinney said. “It’s one less thing to worry about when
SEE TRAINS, P10
SEE LUNCH, P18
Lionel trains were once the must-have toy for any American kid, said Ken Cook, who built a massive model train layout in his PHOTOS BY DAVID GILBERT basement.
Love by the model trainload Retired attorney learned the depths of a parent’s love with model railroading BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Ken Cook says he hopes his model train layout fills children with the same magic it brings to him.
“Do you believe in magic?” With the wave of a magic wand and an “abracadabra,” Ken Cook walked through the secret entrance — one he asked us not to divulge — to his model train room. In the basement of the tidy Columbine Valley home, against
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 23
TAKE A TOUR
Options abound for exploring cool places in the metro area P14