If you’re inclined to go for an evening drive around Arvada this time of year, you’ll likely be greeted by sprawling, expansive displays of holiday lights. People have been getting into the holiday spirit this year, with the usual suspects — the house at 66th Avenue and Balsam Street consistently features massive light displays, year after year — joined by newcomers getting in on the fun for the rst time.
Brady has spent 29 years with APD, most recently as deputy chief
BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
In a move that was expected since Arvada Police Chief Link Strate announced his retirement on Dec. 1, Deputy Chief Ed Brady — a 29-year veteran of APD — will be Arvada’s next police chief. Brady will be sworn in at the Arvada City Council meeting on Dec. 19.
“I’m incredibly grateful to be appointed as Chief of Police for the City of Arvada,” Brady said. “I’m honored to be in the ranks of so many dedicated professionals who go out and protect this community every day.”
Brady’s APD tenure began in 1994. He has spent his entire law enforcement career with APD, where he has been deputy chief since 2014. He has served as Deputy Chief of Operations and Deputy Chief of Field Services; prior to that, he held a variety of roles including eld training o cer, rearms instructor and investigator for the West Metro Drug Task Force.
Brady was promoted to sergeant in 2003, where he took part in transitioning the department to a new records management system and worked on a ballot initiative to fund additional APD positions, which was passed in 2005.
After being promoted to commander in 2007, Brady helped lead the department while it implemented its Police Community Stations, which are still in place today. He also helped to implement a dictation software for records and helped revamp APD’s Field Training and Evaluation Program.
Earlier this year, Brady ran for Je erson County Sherri as a Republican, but ultimately lost the election to Democrat Regina Marinelli.
Outgoing Chief Strate said that after everything APD has gone through in
All across Arvada, folks are getting in the holiday spirit with lights an decorations
Residents throughout the county were awakened around 1 a.m. Dec. 18 when phones rang, and emails and texts were received regarding an emergency down the hill.
Jeffcom911, Jefferson County’s emergency services agency, has apologized for waking people unnecessarily.
“Our sincerest apology,” Jeffcom911 said on social media. “We are aware of a Lookout Alert sent out this morning, notifying residents of a shelter-in-place that
… may not have impacted (them). We are looking into the case with the vendor. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have created.”
Jeff Streeter, Jeffcom911’s interim executive director, said the agency is working with its vendor for Lookout Alert, which is the agency’s emergency notification system, to determine whether it was technology or human error that sent notifications to 160,000 people throughout the county rather than to residents in a specific area.
The call informed residents that Lakewood police had issued a shelter-in-place order because of an incident at 17th and Robb Street.
“This was very unfortunate,”
Streeter said. “We apologize to everybody who was woken up. We know it’s scary and trying, and it was not our intent by any stretch.”
He hopes people won’t use this incident as a reason to opt out of Lookout Alert because it provides a vital service to warn residents of emergencies. Instead, he hopes people see these calls as an indicator that the system can work.
“While we have gotten some negative comments on social media,” Streeter said, “honestly, we have had a lot of positive comments, too. They said at least they know the system works, and they were notified.”
Streeter noted that Lookout Alert notified everyone in Jefferson County who has signed up for the service even when they were out of
town.
“If this had been something like a Marshall Fire, people who are out of town could have made arrangements,” he said.
According to a Jeffcom911 social media post: “We know we can’t make up for any sleep lost last night, but we hope you sleep a little better tonight knowing the glitch you experienced has been fixed, and the suspect (in Lakewood) was apprehended safely.”
To sign up for Lookout Alert, Je erson County’s emergency notification system, Text LookoutAlert to 67283 to get the link to register or visit www.je co. us/473/Emergency-Notifications.
FROM PAGE 1
the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Caruso’s Heat and Eat is run solely by its founder out of the Rocky Mountain Commissary. She handles web design, customer service, delivery driving and, of course, cooking.
BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COMJenna Caruso grew up in a big Italian family, where a love of cooking was instilled in her at a young age. After honing her skills as a chef at local restaurants, catering companies and hotels, Caruso’s latest endeavor has her bringing oven-ready meals to folks around Arvada with Caruso’s Heat and Eat.
Founded just over a year ago in
Caruso said the idea for making oven-ready meals came from behavior she saw during the pandemic, where people largely dined in and were unable to go out to restaurants. Her dishes are all par-cooked and include speci c reheating instructions on the label so that when folks put them in the oven, they come out “perfectly cooked.”
“During the week you have moms and dads running around working and kids going to three di erent sports, and I gured, just come
SEE MEALS, P4
I’m writing this from a hotel room in Athens, following an 11-day cruise of the Aegean Sea, so real estate isn’t top of mind for me right now. So, what to write about for this column? I needed something that would be easy to write, and it occurred to me to share my path from newly licensed agent over 20 years ago to where I am today. Maybe it will interest a few readers.
I was originally licensed as a Colorado real estate agent in April 2002, so I’m well into my third decade as a real estate broker. It has been a good run.
Real estate is a tough field to break into. Back in 2002, new brokers received a one-year initial license with 3-year renewals. More than half of new licensees would not renew their license at the end of their first year because they had completed few or, likely, no transactions, burned through their savings, and thought it futile to continue.
As I recall it, my gross commission income in my first year was about $7,000. In my second year, it was about $75,000, and in my third year it was $150,000. These are gross figures, because back then we were all “independent contractors” and we had to cover all the costs of being in business — computers, software, MLS dues, Realtor dues, E&O insurance, cell phones, cars and car expenses, and self-employment tax. And most of those expenses came upfront, so waiting six months or longer for a first commission check was hard for anyone who wasn’t prepared to go tens of thousands of dollars in the hole before earning a reliable income.
I had the reserves to outlast that “newbie drought,” and I did go at least $30,000 negative before going positive and ultimately becoming successful.
When a real estate license is first issued, you have to hang your license with a brokerage. You may be an independent contractor, but you can’t be an independent broker until you have two years’
experience as a broker associate and pass a 24-hour employing broker’s class.
I was drawn into getting a real estate license by attending a career night at Coldwell Banker, so hanging my license with them was the easy decision, and they had a two-week “Fast Start” class for new agents taught by Rich Sands which gave me the tools and understanding I needed to put my financial reserves to work.
“You have to spend money to make money,” I reminded myself as I launched into a full-time career as a real estate broker.
I’ll never forget what Rich said in the very first session of that 2-week intensive class. “Congratulations,” he told us new agents, “you are now licensed to sell real estate, and there are 20,000 agents out there with more experience than you. How are you going to make yourself stand out from them?”
At the time I was chair of the speakers bureau for Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver, so my first thought was that I could stand out by promising to give 10% of every earned commission to Habitat. I recall getting one listing from that offer, but Habitat would not promote it, so I dropped that promise after sending them several large checks. I’m still active with Habitat and still donate, but not a percentage of each closing.
The other thing I did — a common strategy recommended by Rich Sands — was to specialize in a particular subdivision and “farm” it for listings. The subdivision I chose was the Village at Mountain Ridge, which had just been completed on the west side of Hwy 93 in Golden.
At the time I had a yellow-naped Amazon parrot, Flower, who I referred to as my “unlicensed personal assistant” and even printed up business cards for her with that title. Countless residents or former residents of Mountain Ridge have
As mentioned above, Rita and I have spent the weeks leading up to Christmas away from home, and it’s a little weird returning to our home on Christmas Eve without having experienced any of those traditional lead-ups to the holiday.
I have had cell service throughout, including on our cruise, but the phone has
hardly rung, so it has been a delightfully quiet time — although my two listings could have appreciated a little activity!
As we move through this weekend and toward New Years, we wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, or a joyous religious or non-religious holiday of your choosing!
pictures of Flower on their children’s shoulders and received her business card which Flower “autographed” by puncturing the edge of it with her beak. I served free ice cream at the neighborhood picnic (with Flower, of course), and I sponsored a yearly garage sale. I also published a regular newsletter, with useful information including but not limited to the real estate market for the subdivision.
In other words, I did all those usual Realtor activities done to get known and trusted by homeowners — plus some things unique to me. It worked well.
However, you’re looking at my most successful investment. Using my experience as a journalist, which included a summer internship at The Washington Post, I chose from the very beginning to write a real estate column. At first it appeared in The Voice of Golden, then the Golden Transcript, and ultimately other Jeffco weekly newspapers and the YourHub section of The Denver Post, a regionalized section of the paper launched around 2005 offering low-cost advertising for individual segments of the paper’s larger circulation. It was so successful in generating business that for several years I have been paying for it to appear in every edition of YourHub.
At first I wrote this column only once a month, but soon I was writing it weekly, spending $30-50,000 per year to have it published in those newspapers. Almost two decades later, I estimate that I get about 90% of my buyers and sellers from long-time (and newer) readers of this “advertorial.” It has also benefited our broker associates (listed below), since I can’t service all the leads that come to me. As a result, the per-agent business done by Golden Real Estate is much higher than that of other brokerages in this market.
Of course, I didn’t know much about real estate when I started writing this column in 2003, but I knew what I didn’t know, and I would research a topic in order to write about it, and I would ask
my managing broker to review and correct what I wrote before sending it to be published. The process taught me a lot about real estate. I saw it as “my personal continuing education program.”
You’ve probably heard the expression that “you teach what you need to learn.” I needed to learn all aspects of real estate, and writing this column was how.
Most brokers with my number of years in the business have numerous initials after their name representing the certifications they have earned by taking special classes. They include Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR), Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), GREEN, e-Pro, Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES), and others. I have none of those certifications, but my writings have given me a broad understanding in all those fields. I’m not downplaying those classes and certifications — they have helped many of my fellow agents gain knowledge in each field, which is why I look for those initials myself when making referrals. Those initials evidence real knowledge.
I like to tell a story from my childhood which rings true in this context. One of my 9th grade teachers said in an end-of-term report, “Jim shows dangerous signs of becoming a dilettante.” I asked Dad what a dilettante was. “It’s a person who knows a little about everything but not a lot about one thing,” he said. “Sounds good to me!” I replied.
As I have written in the past, the biggest contributor to an agent’s expertise — in most but not all cases — besides those certifications is the number of transactions he or she has completed, more so than the number of years in the business. We learn from every transaction, and I have been blessed to have completed hundreds of transactions. The average agent completes only two or three transactions per year, and a high percentage of agents go an entire year without a paycheck. That was true in 2002 and it’s still true today.
Broker/Owner, 303-525-1851
Jim@GoldenRealEstate.com
1214 Washington Ave., Golden 80401
Broker Associates:
JIM SWANSON, 303-929-2727
CHUCK BROWN, 303-885-7855
DAVID DLUGASCH, 303-908-4835
TY SCRABLE, 720-281-6783
GREG KRAFT, 720-353-1922
Arvada native Jenna
Caruso’s small business has been making an impression around town
FROM PAGE 3
home put your meal in the oven, no prep, and you can have a meal, homemade — and fresh,” Caruso said.
Her delivery radius — within 10 miles of 80007 — allows her to bring food to the communities she grew up in.
“I was born and raised in Denver, but I grew up in Arvada my whole life — Westwoods neighborhood speci cally,” Caruso said. “I wanted to get the neighborhoods in that area; Westwoods, Leyden, Candelas — all that area.”
Caruso’s Heat and Eat operates from Monday to Friday. Orders are placed online at carusosheatandeat. com and are delivered less than 24 hours from when they are placed. While the menu has quite a few staples, other items rotate, giving customers lots of options to choose from.
“Growing up, we would always make homemade pasta and lasagna and stu ed peppers — which are on the menu; they’re very popular — and so I wanted to do items with an Italian in uence, but of course I love other kinds of food as well,” Caruso said. “I love Asian cuisine and I love seafood, so I wanted to make a variety.
“I have kind of like a global fusion of food, I would say,” Caruso continued. “I have Korean short ribs on my menu, I have mojo chicken — that’s
a Cuban dish — chicken parmesan’s popular. You’re supposed to perfect a dish or cuisine, but honestly, I try to have it all and know how to cook everything.”
Caruso said that she started Caruso’s Heat and Eat with the eventual goal of opening a storefront with a casual Italian concept down the line. She added that while getting things o the ground was di cult at rst, the community rallied around her and has turned into a stable customer base, with regulars and newcomers ordering an average of 20 orders per week.
In addition to her regular business, Caruso also caters for events of 50 people or less.
While there’s certainly a lot on her plate between shopping, cooking and delivering, Caruso makes sure there’s plenty on others’ as well.
“I always like to say hello and I like to say thank you to everyone, so that’s fun,” Caruso said. “I deliver from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. until I can hire a delivery driver; then we can expand those hours and maybe expand the radius.”
She said her goals for the next year are to start o ering boxed lunch options to local businesses and their employees to make work lunches easier. No matter what’s in front of her, Caruso’s work ethic and care for her craft have carried her through.
“You’ve got to work at it,” Caruso said. “It’s only been a year. I went into this not knowing much — I knew how to cook, and that was the only thing I knew how to do. But I just keep learning every day.”
With the shooting of 19 students and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas earlier this year, many activists have called for more regulations on the requirements to buy a gun. For Je co’s Moms Demand Action chapter, it was a motivator for many of them to do the same.
Starting in Wheat Ridge in July and most recently in Lakewood in November, the activist group presented ordinances to city councils across Je erson County during public comments that they believe will reduce gun violence, like raising the buying age to 21 and 10-day waiting periods.
“We’re not asking city council to ban all guns, we’re trying to carve out places where we can prevent deaths from gun violence, and the research says these are the areas where we can make a bigger impact,” Je co chapter of Moms Demand Action President Jen Dill Wohlers said.
Other cities around the metro area have similar ordinances already, she pointed out. Boulder has a 10-day waiting period before being able to buy a gun, as well as banning them in parks or other open spaces — another suggested ordinance from the group.
Boulder County also has large-capacity magazine and semi-automatic weapon bans, but they are currently being challenged in a lawsuit by Rocky Mountain Gun Owners from August. RMGO was one of multiple parties that voiced opposition during public comment at Lakewood’s Nov. 28 meeting where Moms Demand Action presented ideas on gun regulation ordinances. “ ese are the same women who traded their red coats for their red t-shirts,” Taylor Roads, the executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners said. “On behalf of thousands of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners members right here in the city of Lakewood, please never take up gun control here in Lakewood,
Colorado.”
According to Wohler, the group did not see as vocal an opposition at other public comments because they hadn’t told other councils beforehand that they’d be speaking.
“We are not anti-second amendment, but we are anti-gun violence,” Wohlers told Colorado Community Media. “We are trying to solve the problem of gun violence by using information that is researched-backed, and evidence-based.”
Tina Francone, a previous Jeffco commissioner from 2019, also spoke at the public comment against Moms Demand Action’s proposed ordinances. She admitted that gun violence also “horri es” her, and continued by claiming that gun regulation does not work.
“Crimes and violence are committed by people not in their right mind,” she said. “By de nition crimes are not committed by lawabiding citizens.”
Wohler believes that some council members and mayors in Je co are open to their ordinances, acknowledging that it took multiple years for Boulder to adopt what it has. e group intends on following up next year, she said, and request to be on the agenda to be able to speak longer and have a dialogue.
An independent auditor found three errors in the Je erson County School District’s nances.
Each year an independent audit is performed on the district’s nances, this year’s ending on June 30.
All of the errors have been corrected. One error found by the independent auditor, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, was a failure to correctly update debt payments from a charter school for the current year, while another was
submitting the costs for laptop cases to be refunded by the Federal Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, but they were not eligible.
e nal error was failing to recognize grant revenue early enough, leading to a mismatch in expenditures, revenues and receivables.
Moving forward, the District will more closely track debts in a central shared le and check it against the previous year’s statements, and the district grant accounting department will work more closely with other departments to ensure awareness of eligibility rules.
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national title. She’s nished in the top 10 at world championships.
In 2021, she won a bronze medal in the spring duathlon and a gold medal in cross duathlon.
BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Arvada’s Carol Whipple is a project manager for the National Park Service.
When she’s not handling those responsibilities, she’s a pretty good duathlete, a sport that combines two segments of running sandwiched around bicycling. She’s done that for 25 years and recently won an inter-
If you add it all up, Whipple has competed in more than 20 world championships in 13 countries.
Trailblazer #1
Whipple said she’s been athletic, starting o in elementary school.
“We had eld day competitions and the president’s tness test,” she said. “I would usually be among the fastest and most t in my class.”
Title IX was in its beginning phases when Whipple got into high school. Cross-country for girls wasn’t an option then.
“Since I loved to run, I gathered up my courage along with several other girls and approached the boys’ cross country coach about having a girls’ team,” she said. “He wasn’t too thrilled but agreed, requiring us to do the same workouts as the boys. Finding comparable girls cross country meets were few and far between as there were only a handful of girls’ high-school teams around the state.”
Her girls team entered the boys junior varsity meets. Whipple said the girls squad nished in the top half of the eld. At the end of the season, she participated in her rst “pioneer role” experience; her team won the rst-ever state girls cross country
Duathlete Carol Whipple claims gold in Romania
the past few years — the COVID-19 pandemic and the murders of APD Officers Gordon Beesley and Dillon Vakoff, killed in successive years — the consensus among the department and the city team was to hire an internal candidate.
“Oftentimes, especially with an agency like Arvada with as wellknown as it is nationally, they’ll do a national search and go out there and do that,” Strate said. “But it’s not necessary to do that with Ed (Brady) in house, and the credibility that he has. When you have that person in your department and you just know it. And Arvada has that luxury to where you have that guy — he’s the guy.
“Ed is certainly a high-quality individual,” Strate continued. “Ed and I have worked together for decades, and we’ve had a great working relationship. We’ve kind of gone through this organization together.”
City Manager Lorie Gillis led the internal search process that chose Brady.
“We are fortunate to have steady leadership in the Arvada Police Department,” Gillis said. “Ed has earned the respect and trust of the Police Department team as well as the City Leadership Team and City Council. I am pleased to appoint him to lead the Arvada Police Department.”
Arvada Mayor Marc Williams
praised the decision to have Brady take the department’s reigns.
“I am pleased that Ed Brady will be the next Chief of Police for the City of Arvada,” Williams said. “Ed is the right choice to serve the City organization and Arvada residents. His leadership will guide the Arvada Police Department through
the opportunities and challenges facing our community.”
District 2 City Councilmember Lauren Simpson also celebrated the decision.
“I am thrilled to have Ed as our Chief of Police,” Simpson said. “His dedication to the Arvada community and our brave police team members will help Arvada continue to be one of the safest cities in the Front Range.”
Brady and his wife — who works for Jeffco Public schools — have four children and recently became first-time grandparents.
In an interview with the Arvada Press shortly after his announcement to retire, outgoing Chief Strate said that he hadn’t planned to retire for long, but that recent years took their toll on the entire department — including him.
“Early on, I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” Strate said. “After 35 years, I didn’t intend to retire this early. But after the last four years — and certainly the last two years with the murder of Gordon Beesley and Dylan Vakoff — it was difficult. It was difficult to watch the department go through that. It was difficult to see that in everybody’s eyes and to recognize that.”
Strate said that he considered the decision for a long time and added that Brady’s availability following the election played into his decision. Ultimately, he didn’t think he could see another officer get killed.
“Quite frankly, to wonder if I could do that again,” Strate said. “I just didn’t. I just didn’t know if I could do that again. So, I recognized that I had an incredible career here. Just very fortunate for everything that was afforded to me. And it was probably time.”
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In 1963, Jane Goodall stated, “In modifying a natural object to make it suitable for a speci c purpose — the chimpanzee has reached the rst crude beginnings of tool making.” Her discovery of chimpanzees fashioning termite shing poles from sticks changed the way scientists thought of humankind’s superiority. Weren’t only humans capable of crafting tools?
Move over, primates! Despite the lack of ngers, certain songbird species have demonstrated the ability to create tools and solve complex problems, in some instances surpassing the capabilities of apes and young children.
e family of Corvidae, which include ravens, crows, magpies and jays has demonstrated superior analytical abilities, deep emotional capabilities, engagement in play and trickery and remarkable language skills.
Researchers recorded more than 64,000 raven vocalizations from 37 raven pairs. According to crow musicologist Eleanor Brown, each family of crows has its own vocabulary of sounds, some which they share with other groups but many are distinct. By comparison, an average 3-year old child’s vocabulary consists of 1,000 words.
Corvids use their ability to mimic sounds and conduct pranks seemingly for their own amusement.
In one instance, a zookeeper reported that magpies would visit the zoo and mimic the voice of an employee who fed the chickens. e chickens would rush to the eat the food, and though the magpies repeated the trick many times, the hapless chickens never gured out the prank.
Reportedly, the ravens at the Tower of London will squawk “keep the path!” to tourists, and in Evergreen, Steller’s jays have been observed mimicking
red-tailed hawks, perhaps to ru e the feathers of their avian neighbors?
Laboratory and eld studies of crows’ analytical abilities continue to impress researchers. e biggest problem-solving incentive for the birds involves food rewards.
In Japan, crows were observed picking walnuts from nearby trees and then dropping them in front of cars while tra c lights were red. When the lights turn green, the nuts were cracked as the carsdrove over them. During the next redlight cycle, the crows would y down to retrieve their food, joining pedestrians in the crosswalk.
At Oxford University, researchers established a captive colony of New Caledonian crows. In one experiment, a crow named Abel ew o with a hooked wire, the only tool in the room that was designed to allow access to food, leaving his friend Betty with only straight wires. In a ash, Betty picked up a straight wire, stuck one end of the wire under a piece of tape at the base of the experiment apparatus and using her bill and body weight, she pulled the wireand bent it into a hook. Triumphantly, Betty negotiated the remaining challenges and successfully retrieved her food reward after completing an eight-step process.
At a nature preserve in Australia, camera footage recorded crows consuming ticks from the necks and ears of wallabies drinking from a water tank. e birds positioned themselves along the rim of the tank, took aim, and with sudden stabbing motion, extracted engorged ticks the size of grapes from the
ears and neck of the su ering wallabies. e results are in: corvids are just plain smart. eir brain size in relation to body mass is equal to that of great apes and dolphins. e hawk-sized raven has the largest brain to body size ratio in the corvid family.
Part of a short but growing list of species able pass the mirror test, European magpies successfully demonstrated self-awareness, a feat only performed by some primates, dolphins and one species of sh. e next time someone calls you a birdbrain, be sure to say thanks!
Despite all the oceanic exploration humans have done over the years, it remains a largely unknown and mysterious place. But visitors to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s new exhibit, “Unseen Oceans,” will get to glimpse a world that most of us can’t begin to imagine.
“Over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface consists of oceans. is exhibit highlights the life that lives at every level of the Earth’s oceans,” wrote Dr. Paula E. Cushing, Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the museum, in
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“It also highlights the amazing technological innovations that have allowed humans to explore deeper and deeper and to continually discover new species living under the
“Unseen Oceans” runs at the museum, 2001 Colorado Blvd. in Denver, through Sunday, April 9. e
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Applications are open for:
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exhibit is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
According to provided information, visitors will get to explore a series of galleries that showcase the vast variety of marine environments and introduce some of the scientists who are using the latest tech innovations to do their work.
“Visitors will be introduced to some of the tiniest life forms (the plankton) that make up the majority of species living in the shallowest zone of the ocean, to the most bizarre creatures living in the deepest depths,” Cushing wrote. “Visitors will also get to interact
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with shadows of sh `swimming’ on the exhibit oor and will even get to experience driving a submersible and sampling life on the ocean oor.”
Other highlights include a “ sh tornado” that shows the various color and bioluminescent adaptations that di erent sh have evolved to live in the low light conditions of the deeper layers of the oceans and an example of specimens from the museum’s own collections.
At a time when the planet is losing
and-commissions-application P.S. If you are looking for more reasons to step up and serve, I can happily share that studies show people who volunteer tend to live longer and happier lives, as volunteering releases natural endorphins in our body. anks for stepping up and helping shape our great city! Lisa Smith, Arvada City Council
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BY BOB MOOK SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Between gatherings with friends and family — and the “expectation” of joyfulness — the holiday season can be fraught with stress, even in the happiest of times. For those grieving the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship or a career setback, the season can be especially challenging.
One thing is for certain: ere is no right way or wrong way to grieve, according to University of Colorado College of Nursing Assistant Professor Heather Coats and Associate Professor of Clinical Teaching Kerry Peterson.
Dr. Coats has more than 20 years of clinical experience in palliative, oncology and hospice care. Her research focuses on improving quality of communication and the psychologicalsocial-spiritual well-being of people living with serious illnesses, as well as their families.
Dr. Peterson is the specialty director of CU Nursing’s Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program. She has worked clinically with patients who are struggling with many types of grief, with an emphasis on psychotherapy and interventions for individuals who have experienced trauma and abuse.
Here are their thoughts about dealing with grief this time of year:
During the holidays, many of us host
or participate in gatherings and traditions with the expectation that everybody should be happy. For those and other reasons, one might think that grief would become more exacerbated, but it’s a year-long phenomenon. Still, the absence of certain loved ones might be especially noticeable in the days from anksgiving through New Year’s Day.
“Grieving is a process,” Coats says. “Part of the process is recognizing what the triggers are. Maybe your loved one died in summer — so, the onset of summer is the trigger. Maybe your loved one died at Christmas, so that’s a trigger. But grief is not something that should be considered or thought about only during the holidays.”
Peterson points out that people have their own unique grief experiences. Even though a family might be grieving the same loved one, one person might feel extreme sadness while another might still experience a sense of joy and happiness during this special time.
In the holiday season or any other time of the year, Coats and Peterson say that dealing with grief requires a large measure of self-forgiveness and self-care as well as understanding and setting boundaries. Allowing yourself to “feel your feelings” is an important part of grieving.
“ ere needs to be a recognition that the holidays create a lot of hustle and bustle,” Coats says. “But that doesn’t mean you take away the grief and put the hustle and bustle in its place so that you live in denial that the grief is there. Don’t let the hustle and bustle not allow you to grieve.”
Peterson encourages people who are grieving to reach out and get support, so that they can experience the holidays in di erent ways — perhaps by establishing some new traditions.
“Sometimes it might be too painful, but people who are grieving can still nd comfort in keeping traditions or creating new ones to honor the memory of their loved one — such as lighting a candle or playing a favorite Christmas song,” she says. “Lean into whatever it is that harkens to things that once brought you joy with the beloved, instead of pushing it away and not thinking about it.”
In dealing with longer-term grief, Peterson recommends grief support groups because they let the bereaved connect with others who are experiencing a loss. She adds that psychotherapy and prescription medications could help those who experience prolonged grief that leads to isolation and severe depression. e latest edition of DSM-5 (the diagnostic manual used by mental health professionals) added “prolonged grief disorder” as a diagnosis earlier this year, making it easier for clinicians to identify and diagnose people who need treatment and support.
Support those who are grieving
Not everyone is at the same point in their grieving journey. If you are further along in processing grief than your friends and family, Peterson says you can best support others by asking what you could do to help and not making assumptions.
“You probably shouldn’t assume a friend isn’t ready to go to a party because she just lost her husband,” she says. “It might be helpful for her to continue with activities and social connections.”
Coats maintains that because grief is di erent for everyone, it is important to be “cued in” to friends and families during the holidays and beyond.
“It’s important to allow someone the space to grieve and to know that they are sad and missing someone,” she says. “It is also important to pick up on the cues that allows people to continue processing. e holidays can be a really healing space — so long as someone feels acceptance for that grief.”
Drs. Coats and Peterson discussed the new diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder in the Five to rive Podcast in September 2022.
Daniel Christopher Daly was born June 2, 1983, and passed away November 30, 2022. He is survived by wife, Melissa, children, Veronica and Andrew James (AJ), father, Christopher, mother, Karen, sister, Michelle, step-mother, Kathy, step-brother, Kyle,
FROM
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much of its biodiversity, understanding and protecting life in the ocean is more important than ever. So, while the exhibit provides an opportunity to explore and entertain, enlightenment certainly isn’t o the table.
“Visitors will exit the exhibit with a greater appreciation of the evolutionary adaptations species have evolved allowing them to live in the extreme conditions of darkness, cold, and pressure found in the deeper layers of the
oceans,” according to Cushing. “ e exhibit also touches on the challenges facing the Earth’s oceans through climate change but it does not emphasize these challenges, which I nd refreshing, in these days when we seem to be bombarded with `doom and gloom’ messages.”
For more information, visit www. dmns.org.
Good grief! Hear Charlie Brown music at Dazzle Jazz this Christmas season
brother-in-law, Brian, and many other family members and exceptional friends. For more information regarding his service, please go to https://www.horancares.com/obituary/ Daniel-Daly.
Patricia M. Lotito
Devoted Catholic, Opera singer, world traveler, wife and mother, Patricia died peacefully in hospice care on October 6, 2022. Her husband Lawrence preceded her in death. She was known for her elegance as well as her warm hospitality.
She was happiest when surrounded by people, impacting those around her with her optimism and cheerful disposition. Patricia is survived by her ve children and four grandchildren. She will always be remembered with love.
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Amid turmoil, a single mother strives to nd community in the Denver metro area after leaving hers behind
In late 2018, a woman now raising her daughter near Denver made a life changing decision. She would leave her home country of Venezuela, a choice she did everything she could not to make.
e woman, a single mother in her mid40s, had been enjoying an ambitious life of public service with a career that began in the government’s transportation department when she was barely 19. She went on to become a nurse, a lawyer, a radio host and eventually to teach at the college level.
A threat on her life changed everything.
“I didn’t choose to leave until I had a gun pointed to my forehead,” she said, recounting the day military o cers broke into her home and threatened her life. “I fought hard not to try to move to Colorado. It was really, really hard.”
Having seen “so many injustices, so many inequalities” in her country, the woman charted a path of helping others. But the rise of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president since 2013, altered her trajectory. She viewed Maduro’s government as a brutal regime and spoke out against it, attending protests and using her platform as an educator to call attention to human rights abuses that have beendocumented by United Nations investigators. at is how she became an asylum-seeker in Denver – one of thousands of immigrants in the area who’ve ed their home country, fearing for their safety.According to TRAC Immigration, a database of federal immigration data compiled and published by Syracuse University, Denver’s immigration court reviewed 2,875 applications for asylum between scal years 2018 and 2022.
As she currently awaits a court’s verdict on her asylum, which will determine her legal status in the United States, the single mom has found some security. In 2020, she and her daughter, who is middle school-aged, received temporary protected status — a form of legal protection which allows some immigrants to live and work legally in the U.S. but which must be renewed every two years. Venezuela isone of 15 countries designated for this protection by the federal government.
According to Violeta Chapin, clinical professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School, the protection is meant for those living in the U.S. facing situations that make it “impossible for individuals of that country to return back.” ose with this protection “have no immigration status, they’re just protected from removal for a temporary period of time,” Chapin said.
It means until a decision is made on her asylum case, the woman remains in a legal limbo, according to Chapin. If she is granted asylum, it a ords her more access to the social safety net along with greater work opportunities. If she is denied, she can still hold on to her temporary status and seek to renew it over the coming years, but she will not be recognized as an immigrant and could face deportation if her status is not renewed.
“ e United States immigration system is extraordinarily restrictive,” Chapin said. “It’s set up to make it very di cult to lawfully enter and live in
the United States.”
‘Who was going to trust me?’ e days leading up to the woman’s departure from her home country were a desperate blur. As threats on her safety escalated, a colleague living in Denver reached out to help. Her son, in his mid-20s, ed to Peru on foot, where he lives today.
Before leaving, the woman sold everything she owned, including her car, for about $1,300. With enough money in hand to ee, she ew to Denver with her daughter and another resident who was living in their former apartment complex.
Of the few possessions she brought with her was a binder full of her credentials. Degrees. Licences. Awards and honors.
With her career experiences, she had hoped to buoy her survival in America and secure a goodpaying job to support her family. But within days, doubt began to set in.
“Who was going to trust me,” she said. “I felt seen as an intruder, but I had so much to o er.” e colleague who o ered help found them an apartment to rent in the Denver suburbs. He put his name on the lease because she lacked the paperwork to get one on her own and charged her $900 for a deposit.
But after 10 days, they were all kicked out. Her colleague had become emotionally and mentally unstable, she said. e neighbor who had own to the U.S. with her decided it was time to part ways and has not been seen since, the single mom said.
It was December and the days were becoming shorter, darker, colder.
“It was the middle of the winter with a little kid, I didn’t know what to do,” the woman said. “I’m running out of money, but I cannot go back to Venezuela.”
Solace came when she turned to her daughter’s school district, where she had enrolled her daughter in a middle school while they were housed. A parent of one of her daughter’s friends o ered them temporary stay at their home while she looked for a new apartment.
Public schools have been a crucial pillar of support for undocumented residents, according to Chapin.
at’s thanks to a 1982 Supreme Court ruling, Plyer v. Dow, which prohibits public school districts from denying enrollment to the children of undocument-
ed immigrants.
With a temporary roof and place to sleep, the single mom knocked on door after door wherever she saw an apartment available, worried that she was overstaying her welcome.
But deposits for every apartment she found were $1,000 or more, nearly eclipsing what money she had saved. And “everyone asked for papers,” she said, of which she only had a passport.
“What really surprised me, now looking back, is the lack of solidarity, the lack of empathy for people,” she said. “I was not here because I wanted to. I had to run away.”
Some relief came when a friend living in Miami sent the woman cash for a deposit. With it, she found a studio apartment outside Denver that a landlord allowed her to lease. ough rent was about $1,000 per month, she cut a deal with the landlord for $200 o in exchange for her cleaning the outside of the building. Her deposit was $1,300. She said she couldn’t have been more grateful.
“All I had was my word, and he took it,” she said. e woman had no access to safety net programs like SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, so she turned to a nearby church for nourishment. Whatever money she had left from the month would sometimes go to a toy for her young daughter. e woman said she was determined to provide whatever momentary escape she could for her.
But the fear of losing everything, of coming up a few dollars short for her rent, always loomed large for her. It still does.
‘Thousands, millions’ living in uncertainty
When the single mother applied for asylum in
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2019, she could not a ord a lawyer to help with her case, though she has since found voluntary legal aid.
Chapin said U.S. immigration courts do not provide free public defenders for asylum-seekers. And whether an applicant has a lawyer or not can make a huge di erence in the outcome of their case, Chapin said, with most asylum cases being denied.
According to the Syracuse University database, of the more than 5,000 immigrants who applied for asylum through Denver’s immigration court between 2001 and 2022, more than 2,900 were denied. e single mom does not know when her case will be decided.
“ ere are a lot of people applying for immigration and asylum bene ts, there’s a lot of stress on the system right now,” Chapin said.
e single mom found some comfort when, in 2020, she and her daughter were granted their protected status. Since then, she has worked “everything, anywhere,” her heavy binder of credentials going unnoticed as she took jobs cleaning hotel rooms and serving food in restaurants.
Even with multiple jobs, the woman said she faced nancial uncertainty as she struggled to pay for housing, food and everything in between.
“You have to take on so many hours to work,” she said. “In this county to survive you need at least two jobs.”
In 2020, she moved to a new apartment, allowing her daughter to be closer to her school. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, her landlord raised rent from $1,050 to $1,350. Again, she moved.
Shortly before 2021, she found a one-bedroom apartment in a Denver suburb where she lives today. It is dotted with reminders of home, including her country’s ag hanging in the living room and photos of her son on the wall. She pays $1,200. Her deposit was $500. “I have no ability to save,” she said. “Deposits were a big burden.”
Recently, her income has steadied. She now works at an embroidery shop where she brings in about $2,000 each month. e rest she makes up driving for food delivery services, a job that at least a ords her the opportunity to spend more time with her daughter. ey listen to music on those drives or just talk.
rough all the discord, she said she’s worried most for her daughter’s well-being. When she can she’ll make a homemade meal, something healthy, usually Venezuelan.
For herself, she has gone through some therapy programs after becoming
depressive and anxious. She does not want her daughter to feel the burden of her mental health, she said. What she wants more than anything now is to make a home where she can, for herself and her child.
Chapin said the woman’s story of survival is the same as “thousands, millions of immigrants, who live this existence every day.”
To build something beautiful e asylum-seeker said she is still waiting for the hard work to pay o , to see the “end of the tunnel.” But beyond just surviving, she wants to thrive.
“ e time that I’m supposed to be here in the United States is to build something beautiful, is to give something back,” she said. “A home is love, work, dedication, solidarity.”
She is currently taking online classes through Metropolitan State University of Denver in social communications, hoping to use the education to land a job in social work and reignite her passion for building community. ough she has seen growth in her English skills over the past four years, she wants to take college classes to improve her prospects of a career. e most inexpensive course she found was about $6,000 per semester at the Community College of Denver — too much for her to spend currently. at money instead goes to rent.
While the change in her living situation has “been night and day,” she said it’s precarious. It would only take a rent increase of about $200 for her to no longer be able to a ord her apartment, she said.
“I’m living in the present right now and that’s all I can a ord to think about,” she said. “Yes, I can only pay so much and yes, we are in a very tight budget. But, I get to spend quality time with my daughter … we only have each other.”
According to Chapin, there are numerous reforms to U.S. immigration policy that could bene t residents living in uncertainty. About 11 million immigrants are undocumented in the U.S., Chapin said, and sta ng issues have left immigration courts across the country backlogged. For many immigrants, it can mean years waiting for a decision on their future.
Even with temporary protected status, many still face low-wage jobs as their only choice for employment. It is dicult for immigrants to translate credentials they earned in their home country to work in the U.S., Chapin said, and doing so comes at a large nancial cost.
Allowing immigrants to use their quali cations to work more skilled jobs and authorizing citizenship for most of the 11 million already here “would bene t the economy tremendously,” Chapin said, given the U.S. is “desperate
for labor.”
is need has been a major driver behind the immigration reform championed by U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who represents Colorado’s 6th congressional district.
“We have a lot of people in Colorado who’ve immigrated from all over the world who have some substantial skills,” Crow said, “and it takes a long time to translate those licenses and certi cations.”
is fall, Crow helped introduce the bipartisanBridging the Gap for New Americans Act, which passed in both chambers of Congress before President Joe Biden signed it into law Oct. 17.
Over the next year, the legislation will direct the U.S. Department of Commerce to study how it can expedite translating out-of-country credentials. Crow said the ndings will likely spur more legislation to overhaul the process and allow immigrants more access to higher-wage professions.
“ ey can buy homes, they can enter our economy more fully, they can send their kids to college,” said Crow, who added this would be crucial to “addressing the sustainable workforce shortage in our country.”
But beyond the potential economic impacts, Crow said immigration reform is a “moral issue.”
“When the current laws and systems don’t treat people with basic dignity and respect, that alone is the reason to reform and change this,” he said, adding he is “optimistic” of bolder immigration legislation still to come.
For immigrants like the single mom in Denver’s suburbs, she is determined to build on her new life as she strives to nd what she loved most about her home: a sense of belonging. Often her mind wanders to her home country, to what she’s left behind. She talks every day on the phone with her son in Peru, who’s made a family of his own with his partner and their child.
Clasped safely in the folds of her heavy binder, amid her many certi cations and credentials, is a letter from him.
It reads: “ ank you so much for everything you’ve given me and taught me throughout life. It hasn’t been an easy road for both of us, I know, but it’s been worth it. I will try to prove myself to you for the rest of my life, you’ve done a good job.”
Editor’s note: As an immigrant with temporary protected status seeking asylum through the U.S. court system, Colorado Community Media withheld the source’s name and other identifying factors to protect her identity. Her interviews were conducted through an English-Spanish interpreter. All quotes from her have been interpreted from Spanish to English.
The United States has numerous designations for a person’s immigration status, each with its own caveats that dictate the legality of what a person can and cannot do. Here are what some of these statuses mean according to immigration lawyer and law professor Violeta Chapin:
Refugee: Refugee status is granted to immigrants before they leave their home country. Refugees are authorised to live and work legally in the U.S. and are eligible for safety net programs but cannot vote. Most recently, a large amount of refugees in the U.S. have been from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Asylum: This is similar to refugee status but is granted to someone after they come to the U.S. Because asylum can take months or years to be processed, some immigrants have the option of pursuing a temporary status in the meantime to a ord them some legal protections and work authorization.
Temporary protected status: This status is only for people fleeing turmoil from certain countries. Currently, the U.S. has designated 15 countries for temporary protected status. Once granted, it must be renewed every two years and does not allow recipients to be eligible for federal programs, though they can be eligible for some state benefits depending on state law.
Green card: This status, officially called a lawful permanent resident but more commonly known as a green card, a ords immigrants nearly all the benefits and rights as a U.S. citizen with the exception of voting. For asylees, those granted asylum, they must wait one year after receiving asylum to apply for a green card. Green cards typically need to be renewed every 10 years.
Naturalization: The final stage of immigration. With naturalization, immigrants are considered fully legal U.S. citizens and can vote in any and all U.S. elections. This status does not need to be renewed. Asylees can apply for it five years after receiving asylum and will need to pass a civics test to receive this status.
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LITTLETON — Arvada West junior Kaden Kline accomplished a rare feat Dec. 15 during the opening round of the Charger Challenge boys basketball tournament at Chat eld High School. Kline came o the bench late in the rst quarter and preceded to drain four 3-pointers in a span of 80 seconds. Each long-range shot came right in front of Prairie View’s bench.
“ at was not a uke,” A-West coach Je Parriott said of Kline’s remarkable 80 seconds of putting up a dozen points. “If he has that opportunity 10 times he would do it 9 times out of 10. He is really a good shooter when they give him space. He is instant o ense for sure.”
Kline nished with a game-high 20 points, including six 3-pointers as the Wildcats dominated the underhawks 71-26.
“He (Kline) was amazing,” A-West senior Carson Nichols said. “We have so much con dence in him. He shows it in practice and in games all the time. You’ve got to get the ball to him in
title and, she said, “won the coach over. He was really proud.”
at fall, two members of that team entered the Seattle Marathon. ere were four women in the eld.
“Marathoning was just beginning to become popular, but women running them was rare. It had just been a couple years, at that point, that there were actually ‘o cial’ women’s divisions,” Whipple said. “Nationally, there were approximately only 50 or less of us that competed in a marathon.”
It wasn’t her “favorite distance,” but Whipple quali ed for the rst women’s Olympic marathon trials in 1984. She started duathlon competitions in the late 1990s. She won the rst Colorado State Games duathlon and quali ed for her rst USA Triathlon and competed with the national team at the world championships.
Whipple and her coach developed a training plan several months in advance of the world championships. O season work is slower and longer running sessions and miles on the bike for endurance. In the spring, she adds “speed intervals” and starts racing two or so times a month. It totals about 10 to 15 hours a week.
“As I’m still racing the sprint duathlon distance, I vary up my cycling workouts between the road and mountain bikes,” she said. “While Colorado is ideal for cross-duathlon training, with so many nearby trails, I do mix it up and train out of state to get experience with different types of terrain.”
Her strength in cross duathlon comes from a running background.
“I have really taken to the ‘cross country’ o -road trail running, the courses that feature steep descending and climbing in addition to log and stream
those spots.”
A-West (6-2 record) eventually won three games in three days to grab the tournament title. Parriott’s squad took a 57-56 double-overtime win over Cherokee Trail in the semi nals Dec. 16 and then a 62-50 win over Castle in the title game Dec. 17.
e Wildcats led from start to nish in their tournament opener against Prairie View. Kline’s outburst of 3-pointers pushed the Wildcats’ lead to 24-2 early in the second quarter.
Despite a running clock in the fourth quarter due to a 30-point margin, AWest put up a season-high 71 points. Kline (20 points), Nichols (14 points) and senior Jasper Padia (16 points) all nished in double-digits.
“I think the o ense came from the defense,” Nichols said. “We have a lot of fast brake layups. We were running around getting steals and making things happen. It was a total team effort. ings seemed easy.”
Prairie View (4-4) was held to singledigit points in every quarter except the third when the underhawks put up 10 points. ey nished with only 10 made elds goals in the entire game.
obstacles. ese are the most fun,” she said. “On the mountain bike sections, I enjoy the mental focus of reading the trails and riding over di erent types of terrain. In racing, however, one of my strengths has always been to have a very e cient and fast transition from run to bike and from bike to run. is is where a race can be won or lost. Precious seconds can mean the di erence.”
Whipple said it’s important to build skill levels on all types of terrain. For her preparations for the world championships and other races, she said it’s important to get out and either run or ride the course as many times as possible before the actual race.
“ at way you have the equipment (shoes, tires) for the conditions, you know where the most challenging sections are (roots, rocks, drop-o s, switchbacks, etc) and how you’re going to ride it,” Whipple said. “Visualization is key, including keeping mentally focused in the race. It takes the most e ort.”
Trailblazer .. a few years later
“Duathlon race distances range from the shorter 5K run/30K bike/5K run format to the standard Olympic distance of 10k run, 40K bike, 5K run and longer distances equal to that of a half-Ironman (13.1K run, 70K bike, 10K run),” she said. “I’ve competed at all distances for Team USA.”
To qualify for the national team, athletes have to nish in the top six of their age groups at the national championships.
Whipple won the world championship in cross duathlon race earlier this year in Romania. She quali ed for the world sprint duathlon in that country when she received an invitation to compete in cross duathlon at the World Multisport Championships
“I was intrigued by the challenge of learning new skills, training and preparing for this inaugural race,” she said. “Most athletes my age (she is in
“I thought our kids played really well,” Parriott said after the by far the biggest margin of victory for the Wildcats this season. “I thought defensively we were really good.”
Nine di erent Wildcats scored as Parriott was able to go deep into his bench.
“For us to be really good we have to complement those two (Nichols and Padia),” Parriott said of his two leading
her mid-60s) have long hung up the mountain bike wheels. And for women my age to learn the skills in order to be competitive is pretty rare.”
After she accepted the invitation, she had six months to get ready.
“I found the training to be fun, riding di erent terrain – kind of like being a kid again – on my bike, riding and jumping on the o -road trails,” Whipple said. “I took several lessons and trained with more experienced MTB riders so I learned the skills correctly from the start.”
Before leaving for the world championships, Whipple and her teammates researched the terrain and a potential race pro le. It included a YouTube video of a ride through the course.
“But you don’t get the true sense of how hilly and technical it is until you see it rsthand,” she said. “ e setting on Cornesti Plateau in Targu Mures, Romania was beautiful. e Black Forest is fairly open but has extremely steep hills and switchbacks, logs and rock drop-o s. e mountain bike course was very technical. We arrived several days in advance to become familiar with the course and get our equipment ready.”
Twelve members of team USA entered this rst-ever cross duathlon, about half of the eld; Whipple was the oldest. Her age group competitors were from Turkey and Austria. e temperature was in the mid-70s. e challenge was a late-in-the-day starting time.
“Most of us are used to racing in the morning hours,” Whipple said. “Our race would go o at 3:30 p.m. so managing timing on nutrition and rest was a challenge in itself. e men would start approximately 30 minutes before us. is would prove to be problematic on the mountain bike course later on.” e four-mile cross-country run featured a winding trail through an open forest and trails lined with ferns. Runners had to jump over logs and
scorers. “We know what we are going to get from those two. We’ve got to have three or four more guys provide o ense if we are going to beat some good teams.”
Dennis Pleuss is the sports information director for Je co Public Schools. For more Je co coverage, go to CHSAANow.com.
several streams. e trail went back up the hill in time for a repeat loop of the same course.
en it was time to transition onto the bikes.
“We launched onto the downhill single-track trail with very tight switchbacks,” Whipple said. “ e course wound its way along the hillside with several short steep climbs before descending further into the deepest part of the valley before dropping into the valley ravine. ere were several challenging tall rock drop-o s as well.
“Sections were so steep that even the most experienced elites were having to walk their bikes up short distances,” Whipple added. “ e men had been nishing up their last laps when the women began the bike segment. is was problematic in that there were very few passing zones, and the men were ying down the trail and running over anyone in their way. I had to bail several times but was not injured.” e ride also included several bear sightings.
After the 15-mile bike ride ended, Whipple and the others ran one more loop.
“As a seasoned competitor, one of my favorite sayings is, ‘It’s not over until it’s over,’” she said. “In multisport, you might think you’ve won, but there may have been a time penalty or a competitor slipping by that you might have missed. I had a sense from our Team USA leader (Tim Yount) that I had a slight lead over my competitors after the rst run but it would be an all-out race on the mountain bike to stay ahead. My European competition was more experienced on the MTB. is would prove correct. After over three hours on the bike, literally only four seconds separated me from my competition.”
‘On
Whipple rode the bike course “on the
edge.”
“ e faster you ride, the more technical it becomes,” she said. “While it can be inherently dangerous, there is a real sense of accomplishment, and I didn’t want to feel like I had left anything out once the race was over. It was over four hours of adrenaline rush.”
She also ran into another program: A race curfew.
“ e race time cuto was fast approaching. I knew that if I won, it would be tears of joy in the win. But also, it could be tears if I didn’t make the time cuto ,” she said. “I felt strong and determined heading out for the last run. I began to sense that I might actually win. is is where one has to dig deep to stay focused, will the body on and believe that you are going to nish.”
She climbed up one last hill, saw the nish line 120 yards ahead and a large timing clock.
“I had an exhilarating feeling of pride being a Team USA athlete,” she said. “As I crossed the nish line 20 minutes ahead of my competitor, my teammates were all cheering. e best part was that all of them had made a podium nish too. It was a formidable group of women – having been the very rst to compete in this inaugural cross-
duathlon. Over four hours of epic racing had bonded us all.”
Competing overseas
Whipple said there wasn’t anything unusual about competing in a foreign country, aside from COVID travel restrictions and staying healthy.
“ e European countries embrace the sport of duathlon, and it’s common to have thousands of people cheering at the race,” Whipple said. “Quite often they crowd the streets and plazas, and you ride through a sea of people, similar to the Tour de France. Children will ask for autographs and photos. Later, they will sometimes run alongside as you’re racing and chant, ‘USA USA.’ Each course has been uniquely di erent, from medieval towns with cobblestone streets to racing high in the Alps.”
Twelve of the members of the USA team competed alongside. She called the cross-duathlon event “the most epic racing experience” as a “pioneer” cross-duathlon competitor.
“ e setting of the Black Forest was awe-inspiring, as was the challenge of the race course,” Whipple said. “It all came down to being physically trained, mentally prepared, having perfect weather and having an inner con dence that this was going to be my day.”
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After a disappointing season, the Denver Broncos are due for a makeover.
Except this time, it isn’t coming in the form of a new shiny coach or quarterback, but a Mile High upgrade.
eir home, Empower Field at Mile High, is getting a renovation, and the NFL is lending a big hand in making the remodel come true.
e team announced Wednesday that it received more than $100 million through the league’s G-4 nancing
FROM
one listen to Vince Guaraldi’s immortal soundtrack, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” For those looking to experience the wonderful music with the perfect ambience, you’ll want to head to Dazzle Jazz, 1512 Curtis St. in Denver, for pianist Annie Booth’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” concerts
Performances are at 5:30 and 8 p.m. on ursday, Dec. 22, 11 a.m., 5:30 and 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 23 and 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 24. Booth will be joined by longtime bandmates bassist Patrick McDevitt and drummer
program. It’s the largest capital project investment in the stadium’s 22-year history.
“ is signi cant investment in Empower Field at Mile High —- the largest in the stadium’s history —demonstrates the deep commitment by the Walton-Penner Family OwnershipGroup to immediately and continually provide the best possible experience for our fans,” President Damani Leech said in a statement. “As we look toward the future with the long-term plans for our stadium, we are equally focused on the present to ensure Empower Field at Mile High remains a premier sports and entertainment venue.”
e NFL G-4 program allows NFL teams to receive assistance for stadium
Alejandro Castaño and other guests.
I can’t think of a better way to mark the last few days before Christmas, so get tickets at https://dazzledenver. com/upcoming-events/.
Take a worldwide ride at Union Station
For New Year’s Eve, Union Station is tapping into the luxurious legacy of the Orient Express with an evening full of activities to ring in the new year.
Union Station’s, 1701 Wynkoop in Denver, Orient Express event begins at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 31 by “departing” to Vienna and arriving in “Prague” right before midnight.
ere are di erent cabin levels available to attendees: e Main Cabin, e Bar Car Inside the Terminal Bar,
projects. e funding from the program is considered a loan and is repaid from the visiting team’s share of certain seating. A team applying for the loan is required to put up matching dollars.
e most recent example is the Bu alo Bill’s recent approval of $200 million toward a new stadium. With the loan and owners Ted and Kim Pegula matching the funds, the Bills have $400 million for the $1.354 billion project. Local taxpayers are expected to foot the rest of the bill.
For the Broncos, the G-4 loan will cover most of the costs. e Metropolitan Football Stadium District, which levies and collects sales taxes in nancing the stadium’s projects, have already earmarked $12 million toward
e Dining Car at the Cooper Lounge, Overnight Cabin Experience at the Crawford Hotel and Grande Suite Experience at the Crawford Hotel. Each one o ers food, drinks, music and much more.
Tickets are limited and advanced reservations are required. All guests must be at least 21 years old. A percentage of ticket sales will be donated to Children’s Hospital Colorado.
For information and tickets, visit www.denverunionstation.com/events/ orient-express-new-years-eve-party/.
Philadelphia’s e Roots have been mainstays of the rap scene since 1987,
the upgrades.
e project is slated to begin after this season and complete before the start of the 2023 season. It will upgrade video boards, premium hospitality areas, technology, concessions, the Broncos Team Store and elevators.
e Broncos say the video board enhancements are the most enticing of all the anticipated projects. e south-end scoreboard will expand by 70 percent. e new 72-feet-tall by 225-feet-wide scoreboard would be the fourth-largest scoreboard in the league.
is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t news source. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.
producing fantastic albums and adding musical wit to late night TV for more than a decade. is year, vocalist Black ought reminded listeners that he’s still one of the best rappers in the game with his Danger Mouse collaborative album, “Cheat Codes.”
Just two short days after Christmas, e Roots will be joined by southern rap icon Big K.R.I.T. in a tour stop at Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St. in Denver, at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 27. Get tickets at www.ticketmaster. com.
Clarke Reader’s column on culture appears on a weekly basis. He can be reached at Clarke.Reader@hotmail. com.
2023
Publisher: Jeffco Transcript
