Lone Tree Voice 1224

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December 24, 2015

THIS WEEK IN

VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 48

SPORTS

LOCAL

Meet the All-South Metro Football team

page 18

LoneTreeVoice.net D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O

A publication of

Tipster praised for helping prevent threat Douglas County school was alleged target of two girls

VOICES OF THE COMMUNITY

By Alex DeWind adewind@coloradocommunitymedia.com After the news of two classmates accused of plotting to kill students and staff at Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, senior Katie Pickrell said students are coming together to raise awareness about Text-A-Tip, a reporting system that she said “essentially saved people’s lives.” “It was a really brave thing to do,” said Pickrell, referring to the anonymous student who texted the information that led to the arrests of the 16-year-old female students before they could follow through with their plan. Students are using the hashtag “tellsomeone” to thank the student who sent in the tip and show

“To the @mountainvistahs student brave enough to #tellsomeone, thanks for helping keep a lot of people I love safe…” was retweeted 19 times on Twitter. “@mountainvistahs Thinking of you guys today. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help. #SoarAboveTheRest,” Arapahoe High School tweeted to Mountain Vista High School. “Thank you! #respect #tellsomeone,” Mountain Vista High School tweeted.

Threat continues on Page 8

Douglas County School District Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen speaks about the Mountain Vista threat on Dec. 16. “Generally, students are really good people,” she said, “and do good things.” Behind Fagen is Rich Payne, the district’s director of school safety and security. Photo by Alex DeWind

Nearly foot of snow hits Lone Tree 11 inches fell on city over course of day’s storm By Mike DiFerdinando mdiferdinando@colorado communitymedia.com

Steve Smock has been putting up his holiday light show at his home at 354 Neptune Court in Lone Tree since 2011. There are more than 7,800 lights. Courtesy photos

Lots of lights in Acres Green Homeowner goes all-out for the holidays By Mike DiFerdinando mdiferdinando@coloradocommunitymedia.com Acres Green resident Steve Smock has been putting on holiday light shows at his house at 354 Neptune Court since 2011. Inspired by Clark Griswold in the movie “Christmas Vacation” and other large-scale displays across the country, he has improved his show each year. The display now features thousands of lights coordinated to music. Smock talked to the Lone Tree Voice about why he loves light shows and how his passion for the holiday has evolved over the year. How did you get into light displays? There are few influences that got me Lights continues on Page 6

Lights going up at Steve Smock’s home in Lone Tree in November. It takes weeks to complete the show.

Like the rest of the metro area, Lone Tree was hit hard by the snowstorm that came through Dec. 15. According to city officials, 11 inches of snow fell on Lone Tree. Police said road conditions were a “mess” around town and the city was on accident alert. “When on accident alert, anyone involved in a noninjury accident should exchange information with others involved and report the incident at a later date,” spokeswoman Kristen Knoll said. “So, at this point, we just don’t know how many actually occurred since reports will be coming in over the next few days and weeks.” The city used 10 trucks and 20 drivers on 12-hour shifts to plow and keep roads as clear as possible. Initial forecasts called for 2 to 5 inches of snow. As Dec. 14 went on, that was updated until by midnight the forecast called for snow 4 to 8 inches deep. Residents in Carriage Club and parts of RidgeGate often see more precipitation due to being close to the bluffs, according to Knoll. At Park Meadows mall, the snow affected driving and parking conditions during one of the retail destination’s busiest times of the year. “We removed the snow to include hauling off any snow piles,” said Pamela Schenck-Kelly, Park Meadows’ senior general manager. “It took 28 hours, a lot of equipment and a very dedicated team.” Schenck-Kelly said Park Meadows would have every parking space clear in time for the all-important weekend before Christmas.


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