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January 16, 2014 Douglas County, Colorado | Volume 13, Issue 1 A publication of
lonetreevoice.net
Suspects in custody in chemical incident Device ruptures at SkyView Academy, forcing evacuation Staff report Two suspects were in custody Jan. 14 following an incident in which a chemical device ruptured at SkyView Academy in Highlands Ranch, forcing the school’s evacuation. A news release from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspects only as “juvenile males” and said the incident was not accidental and is being treated as a criminal investigation. Po-
tential charges against the boys were not made available. The release said a chemical reaction within an unspecified container caused the device to rupture inside a classroom shortly after 10 a.m. Four students and a teacher were transported to an area hospital “as a precaution,” according to Sgt. Ron Hanavan, of the sheriff’s office. He said the injuries were minor and tied to potential respiratory problems. Ten people initially were evaluated for potential injuries, and half of them transported. All patients were medically cleared and released as of the evening of Jan. 14.
The remaining students at the school were sent home for the day not long after the device went off and classes were cancelled. By late morning, the building had been cleared of any potential danger and the majority of emergency personnel cleared from the scene within an hour of responding, Hanavan said. The incident occurred in a single classroom, and approximately 1,200 students and staff at the K-12 school were evacuated into the parking lot initially, and then returned to the gymnasium when officials determined that area Chemical continues on Page 8
A long line of parents wait to reunite with their students in the SkyView Academy gym at about noon Jan. 14 after a chemical rupture closed the school. Photo by Jane Reuter
Holiday sales up in 2013 Business growth, added employees reasons for boost By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ coloradocommunitymedia.com
When Jamie LaRue accepted the executive director post in 1990, Douglas County had the worst library system in the state. It’s now the best in the country in its circulation class. Now it’s goodbye. LaRue is leaving Jan. 17. Photo by Virginia Grantier
A real page-turner
LaRue leaving after transforming Douglas County Libraries By Virginia Grantier
vgrantier@coloradocommunitymedia.com He was age 6, and bored out of his mind one day, while in the middle of playing a baseball game — even then, not a team-sports fan — when he spotted something. And he started walking. He walked right out of the baseball game, no one stopping him, and he kept walking. “I saw this blue shimmer, and it kept getting closer and closer,” recalled Jamie LaRue, now 59, and the longtime Douglas County Libraries executive director. What LaRue saw was a bookmobile in his hometown of Waukegan, Ill.,
the first one he’d ever been in. Inside, a smiling librarian. And all of those books. At age 10, that same librarian, Mrs. Johnson, handed him “The Dialogs of Plato,” which he said changed his life. He said he still remembers the sentence he opened it to: “Socrates asked `what is wise?’ ” “I’ve been thinking about it ever since,” he said. Eventually he was reading a book a day. At one point LaRue decided to become a theoretical astrophysicist until he tried to get through a trigonometry class and realized he was the “dumbest kid in the room.” It then occurred to him librarians were the people who had helped him all of his life. “The library for me was a sanctuary and intellectual playhouse,” he said. He doesn’t watch TV. He writes poetry, loves walks, reads while he walks and plays music. A popular song with
audiences — when he performed with his guitar and banjo and a friend, an acoustic duo who called themselves the “Tuna Boys” — was “Blow up your TV,” by John Prine. LaRue said he has about 300 books near his bedside that he re-reads every year, and thousands of books about everywhere else in his Castle Rock house. “Good insulation,” he smiled. And great for other things. LaRue said results of a 20-year international study following children in 27 countries show unequivocally that having 500 books in the house between the ages of 0-5 is like having two parents with master’s degrees. Predictors of such things as whether a child will grow up to happy, healthy, educated, financially secure and out of jail can all be traced back to fourthgrade reading levels. And reading levels can be traced
The holidays were happy for most Lone Tree retailers; a fact they hope is part of a long, steady upward trend. Local retailers point to a variety of reasons for strong sales, including deep markdowns, a shortened shopping season, growing day-worker population and a positive shift in the city’s retail landscape. “We definitely saw a dramatic increase in business over holiday seasons in the past,” said Rio Grande restaurant manager Susan O’Meara. “We had been about 12 to 13 percent up every month coming into the holiday season, and we were 25 percent up from December last year. It was fantastic.” The city’s retail giant, Park Meadows shopping center, also saw brisk business and general manager Pamela Schenk-Kelly called the season “extremely positive.” November sales — a solid indicator of the season to come — were up more than expected, she said, adding that it came as a pleasant surprise with Thanksgiving coming a week later than normal, leading to less traditional holiday shopping time. Cold temperatures in early December saw a dip in traffic, she added, but sales “were ahead of plan and very strong” from Dec. 15 through New Year’s Eve. The highest Park Meadows traffic counts were recorded one day after Christmas, on Dec. 26. That wasn’t a surprise to Kelly, who’s managed the 17-year-old mall from its opening day. “The holiday season really does run through the week of New Year’s,” she said. Holiday continues on Page 10
LaRue continues on Page 7
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