Littleton 10.31.13
October 31, 2013 75 cents
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 125, Issue 15
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlittletonnews.com
Officer pleads guilty Man planned to sell drugs, faces 20 years Staff report
Mikaila Grafft holds her son, Steele, as he tries to take candy from another baby, Hutch Goldie, during the Goblin Giveaway event in downtown Littleton.
GOBLIN IT UP
Niki Adams and Sarge had a great time at the National Pit Bull Awareness Day Parade of Pit Bulls, held Oct. 26 in downtown Littleton.
Hundreds of little butterflies, SpongeBobs, superheroes, strawberries, princesses and every other costume imaginable were joined by a posse of pit bulls downtown Littleton Oct. 26. The Historic Downtown Littleton Merchants’ Goblin Giveaway lured families there for trick-or-treating. The dogs were there for the annual National Pit Bull Awareness Day Parade of Pit Bulls, and many wore costumes as cute as the ones on the kids.
PHOTOS BY JENNIFER SMITH
A Littleton police officer pleaded guilty and faces up to 20 years behind bars for planning to sell Ecstasy pills. Jeffery Allan Johnston, 46, of Parker, entered a guilty plea Oct. 28 to one count of possessing Ecstasy with intent to distribute and one count of being a prohibited person in possession of firearms. He is scheduled to be sentenced Johnston by U.S. District Court Judge Philip A. Brimmer in February. Johnston was arrested after the FBI learned from an unidentified source that Johnston was selling MDMA out of his Parker home. He was taken into custody in July after buying 37 pills and 6.3 grams of Ecstasy powder from an undercover officer. A federal search warrant was executed at the home, where agents found a stainless steel Colt Officers Model .45-caliber pistol with seven rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. It was found above the kitchen drawer that contained the drugs. Investigators eventually discovered a small amount of cocaine, steroids, hundreds of prescription pills, additional firearms, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the Drugs continues on Page 8
South Platte River’s facelift going forward Changes will stretch from C-470 north By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com The workflow continues on the South Platte River, with the next phase of improvements set to begin in January. “We’re trying to get it to be more of a creek inside a river,” explained Ben Nielsen of McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group, which is consulting on the project. The first phase, the portion of the river that runs through South Platte Park, wrapped up in June at a cost of $880,000. Features were added to create a more meandering path in some places, and the banks were stabilized. The river was narrowed from 100 feet across to 40, in turn deepening it. All the enhancements were POSTAL ADDRESS
designed to maintain flood protection while improving the living conditions for fish and other wildlife. The same will occur in phase two, from the Meadowood mobile-home community upstream to South Platte Park, at an expected cost of $1.1 million. The third and last phase, from Mineral Avenue upstream to C-470, should start in November of next year and cost $2.6 million. Arapahoe County and the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District are the major funders, but they’re joined by the cities of Littleton and Englewood, the Colorado Water Conservation Board and South Suburban Parks and Recreation District. The goal is to cure ailments caused by the construction of Chatfield Dam, built after the major flood in 1965. The once-rushing flow of the river is now controlled by the release of water from River continues on Page 8
Ducks cruise the South Platte River Oct. 22, paddling through an area of improvements that were completed in June. The next phase is slated to start in January and will focus on the area stretching from the Meadowood mobile-home community to South Platte Park. Photo by Jennifer Smith
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