JUNE 25, 2020
A publication of
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
KEEPING PETS CLOSE Amid COVID-19, people are holding onto their animal friends P14
Local numbers don’t show suicide, domestic violence spikes But the true picture in Douglas County may be obscured BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Wes Kouns’ home fell to disrepair and below standards from the local homeowners association, and a group of men from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Lone Tree have led an effort to repair the outside of Kouns’ home. Randy Jones and Tim Bishop work on one wall of Kouns’ house on June 20. PHOTOS BY NICK PUCKETT
Neighbors fixing up Vietnam vet’s home Volunteers are repairing, repainting, reroofing house
to Agent Orange, a tactical chemical used by the U.S. military in the Vietnam conflict. Thousands of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians A Lone Tree church is leading a and American soldiers have sufcommunity effort to refurbish a lofered illness from exposure to the cal veteran’s home that had fallen chemical. into disrepair. One neighbor of Kouns’, Brady A group from the Lone Tree Martin, offered to have his compaChurch of Jesus Christ of Latterny, TSV Construction, replace the day Saints has organized a “Helproof for free, an otherwise $20,000 ing Hands Project” to fix up the cost. home of Wes “Doc” Kouns, a The group started work on June former Green Beret combat medic 20 and will work a few hours for who served in Vietnam. the next four Saturdays repairing Kouns, 77, lives at 8227 Sweetwathe trim and exterior walls and ter Road, and his home no longer From left, Wes Kouns, Mike Pedersen, Steve repainting the house. meets the standards of his local Zoolakis, Hamid Ansari, Randy Jones. A To get involved with the project, homeowners association. group of Lone Tree neighbors and members contact MikeJeffco Pedersen at Academy 720-280- is here of the has suffered owKouns you can continue to debilitating be a remote learner next year! Virtual forMormon you! church have started 5943. repairing the outside of Kouns’ home. effects from his wartime exposure BY NICK PUCKETT NPUCKETT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
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As COVID-19 stay-at-home orders rolled out in March and April, experts nationwide worried that the isolation would cause an increase in mental health episodes and domestic violence incidents. But as life begins to return to normal in Douglas County and elsewhere, local experts in these fields are reporting that, at least by their measures, most data show this hasn’t yet happened here to a major extent. National experts say it may be years before the final word emerges. But so far, locally, officials aren’t seeing major spikes. “We thought we were going to be unbelievably busy,” said Cpl. Brian Briggs of the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office. Briggs is a deputy with the Community Response Team, which is made up of both deputies and mental health clinicians who specialize in responding to mental health-related calls. “We have not seen a big spike. To be honest, we’ve had moments of complete boredom,” he said. In 2019, when there was only one CRT, they responded to about 1,300 calls for services. So far this year, they have SEE NUMBERS, P23
were watching the draft on TV. I started to tear up along with my dad.” Case Williams, Douglas County High School pitcher drafted by the Colorado Rockies | Page 16 INSIDE
erested in finding more about JVA in an upcoming
VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | SPORTS: PAGE 16
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