1-Color
February 6, 2014 Douglas County, Colorado | Volume 13, Issue 4 A publication of
lonetreevoice.net
Lone Tree’s first city manager says farewell Jack Hidahl credits others for young city’s success By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ coloradocommunitymedia. com When Jack Hidahl started in 1995 working with the then-unincorporated community of Lone Tree, it was home to about 3,000 people and generated $6,761 in annual revenue. As he leaves the city 18 years later, the population tops 12,000, and annual revenues are at $36 million. While Hidahl’s proud of the city’s economic vitality and sterling reputation, he doesn’t admit to playing a part in it. Instead, he credits a collection of people, including Park Meadows mall manager Pamela Schenck Kelly, SkyRidge CEO Maureen Tarrant, mayors Jack O’Boyle and Jim
Gunning, every council member ever to hold a seat, and a host of business people, residents and city staff. “I think those high-quality people are the success of Lone Tree,” said the 70-year-old Hidahl, who retired Jan. 31 and turned his title over to former deputy city manager Seth Hoffman. Those people also are the reason he didn’t retire at 65, as he once assumed he would. “When you have those circumstances — the quality of the city council, a staff that is top drawer — why would anybody walk away from that?” he said. “That’s not bragging, that’s fact; I can show it to you in our survey.” Lone Tree’s 2012 residents’ survey, like the 2009 and 2006 surveys before it, showed high satisfaction levels. Ninety-eight percent of the 2012 respondents rated the city’s overall quality of life “excellent” or “good,” and gave Lone Tree’s staff and leaders similarly high marks.
Gunning said Hidahl was “the driving force” behind the city’s success to date. That Lone Tree’s first and only city manager downplays his contributions doesn’t surprise the mayor one bit. “I’ve never known a more humble man than Jack Hidahl,” he said. Gunning made that comment at Hidahl’s Jan. 30 farewell reception in a speech the mayor called, “the toughest one I’ve ever had to do.” The evening included accolades from several city leaders, an emotional speech from Hidahl and the presentation of a long stream of gifts to the outgoing city manager. Among them: Five Lone Tree Arts Center season passes, a large fistful of Rockies tickets and a miniature version of Rik Sargent’s “Spread Your Wings” sculpture on public display at the corner of Yosemite Street and City continues on Page 9
Outgoing Lone Tree City Manager Jack Hidahl stands with one of the gifts given to him by the city — a replica of a larger city sculpture — during his Jan. 30 farewell party. Photo by Jane Reuter
Bill seeks extended bar hours Measure would permit watering holes to stay open as late as 4:30 a.m. By Vic Vela
vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office investigators were on scene Feb. 1 at a home on Fox Hunt Circle in Highlands Ranch where a shooting left two dead the previous night. Photo by Chris Rotar
Mother, son die in murder-suicide Woman injured fleeing scene of standoff By Chris Rotar
crotar@ coloradocommunitymedia.com Motorists slowly passed the home on Fox Hunt Circle in Highlands Ranch, shaking their heads, or in the case of one passenger, cupping her mouth in apparent disbelief or shock. On the bitterly cold morning of Feb. 1, crime-scene tape and law enforcement vehicles were evidence of the suburb-shaking events of the night before. A teenager had killed his mother, then himself. Tatiana Klamo, 46, died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Douglas County Coroner’s Office. Her son, Robert Klamo, a 15-year-old
Mountain Vista High School student, died from a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound. As investigators removed items from the home the morning after the shooting, a pair of second-floor windows remained open. Those were the routes a woman and a teenaged girl, the shooter’s sisters, used to escape the deadly situation, authorities said. The older sister was seriously injured as she fled. She remained in a local hospital as of Feb. 1, Douglas County Undersheriff Tony Spurlock said.
The mother
Tatiana Klamo ran a small business, American Stitch Factory, in Littleton. Her business partner, Brian McCoy, said she was “just amazing.” “She was the only truly honest person I’ve ever met,” McCoy said Feb. 1, fighting back tears while standing just yards from Klamo’s home.
American Stitch, located near the intersection of Broadway and Mineral, remained closed the morning of Feb. 3. A memorial of flowers and a candle had begun outside the shop’s entrance. A note on the door told of Klamo’s death and said a fund would soon be set up to help her surviving children. “She was a nice lady, always worked very hard,” said Lisa Jung, owner of Highland Shoe Repair, a shop next door to American Stitch. Jung said Klamo, whose husband died years ago, was taking college classes in addition to her work at the store. “She wanted a better life.”
A legislative committee said “cheers” to a bill that would allow bars to stay open later, despite concerns that the measure could lead to more drunks being on the streets in the early morning hours. House Bill 1132 would allow cities and counties to determine for themselves whether to allow bars to stay open until 4:30 a.m - two and a half hours past the current statewide bar cutoff time of 2 a.m. Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, the bill sponsor, pointed to violent crime that occurs in downtown Denver at bar closing time, as motivation behind her bill. Duran said that when all bars close at the same time, “drunks spill into LoDo streets.” She said that by allowing bars to stay open later, patrons will leave at 2, 3 or 4 in the morning, instead of the mass exodus that happens now. “This has been an issue that has been ongoing in the City of Denver for a long time,” Duran told the House Local Committee. Duran’s original drafting of the bill would have allowed bars to stay open until 7 a.m. However, the bill was amended to a 4:30 cutoff at the start of the hearing. Business groups and the Colorado Restaurant Association backed the bill after Duran filed an amendment that allowed local governments to let bars stay open later,
Bar continues on Page 9
The son Robert Klamo was a troubled young man, McCoy said. He believes the Shooting continues on Page 9
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