SECOND SATURDAY
Summer fun in Arvada P2
PARKS MONTH
Celebrating Arvada Park and Recreation P3
CONGRATS, CLIFF
King Soopers employee retires after three decades P5
BY LILLIAN FUGLEI LFUGLEI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
As the clouds cleared from a rainy week, Olde Town Arvada was over owing with music, food and people.
From 5 to 8 p.m. on July 8, community members gathered for Olde Town Arvada’s Second Saturdays Summer Concert Series and Street Festival. With several roads shut down, a wide variety of vendors selling everything from food to tiedye to skincare products lined the streets.
Along with food and shopping, Second Saturday features several live musicians. is month included bands e Keeps, Hand Turkey, PJ Moon and e Swappers and Nik Parr & e Sel ess Lovers. With one stage on Grandview Ave. and another in Olde Towne Square, performances alternated between the stages, ensuring there was always music to be heard. is was the third of four Second Saturdays this summer. e last Second Saturday of the summer will be held on Aug. 12, 2023.
BY LILLIAN FUGLEI LFUGLEI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
As the long summer days draw many outside, Arvada is nding ways to celebrate. For July, that means Park and Recreation Month. Park and Recreation Month has been nationally celebrated every year in July since 1985. e initiative, started by the National Park andRecreation Association, celebrates parks and recreation and their ability to support strong communities.
Arvada’s City Council has proclaimed July Park and Recreation Month, making the celebration
o cial. e City of Arvada and Apex Park and Recreation have partnered to ensure the month is full of fun.
e City of Arvada created a calendar, “31 ways to celebrate 31 days
of Park and Recreation month in Arvada.” e calendar includes events like Movies Around Town, as well as places to visit like Ralston Creek Trail or the Olde Town Fountain.
Apex Park and Recreation is also helping with the festivities. e department has a variety of events throughout July, but its main focus is one big game of bingo.
Apex will have bingo cards avail-
able at any of its Guest Services desks. After picking up a bingo card and completing an activity found on the card, attendees can visit Guest Services again for a stamp on their card.
After lling up four squares up, down or crossways, participants can visit Guest Services for a prize.
SEE CELEBRATE, P5
This past weekend I had an interesting conversation with fellow “seniors” who are contemplating their next step in life.
They own a single-family detached home with lots of yard work to keep it looking beautiful. They love their home but feel the need to simplify their life as they age. (They’re in their 70s.)
Their options vary from downsizing to a patio home, moving to a 55+ rental (which Rita and I did last year), or moving out-of-state or out of the country. The political turmoil is what’s behind the last option, and Portugal has caught their attention.
This couple is also feeling an urgency to choose, because they know this is the time of year when the landscaping looks its best, and they don’t want to miss that window of opportunity.
Putting my “consultant” hat on, I had some insights of my own to share with them.
My first insight was that you don’t want to wait until you have to sell, such as from illness or death of a spouse. This couple is in excellent health, and that’s
what you want when you undertake such a serious life change.
My second insight was that renting is actually a great way to procrastinate, taking the pressure off choosing those other options. As a renter, you get to decide a year from now when your one-year lease expires. At that time you can buy that patio home, move locally, out-of-state or to Portugal — or you can renew your lease and put off the decision for another 12 months.
As a renter, especially in an apartment building or 55+ community, you are free to travel and check out all those options. And, since you sold your house already, you could be a cash buyer if buying is what you decide to do.
Selling your current house and buying a replacement home at the same time can be really strenuous in terms of moving. If you rent, you can take your time to move out of your current home, and you can take your time again when you decide to buy next year or the year after.
A third insight is financial. This couple owns their house “free and clear.”
Now
Now
When they sell, they’ll have nearly a million dollars that they can invest, enhancing their retirement income. That equity isn’t earning them anything sitting in their paid-for home. The income from the proceeds of selling will likely exceed what they pay for rent.
Lastly, they’ll be able to enjoy worryfree vacations. As a renter, they’ll be in a “lock-and-leave” environment like Rita and I are — able to go on cruises or other trips without any concern about breakins, snow-shoveling, lawn care or frozen pipes.
As a Realtor and homeowner, I never
As the Denver market enters a cooler season, the landscape is undergoing a notable shift with rising inventory and falling demand. This phenomenon, known as retraction, is causing a seasonal decline in prices as the balance between supply and demand evolves.
thought that I’d be a renter again, but I could tell that we were at the top of the market and that by “cashing out” on our single-family home in Golden, we’d have the freedom to make another decision at any time later on and not have to worry about anything. And because we had to downsize to sell our 4,000-sq.-ft. home and move into an 1,100-sq.-ft. apartment, that hard work was behind us. It was a great feeling when that downsizing was complete.
Do you have additional thoughts or questions about this topic? I’d be happy to hear from you at 303-525-1851.
Both attached and detached homes currently have a supply of 1.3 months, indicating limited inventory. However, experts predict supply will likely increase in the coming months.
The shift towards a cooler market creates a favorable environment for prospective buyers. With a decrease in multiple offers and the potential for price adjustments, buyers have an opportunity to make their move in a less competitive market. Whether they are first-time homebuyers or looking to upgrade, the current market conditions present an opening for strategic decisionmaking.
If you're interested in learning more about the metro Denver real estate market, my broker associates and I can provide valuable insights tailored to your specific needs. Our contact information is below.
This 2-BR condo
the very center of downtown Winter Park offers great views and easy access to all the activities Winter Park has to offer. Watch the narrated video tour at www.WinterParkCondo.info
Recent data reveals a decline in the occurrence of multiple offers. For detached single-family homes, the percentage of properties selling for over asking price dropped by 4.7%, settling at 41.1%. Similarly, attached residences experienced a 2.0% decrease, with 37.4% of homes selling for over asking price.
While attached single-family home prices experienced a minor dip of 0.1%, averaging at $480,656, detached singlefamily home prices rose by 1.7% month over month, reaching an average price of $796,702.
The data in this report covers the following counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Elbert and Jefferson.
This representation is based in whole or in part on content supplied by Metrolist Inc., d/b/a REcolorado. REcolorado does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data from REcolorado may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. All data above is for the month of June 2023.
You’ll love the updates to this 3-BR home at 1240 N. Downing St., a short walk from Cheesman Park in Denver’s historic Capitol Hill — from the dream kitchen with white quartz countertops, farm sink, stainless appliances and rolling island to the primary suite in the basement! My narrated video tour will give you a taste of it and inspire you to request a showing or come to the open house on Saturday. You can view more pictures plus that video tour (including drone footage) at www.DenverHome.info. Then come to our open house this Saturday, July 15th, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Or call Jim Smith at 303-525-1851 for a private showing.
$995,000
Jim
Going grocery shopping, you get to know the familiar faces you see each week. One familiar face left Arvada’s 64th and Ward Road King Soopers after working there for almost three decades.
Cliff Evans began working at King Soopers in October of 1993 and retired in June this year. For the last nearly 30 years, he’s been there, bagging groceries for customers.
“The reason that this retirement is extra special is that Cliff has special needs, due to health complications,” said Evans’ cousin, Paul Shattuck. “Cliff has worked hard to serve the Arvada community.”
Evans’ manager, Rhett Male, said he had been a good employee throughout his time there. According to Male, his greatest impact has been simply the fact that he’s stayed for so long.
“Cliff has had an impact of lon-
gevity, making it feel like a community there,” Male said. “The community sees him as a staple of Arvada.”
Male added that King Soopers was “happy to have had him.”
“He’s a great guy,” Male said.
“Well known to the community, he’s a staple here. Cliff shows up everyday and takes pride in his work.”
“It was a good learning experience for me,” said Evans. “I liked the customers and my coworkers throughout the years. I plan on keeping in touch with all of them.”
Evans lives with his father, who he’s been taking care of for the past several years.
Shattuck said that Evans “really stepped up and is taking care of his father. He’s doing a fantastic job.”
“I’m going to relax,” said Evans of his retirement. “[And] help my dad out where I can.”
After 29 years at King Soopers, Evans is ready for a peaceful retirement. However, Shattuck emphasized the importance of acknowledging all of Evans’ hard work.
“He’s not one to toot his own horn,” said Shattuck, “but he deserves recognition.”
If participants ll up their bingo card and get blackout, they will be entered in a drawing for a 20-visit punch card with Apex.
“ e goal of Park and Recreation Month is to raise awareness of the essential services that park and recreation professionals provide to communities across the United States,” said Sean Star, communications manager in the department of vibrant community and neighborhoods for the City of Arvada. is year, the theme is “Where Community Grows.” Celebrating the role of park and recreation workers in bringing people together and creating strong communities, the theme focuses on the positive impact parks and recreation has.
“Apex believes Parks and Rec Month is important because we want Arvada to be socially, emotionally, and physically healthy,” said Katie Groke, Apex’s director of community services. “Parks and Rec Month is a great way to highlight what all Apex has to o er in Arvada, and it’s a fun month to celebrate recreation.”
Star also encouraged community members to share the positive impacts park and recreation has had on their lives with the hashtag #ArvadaParksMonth on all social media platforms.
“Arvada is home to an abundance of high-quality park and recreation opportunities,” added Star. “It’s im-
portant to show our appreciation to the people who make those opportunities possible.”
The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, The Sun contributes to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado.
The Sun, launched in 2018, is committed to fact-based, in-depth and non-partisan journalism. It covers everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education.
Now, The Colorado Sun co-owns this and other Colorado Community Media newspapers as a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy. The Sun is CCM’s partner for statewide news.
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FoothillsAnimalShelter.org info@fas4pets.org
BY DEBORAH GRIGSBY DGRIGSBY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
James Harvey remembers when there were two Air Forces.
“One comprised us, and the other was for the whites,” explained the soon-to-be centenarian from his home in Lakewood, Colorado.
Harvey knows this as fact because he’s one of just a handful of remaining Tuskegee Airmen, a group of Black military pilots and airmen who fought not only against enemy aircraft but against overt racism in the same Air Force they pledged to serve.
Born July 13, 1923, in Montclair, New Jersey, James H. Harvey III was the oldest of four children born to James and Cornelia Harvey. He attended high school in Pennsylvania, where he was an outstanding student, the captain of the basketball team, class president, and graduated as valedictorian.
Harvey said he never encountered much racism until he raised his right hand, swore an oath to serve and protect his country — and entered the segregated U.S. Army.
Drafted in 1943, he was soon reassigned to the Army Air Corps, the predecessor of today’s modern U.S. Air Force.
Harvey will tell you in great detail that things in the military were di erent back then.
Very di erent — especially if you were a Black man.
“You just go with the ow,” said Harvey of how he coped. “You just go with the ow or something happens — something mysteriously happens. So, I just went with the ow.”
When asked why he did, he replied, “Because I wanted to live.”
Harvey settled into military service, classi ed as an engineer. As the war in the Paci c raged, engineers were needed to build and maintain the many makeshift jungle runways used by American forces. But Harvey was more interested in ying planes than building places for them to land. So, he applied to the Aviation Cadet Training Program in hopes of being accepted into the Tuskegee Flight Training Program in Alabama, a separate school designated for Black pilots.
In 1925 the U.S. Army War College released called “ e Use of Negro Manpower in War.” Many say this report “set the overall tone” for how the military viewed Black men.
e report stated they “lacked intel-
ligence and were cowardly under combat conditions” and lacked the “ability to operate complex machinery.”
To prove this, the U.S. Army set up an “experiment” in 1941 to prove the ndings of the War College Report.
Tuskegee was an experiment that was designed to fail — to prove that Black men didn’t have the capacity to y.
But instead, the program produced some of the nation’s most pro cient ghter pilots.
“I applied. I was accepted,” said Harvey. “However, I had to take an examination rst, and there were 10 of us that reported to Bolling Field to take this test — nine whites and myself.”
Both Black and white candidates took the same preliminary tests to get into the Aviation Cadet Program. Black pilots, however, would be trained at a segregated eld in Alabama.
Testing for this program was known among servicemembers to be notoriously rigorous and particularly unforgiving.
“Well, we took the examination, did everything they wanted us to do, and when the dust cleared, there were only two of us standing — this white guy and myself,” Harvey said.
Long were the hours and challenging were the tasks for Harvey, a selfdescribed perfectionist.
“If everything is perfect, there’s no challenge after that,” he said. “I never dreamed or thought about washing out in ying school. I knew I was gonna make it because I did everything right.”
Because, as a Black man, he had to.
“You only had so many hours or days to learn something and if you didn’t, you were out. It’s that simple,” Harvey said. “You only had a certain amount of time to learn something and if you exceeded that time, you were gone.”
When asked if he’s still a perfectionist, he grins.
“Well, I’m back at it,” he laughs. “I got married, so that was kind of the end of the perfectionism, but my wife passed, so I’m back at it again.” Perfectionism.
“I’ve always been that way,” Harvey said. “Like Disney, when I was growing up… the Disney characters, I’d sit down and draw them — they were better than what Disney put out!”
Former fighter pilot who served in the once-segregated U.S. military talks missions, a missing trophy and which ‘Top Gun’ movie he prefersRetired Lt. Col. James Harvey III looks forward to his big birthday bash to celebrate his 100th year. The former fighter pilot and Tuskegee “Top Gun” says when it comes to the Tom Cruise “Top Gun” movies, “I liked the first one better.”
don’t think Minnie was on the scene yet.”
So, what should we call you?
Harvey earned his wings at Tuskegee Army Air Field on Oct. 16, 1944, near the end of the war. A graduate of Class 44-4, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and began his career as a ghter pilot.
While many Tuskegee Airmen were already ying in Europe, protecting heavy bomber aircraft on their way to strategic targets, Harvey did not get that opportunity.
“ at’s because Hitler knew I was coming and he gave up the following month,” he joked. “I was supposed to ship in April 1945. And I had my bags packed, ready to catch the train, and I got a message the war was over and they expected the wind-up of the whole European theater.”
On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, creating the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services and banning segregation in the Armed Forces.
Harvey says the order was a step in the right direction, but it also meant his unit would be disbanded and its personnel integrated into other units that would “have” them.
les — which included their o cial photos — were forwarded to the gaining military unit.
“So, you see, the wing commander had our picture,” Harvey said. “So, Eddie and I report to Misawa, Japan, and before we got there, he had all the pilots report to the base theater and he told them, ‘We have these two Negro pilots coming in and they will be assigned to one of the squadrons.’ e pilots said, ‘No way are we going to y with them. No way.’”
Harvey said he and Drummond were told about the meeting by the pilots themselves.
Regardless of the sentiment, Harvey and Drummond were there to stay and were assigned to a unit ying the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star.
As they wrapped up their initial meeting, Harvey said the man who would be their new wing commander casually asked, “So, what do you want us to call you?”
An uncomfortable moment of silence ensued.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m a rst lieutenant and Eddie Drummond is a second lieutenant… how about lieutenants Harvey and Drummond?’”
In January 1949, the newly-
nery meet to be held at Las Vegas Air Force Base, Nevada.
It was o cially called the United States Continental Gunnery Meet, which would later evolve into the USAF William Tell Competition. Other derivatives would include Gunsmoke and Red Flag.
Harvey’s unit, the 332nd Fighter Group, selected 1st Lt. Harvey III, 1st Lt. Harry Stewart Jr., and Capt. Alva Temple. ey were all Black pilots, including the alternate pilot, 1st Lt. Halbert Alexander.
“We met with Col. Davis (Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.), prior to leaving for the competition,” Harvey said. “We chit-chatted, and his nal remark was, ‘If you don’t win, don’t come back.’ And with those words of encouragement, o we went.”
It was May 1949.
e competition for “Top Gun” would prove formidable in the conventional piston category, ying the North American P-51 Mustang and the North American F-82 Twin Mustang.
ese were some of the best pilots and aircraft maintenance teams in the country ying some of the most advanced aircraft in inventory.
“And we’re ying the obsolete P-47 underbolt,” Harvey said “It was big, clumsy — and heavy.”
“Well, we won the meet,” said Harvey. “Our closest competitor was the P-51 out t… they were only 515,000 points behind us.”
They were the winners, but…
Each year, the Air Force Association publishes an almanac citing overall force strength, statistics and such — including all winners of the weapons meet from 1949 through the present day.
“But, each year when that almanac came out, the winner of the 1949 weapons meet was mysteriously listed as ‘unknown,’” Harvey points out. “We didn’t nd out, we, meaning us, the Tuskegee Airmen, didn’t nd out about this magazine until 1995.”
It was only by chance Harvey’s group commander stumbled across an almanac and noticed the winner of the 1949 U.S. Air Force Weapons Meet was “unknown.”
e almanac was corrected in April 1995 to show the 332nd Fighter Group as the o cial winners of the 1949 weapons meet. ough the records were xed, one more mystery would remain.
‘That trophy will never be on display’ As winners of the rst Air Force “Top Gun” competition in the
Booms criss-cross a small creek along Kerr Gulch Road near Kittredge on July 10 after a tanker carrying 8,300 gallons of fuel overturned on July 6. e booms absorb any fuel that spilled into the creek.
e driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, and it is not known how much fuel leaked out, though it doesn’t appear to be extensive, according to Evergreen Fire/Rescue.
Crews from Evergreen Fire/Rescue and West Metro Fire with help from the Evergreen Metro District and Denver Water were on scene all night on July 6, emptying the tanker. A tow truck uprighted the truck on July 7, and it took time to turn the semi around so it could be towed northbound on Kerr Gulch Road to Evergreen Parkway.
Stacee Martin, an EFR spokeswoman, said the semi was traveling southbound on Kerr Gulch Road and overturned into a ditch near High Road and South Piney Ridge Road. e truck driver indicated he had moved the truck to the shoulder to allow a car to pass, and the soft shoulder gave way, rolling the truck. It landed in a gulley with a nearby small temporary creek that currently
has water owing there.
An environmental team provided by O en Petroleum put booms near the crash site and further below the site, said Martin, who observed that the booms near the crash had turned brown on July 7, showing they were picking up the fuel, and the booms further below remained white.
e Canyon Courier reached out to O en Petroleum for more information, but the company has not yet responded.
Evergreen Fire/Rescue received the call at 7:56 p.m. July 6, and it immediately contacted West Metro Fire, which has an expert hazardous materials team, to help at the scene, Martin said. e fuel spill came from a saddle tank, not the main tank, but crews emptied all ve compartments, she said.
“ is is not a normal call for us, and we hit the button to get the cavalry going,” Martin said. “We worked together as a team.”
e West Metro hazardous materials team drilled holes into each compartment, sucked the fuel out of the tanks and then plugged the holes so nothing would leak out once the truck was upright, she said. Evergreen Fire/Rescue had
re trucks and re ghters on scene in case sparks from the drill caused a re. e fuel was o oaded into another tanker.
“It was a slow process,” she said. “ ey grounded the equipment and the tanker to make sure there were no sparks, but we were ready just in case.”
Martin said she didn’t know why the truck driver was traveling down Kerr Gulch Road, which is steep and winding near Kittredge.
According to Evergreen Fire/ Rescue, Colorado State Patrol is investigating the crash.
Martin added that the incident was a great opportunity for Evergreen re ghters to work with the West Metro team.
“ e good news is nobody got hurt, and it was a great team e ort,” she added.
She also thanked neighbors who were very forgiving of the lights, noise and blocked road all night and into the morning.
when you shop, bring your bag
scan to learn more about our collective effort
For football rans, rest easy. e season is right around the corner. e annual 7-on-7 football tournament at Dakota Ridge High School featured several teams battling it out to ramp up for the impending season. e competition revolves around drills and plays between both teams on o ense
and defense. ere are no pads and contact is limited to two-handtouch.
Ralston Valley, Columbine, Dakota Ridge, Golden, Evergreen, Fairview, Pomona and Green Mountain all participated.
Fairview beat Ralston Valley 1917 in the championship game on June 29. ough it’s not a real game on the scorecard, it’s a sure sign that football is rcloser than fans might think along the Front Range.
Colorado Community Media thanks Je co Public Schools Sports Information Director Dennis Pleuss for his annual coverage of this event.
When the Denver Museum of Nature & Science was looking for di erent ways to engage with the community, sta kept receiving a similar request through its community outreach.
Feedback included statements such as: “We love going to the museum, but we will love it more if it comes to us” and “Can you imagine the museum showing up in our neighborhood like an ice cream truck, but with science?”
“ ese comments inspired us to explore ways to bring the museum experience directly to the neighborhoods, making it more accessible and convenient,” said Daniel Ville, the museum’s manager for community engagement.
e newly launched Curiosity Cruiser is the museum’s response to these requests. It is a kind of museum on wheels — one that brings activities and education to the inquisitive of all ages.
“ ere was a massive amalgamation of ideas, prototyping, design, redesign and collaboration, with not just our internal sta and partners,” said Zack Garvin, community event specialist. “We did our homework with the community as well. So, the Curiosity Cruiser was designed for multigenerational groups involving adults and families.”
Currently the Cruiser has three di erent exhibits to o er visitors:
Wonder-osity, Flavorology and Spicy: Revealed. Experts travel with the vehicle to connect with visitors and run the exhibits.
Wonder-osity provides participants with the opportunity to solve a mystery centered on missing hikers, and encourages critical thinking and the power of keeping an open mind. Flavorology immerses participants in the world of the ve tastes — bitter, spicy, umami, sweet and sour — to teach about the di erences between taste and avor. And Spicy: Revealed delves into the science behind spicy foods and avors.
“ ere are so many basic things that people do all day, everyday with fascinating scienti c explanations,” Garvin said. “Our three themes
explore how you interact with the world around you and understanding it through the scienti c method.”
Designed to be highly mobile and adaptable, the cruiser has already appeared at events such as Adams County Pride, the Juneteenth Music Festival and Denver PrideFest. In addition to large community events like these, it can also be brought to smaller-scale happenings like block parties and breweries.
“ e activities o ered on the Curiosity Cruiser are carefully crafted to ensure they appeal to a wide range of interests and abilities,” Ville said. “From fun personality quizzes to hands-on experiments, the experiences provided are designed to spark curiosity, foster learning and
encourage active participation.”
Not only does the cruiser meet residents where they are, it also provides a critical service by demystifying scienti c concepts and o ering informal ways to learn about complicated concepts.
“Providing everyone with the understanding that you, too, are indeed a scientist — by very de nition — can help inspire and foster creativity,” Garvin said. “Everyone deserves to know just how brilliant they are. If we can come bring that to your neighborhood, all the better.”
It isn’t often that an institution like the DMNS can respond directly to community feedback and meet people exactly where they are, but the Curiosity Cruiser allows the museum to do both.
“ e Curiosity Cruiser’s content has been thoughtfully created to address community voices and provide welcoming spaces,” Ville said. “ e goal is to leave people with smiles on their faces, fostering a love for learning, and nurturing their curiosity for the world around them.”
Look for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s Curiosity Cruiser at these summer events in Denver:
Family Nature Adventure Day at Blu Lake
July 15: 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Mile High Flea Market
Aug. 6: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Huerta Urbana Farmers Market
Aug. 11: 2-6 p.m.
Cherry Creek Farmers Market
Aug. 19: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Find more information on the cruiser, including stops that are outside of Denver, at dmns.org.
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‘You,A group of people participate in an activity inside the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s Curiosity Cruiser last year. PHOTO BY JULIO POLETTI / DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE
Every transition produces winners and losers. U.S. scal policy shifted in the 1880s and the economy of Aspen cratered for decades. Some silver-mining towns never recovered. In the 1980s, newspapers were plentiful. Ink now stains far fewer printers and editorial wretches. Amazon thrives but Sears and Kmart, no more.
How will Colorado’s coal-based towns transition as we quell emissions from energy production? Legislation of recent years seeks to deliver what lawmakers call a just transition, meaning that Pueblo, Craig and other coal-based communities will stay on their feet.
e newest round of job-producing investments in emission-free technologies, though, call into question
how di cult that will be. Two new factories are to be created in Brighton, on metropolitan Denver’s northeastern fringe. e combined investment of $450 million will deliver more than 1,200 average- to better-paying jobs.
VSK Energy will manufacture solar photovoltaic panels and will employ more than 900 people. It is a direct result of incentives in the federal Ination Reduction Act of 2022, which seeks to restore U.S. manufacturing of renewable energy components.
e second factory will produce a new generation of energy-rich lithium-ion batteries. e company, Amprius Technology, says that a new anode, which will use silicon mined
of infrastructure for Amprius, said something similar. “Colorado and Gov. Polis are embracing clean energy, and batteries align with Colorado’s clean energy goals,” he told me. “ ere may be synergies.”
Allen Bestin Montana, will double the range of a Tesla, allowing it more than enough capacity to roam Colorado from corner to corner and the ability to juice up to 80% capacity in six minutes. e company also says the new batteries will deliver value to drones and aircraft. Sounds like a game-changer.
Both companies cited proximity to Interstate 76 as a signi cant consideration in siting their factories. ey also have proximity to I-25, I-70 and I-80 plus Denver International Airport. If of not immediate importance, they also have access to transcontinental rail lines.
Availability of a large, skilled workforce was also cited. e battery company also cited the proximity of the Colorado School of Mines and other universities. It will employ a halfdozen Ph.Ds. in the research facility associated with the factory.
Something more intangible was also in play. It was described as a “strong cultural t” by Ashwini Agarwal, the leader of Vikram Solar, the parent company for the solar manufacturer. Supply chains matter, but Colorado’s initiative in accelerating the energy transition also matters.
Andrew Huie, the vice president
Other companies are also carving out futures in this new energy economy along the Front Range. e Denver Business Journal recently cited three companies from Denver to Fort Collins that hope to stake a future with new batteries. And Lightning eMotors manufactures electric vehicles in Loveland.
Brighton already has Vestas, which arrived in 2010 to manufacture nacelles, containing the gearboxes and drive trains for wind turbines. Vestas also built a factory in Pueblo, near the Comanche Generating Station.
CS Wind, now the owner of the Pueblo factory, this year began an expansion that will add 850 jobs. It cited In ation Reduction Act provisions that encourage wind production.
Je Shaw, president of the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation, said he expects announcement of other renewable-sector projects in the Pueblo area and probably throughout the state during the next 12 to 18 months. “A lot of it has to do with the In ation Reduction Act,” he said, and in particular the law’s buy-American provision.
Already, Pueblo County has been rapidly adding both solar and storage. But so far, the new tax base for Pueblo
won’t balance that from Comanche. Xcel Energy, Comanche’s primary owner, has agreed to pay taxes until 2040.
Western Slope towns dependent on coal extraction and combustion are a harder sell. At Craig, there was hope on becoming a hydrogen hub, but Colorado has pinned its highest hope for federal funding on a project involving Rawhide, the coal but soon to become gas plant near Brush. Nuclear has its fans in Craig and beyond, and the Economist notes that the Biden administration is dangling billions in nancial incentives nationally. at same magazine also concludes that unresolved problems cloud the future of this technology.
As for new factories, Craig is 90 miles from the nearest interstate, at the end of a railroad and ve hours from DIA. It does have a workforce with skills, but so far, no new applications for those skills.
At Nucla and Naturita, which lost their small coal plant in 2019, the challenge is even greater.
Maybe Craig, Hayden, and the other towns will gure out new careers by working with the state and the utilities. But maybe not.
You can nd a deeper read on this at BigPivots.com, where Allen Best tracks Colorado’s energy and water transitions as best he can with his set of skills. Every newspaper that employed him no longer exists.
Summer break is upon us. For parents, this means a muchneeded break from cramming activities and school into a day that simply doesn’t contain enough hours, and a break from the school emails that add even more to your to-do list. For kiddos, a break from homework and early wake-up times. However, the prospect of keeping kids entertained and maintaining some semblance of order can be overwhelming. Add in trying to navigate camp registration mayhem that
GUEST COLUMN
rivals getting tickets to Taylor Swift, only to then have to put all of those moving pieces into one streamlined and e cient calendar — well, it’s a lot, and frankly doesn’t always feel like that much of a break. Ensure your family thrives this summer (not just survives) with the
helpful tips below.
During the school year, kids thrive on the structure provided by their daily routines. Summer vacation disrupts this structure, potentially leading to restlessness and boredom — and I think it’s safe to say that hearing “I’m bored” from your kids can be triggering.
Start and end each day with a consistent wake-up time and bedtime. Keep hygiene routines the same. e more these routines
stay somewhat similar to the school year, the less adjustment and struggles you’ll have getting back into the swing of things in the fall. Divide the day into structured time blocks for various activities. is can include dedicated time for learning, outdoor play, creative activities, quiet time and family time. Setting aside speci c times for di erent activities provides a sense of consistency as well as regular scenery changes. Having these
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It has been a wet, wet, wet spring here in Denver. I moved here in 2017 and I have not experienced such a verdant spring since arriving. As such, I’ve already been getting more than my fair share of mushroom inquiries. Recently, I’ve answered questions from a concerned dog owner who passed along pictures of a Stropharia mushroom, and some primordial birds nest fungi, growing in the wet mulch of a local dog run. Apart from telling him to pick and toss the mushrooms and enjoy the birds nest fungi, there’s not much else that can be done other than monitor what your four-legged furry child sticks in its mouth.
But this got me thinking, what have people been seeing in this wet, wet, wet spring? To nd out,
blocks doesn’t mean you have to have activities to ll every minute. Give kids some ownership of how to ll the time via a weekly family meeting to plan the upcoming week. Less mental load for parents and more engagement from kids equals a win-win.
Maintaining regular meal times is also a huge help in creating a summer routine. Meal planning can be a lot, even when parents aren’t having to plan three meals a day plus snacks, but giving your kids an opportunity to contribute to the meal plan is a great way to lighten the load. Tired of hearing, “I don’t like that?” Have everyone put their favorite meals in a jar so you can just grab and plug them in, depersonalizing the choice and minimizing disagreements.
Make the most of the warm weather by engaging in outdoor activities. Like recess, but di erent. Plan family hikes, picnics or visits to local parks. Encouraging kids to explore nature, go for bike rides, take ownership of daily dog walks, play in the water — anything to get outside and enjoy some Vitamin D. If there are struggles to decide what to do, using the same meal option trick works well as the element of surprise overcomes complaints — hopefully.
Summer vacation doesn’t mean learning should take a backseat. Make a bucket list of local museums, libraries or science centers to visit. Game nights for some quality non-screen time also keeps minds sharp. You’ve heard of chore charts, but reading charts in the summer are a great option, too. A throwback to Pizza Hut Book-It, anyone? I’m an especially huge fan of journal-
GUEST COLUMN
Andrew WilsonI decided to jump onto iNaturalist and see what others around Denver have put on the app since June 1. In the rst 12 days of June in Denver County, there was a total of 103 mushroom observations on iNaturalist, representing 42 species. Several observations of the beautiful — but potentially poisonous — Chlorophyllum were made. ere’s also the beautiful Lepiota lilacia that has been surfacing in mulch and yards. en there’s the fun, but adult rated, Phallus hadriani. ese are fun because they often start o as rubbery eggs. I get a kick from the startled gardeners believing aliens have laid o spring in their mulch beds. When they come out of their shells, these impudent alien forms
ing to capture the day, and highly suggest making a point to capture some gratitude as well.
Set up a designated art area at home where kids can paint, draw or engage in crafts. We say the mess is worth it — mostly, unless slime is involved!
When it’s too much
We live in a world of doing it all at all costs, and the reality is we need to shift that narrative. Asking for help is OK. Taking a break is OK. Not doing everything on your list is OK. Need a quick self-care moment or run errands sans kids? Form a baby-sitting co-op. Babysitters are saviors, but they also come at a cost and can be hard to nd. One solution is to form a co-op with friends or neighbors.
Reading this and still wondering where you’ll nd all the time? We get it, we highly recommend checking out TULA — your personal assistant and/or personal chef at the touch of a button, ready to take over your to-do list so you can focus on the fun.
There will be days, even hours, when it feels like you’re both surviving and thriving in equal, and sometimes less-than-equal parts, and that’s OK. Navigating summer vacation with kids can be a joyful and rewarding experience when approached with the right mindset, but it’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed, too. Give yourself a break, give your kids a break. Giving grace, leaning into flexibility and shooting for a bit of balance will serve everyone well and make for a summer of fun and memories.
Megan Trask and Cody Galloway are Denver residents and co-founders of TULA Life Balanced. Learn more about their business at tulabalanced.com.
de nitely don’t conform to polite societal standards.
What sort of surprises me are the lack of Agaricus barnardii observations on iNaturalist. It’s surprising because they’re so abundant in Denver’s parks that they’re almost a weed. However, they’re easy to identify because they look like a fat portobella mushroom, but smell kind of like the ocean. Another species that people didn’t put on iNaturalist in early is Coprinellus micaceous. is is truly a weedy mushroom species because when it’s wet, you always see it fruiting in large “inky” bouquets at the base of trees and tree stumps. One of our most common wood eaters, it is mushrooms like this that return stumps back to the soil.
As a mycologist, this is a fun time
of year to help people explore their mushroom curiosities. ere’s a ton of diversity out there, and each one of the species mentioned above can be found around Denver and the Denver Botanic Gardens. For those who are truly enthusiastic, the best way to gain experience in mushroom identi cation is to join your local mushroom club. Check out the Colorado Mycological Society. ey have monthly meetings at the Denver Botanic Gardens and you can go there to meet with other mushroom enthusiasts who are happy to share their knowledge. Better yet, join the society and go on a local mushroom foray.
Several years ago, someone walking into Barbara Pontarelli’s home for the rst time may have gotten the feeling that they’d become a giant.
Hanging on the walls of her kitchen, small scenes exhibited the culinary décor of di erent eras. In one display box, tiny countertops of a retro 1950s kitchen popped with color. In another, little stainless steel appliances lled the space.
Miniature tables and chairs were laid out in parlor scenes in the house’s living room, and Pontarelli’s bathrooms were dentist-themed. Since her husband was a dentist, she honored his career with small recliners and minuscule toothbrushes on display.
“When I didn’t have enough space to display stu , I would empty closets,” said the Wheat Ridge resident, who now lives part-time in California.
Of the countless miniature scenes on display in her home, Pontarelli collected about a quarter of them.
e rest, she made herself.
“It’s, you know, how I express my artistic side,” she said. “I can’t explain the draw, but it’s de nitely a passion … I just nd this so satisfying — to produce something small to be as close as it can be to its full-size counterpart.”
Pontarelli is part of a passionate community of miniaturists, or people who enjoy the art, hobby or collection of miniature objects.
In the metro Denver area, it doesn’t take a magnifying glass to see that the miniaturist community is thriving — from meetup groups to classes, to a museum, the love of tiny things is big in the hearts of many.
A museum of tiny things
Pontarelli is a board member at the institution at the epicenter of the Denver metro miniaturist community: the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys. In addition to its miniature collection, the museum displays and teaches visitors about antique toys and special dolls from over the decades.
e museum recently moved to 830 Kipling St. in Lakewood after spending almost 40 years in Denver’s City Park West neighborhood.
In its new location, Executive Director Wendy Littlepage said the museum welcomes about 5,000 visitors per year,
“( e museum) is so many di erent things to di erent people,” she said. “We have people that come in that love just the exactitude of the small scale, and then we have people that love the
whimsy of the small scale. We have a lot of people that come for nostalgia … And then I think some people just like that it’s a bit of a mental break.”
One of her favorite things about miniatures is that they are for everyone. Some people come into the museum thinking that the collection, which includes several intricate dollhouses and other cases of miniature objects and artwork, is mainly for kids.
But the houses are full of detailed — and sometimes even functional — replicas of what one would see in a normal house, including cupboards, dressers, paintings, beds, sinks, animals and food.
Considering the familiarity and intricacies of the pieces, Littlepage said some of the collection’s biggest fans tend to be craftsmen.
“We had a nish carpenter come through, and he just said over and over, ‘ is is all insane! How did they get that nish?’” she said. “ ere’s one house where the plumbing is really exposed – and it’s not functional plumbing – but we had a plumber come through and he was just like, ‘ at’s what every house needs.’”
In one display case, tiny handmade food is almost microscopically detailed — including an orange that can be peeled to show the segments underneath and an onion with all of its layers. Other displays show miniature artwork by Indigenous artists that represent Indigenous homes.
For many miniature items, artists use the materials that the regular-sized objects would be made of, like wood and fabric. Paintings are painted, embroidered things are embroidered and knit clothing is knit with small thread.
But for other mini details, artists get more creative, using paper to make owers and polymer clay to construct food items.
While many miniatures are created by hobbyists and artisan creators, others are mass-produced. Just like with real furniture, Wendy said, collectors will determine which types to buy based on their speci c needs.
High-end artisan miniature pieces can sell for thousands of dollars, Littlepage said. e miniature art gallery in the museum was appraised at $18,000 about 15 years ago, so it’s likely worth even more now, she added.
Crafting classes
For those who like to make miniatures, there are clubs and classes to teach di erent skills. For a long time, Pontarelli was the president of one of these clubs, called Wee Wonders of Arvada.
e longstanding miniature group meets monthly at the museum to work on projects together or teach and learn new skills from each other, like how to make stained glass windows or create stucco.
“We have people at every level,” Pontarelli said. “I love getting together with these people and hearing what they’ve gured out and what they’re doing and always learning something new.”
In addition to crafting by hand, miniaturists also use new tools and technologies to create their artwork.
“I’ve noticed a change in the level of expertise over the years,” Pontarelli said. “Before, we used mini scroll saws and mini table saws and Dremel tools — we still use the Dremel quite a bit — but now that we can get laser-cut wood or 3D-printed items, it’s sort of changing the face of the miniature world.”
e museum also hosts classes for kids.
“ ere’s a whole in ux of young people into the hobby and for those of us who are in it, that’s kind of exciting, because, you know, we don’t want to
see it disappear,” Pontarelli said.
For her, miniatures are a great way for kids to explore their creativity.
“We’re just trying to nd any avenue to trigger their creativity, that’s really what it’s all about,” she said. “In this tech world, we need to foster any outside creativity activities that we can, because it’s really important that these kids exercise that part of their brain.”
To learn and wonder e dedication and ambition within the community of miniaturists is special, Littlepage said.
“My favorite thing about the miniature community is they’re such learners,” she said. “Like I have one of my volunteers who has been retired for a while … and she bought a laser cutter and has taught herself to program it.”
She said that problem-solving attitude, plus the childlike wonder of enjoying cute things, make miniaturists special.
Littlepage encouraged people to take a break from their busy lives to check out the museum, where tickets for adults are $5 and children and seniors are $4.
“It’s a great space because you have to slow down,” she said. “You come in fast, you miss a lot. So being able to come in, take a few breaths and just sort of nd the most ridiculous tiny thing you can nd.”
For those who have their interest piqued in the world of miniatures, Pontarelli said it’s never too late to start. Creating and collecting can be for anyone at any time and any age, she said.
And for those who don’t know where to begin, just remember — it’s OK to start small.
There’s nothing like reaching a major goal after years of work. is is a concept the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival is very aware of — not only has it grown by leaps and bounds in its more than two decades of existence, but it achieved a major milestone this year.
“ is year we were able to purchase a eet of new boats – Hong Kong-style BuK Dragon Boats,” said Sara Moore, executive director of Colorado Dragon Boat. “Getting these boats is 23 years in the making and we’re so excited to have them.”
Dragon boat racing is just one thing visitors can explore at this year’s annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, which will be held at Sloan’s Lake, 25th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevardin Denver, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 22 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 23.
is year’s free festival is bigger than ever, which re ects the growing interest from members of the Asian American Native Hawaiian Paci c Islander (AANHPI) community and those who want to learn about and celebrate the vibrant cultures represented at the event. Last year’s festival drew in more than 170,000 people, according to Moore, and this year is on track to match or exceed that number.
“We’re becoming more inclusive and working with the community to make sure everyone’s voices are
heard,” she added.
“We see a huge thirst and desire for Coloradoans to come out and support these organizations.”
e nonpro t organization puts hours and hours of work into the festival, which also doubles as a crucial fundraiser for Colorado Dragon Boat. All the festival’s beverage centers are run by local nonpro ts that also use the event as a fundraiser, so every dollar spent on a beverage is split between the nonpro t sponsor and Colorado Dragon Boat.
“We have great volunteers and sponsors who make the festival possible,” Moore said. “It is inspiring and empowering to see the community respond in such a needed way.”
In addition to the titular racing, visitors have a bevy of options for exploring. ere’s the Asian Marketplace and Asian Craft Tent, both of which feature unique gifts and artworks. And speaking of art, the festival features three performance stages, where a range of performers will share traditional and contemporary Asian and Asian-American instrumental, vocal, choral and dance performances.
I can’t forget to mention the food, which is always delicious and can
be found in the Taste of Asia Food Court. ere are all kinds of options to select from, so regardless of what you’re in the mood for, you’re guaranteed to nd something that suits.
No mater where your interests or curiosities lead, the festival will provide an opportunity for enlightenment, entertainment and, most importantly, cultural connection.
“I love seeing the community coming together in celebration, especially since there aren’t enough events that highlight the contributions of the AANHPI community,” Moore said. “ e festival is a great way to tell the world we’re here, showcase all we’ve done and that we’re not going anywhere.”
All the details can be found at www.cdbf.org/summerinfo.
Lakewood celebrates Park and Rec Month
e City ofLakewood is celebrating of Park and Recreation Month by honoring the parks and recreation employees who keep these crucial resources vibrant for residents and visitors.
ere all kinds of classes to try out, pools to swim, and open spaces ripe for exploration. Find the full listings of parks at Lakewood.org/Parks.
Celebrate Colorado creatives at Curtis Center
Colorado’s arts scene is constantly evolving and expanding in thrilling and imaginative ways. is makes
the 40th Annual All Colorado Art Show at the Curtis Center for the Arts, 2349 E. Orchard Road in Greenwood Village, a great opportunity to explore just how talented artists in the state.
One of most the popular shows at the center, it runs through Saturday, Aug. 26. Visit https://www.greenwoodvillage.com/curtis for all the details.
Clarke’s Concert of the Week — Caamp at Red Rocks
Look, the actual concert of the week is Taylor Swift’s two-night run at Empower Field, but to score tickets to that, you’d probably need to shorten your child’s time at college by a year or so.
With that in mind, why not check out Ohio’s Caamp, who are performing two nights at Red Rocks, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway in Morrison, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 19 and ursday, July 20.
e folk-rock band has been around since 2016 and had a major breakthrough with their third album, “Lavender Days,” which was released about a year ago. Fans of groups like e Lumineers and Nathaniel Rateli will nd a lot to love, so 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.
One in ve teens in the U.S. will experience a mental health challenge before they turn 18, but 64% of them won’t seek help.
A new training program is turning to teens to get their peers connected to the resources they need to turn things around.
Betsy Molgano, program director for Mental Health First Aid Colorado, said young people are in a unique position to identify warning signs. Maybe someone they know has been withdrawing from friends, or they used to enjoy soccer and now they aren’t showing up for practice.
“You’re not diagnosing this person, you’re just kind of noticing a change in behavior or appearance,” Molgano explained. “ e training is supposed to help kids feel more comfortable to approach someone and to be like ‘I’ve noticed that there is a change in your typical behavior. Do you want to talk about it? Is everything OK?’”
According to the 2021 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, nearly 40% of high school students said they experienced symptoms of depression in the last year, and 17% said they had seriously considered suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for kids aged 15 to 19.
Maranda Miller, mental health rst aid coordinator at Centennial Men-
tal Health Center, said Colorado has taken steps to help young people, including o ering free mental health therapy for all youth through a legislatively funded program called I Matter. She encouraged all school districts, even those with tight training budgets, to explore local training opportunities at mentalhealthrstaid.org.
“We know that there’s a huge return on investment if our youth know that they can help each other, that they can help themselves, and that there are highly vetted, highly trained resources available to them,” Miller outlined.
Molgano noted the Teen Mental Health First Aid training helps young people learn how to get their peers
to address mental health and substance use challenges, how school violence and bullying impacts mental well-being, and how to get help from trusted adults and mental health professionals.
“It helps arm kids with the tools that they need to not only help themselves understand what’s going on in their own lives -- and what they might be dealing with -- but also to be on the lookout for what might be going on with their friends, and help build a stronger community,” Molgano emphasized.
is Public News Service story via e Associated Press’ Storyshare, of which Colorado Community Media is a member.
Thu 7/20
Sun 7/23
Film On The Rocks: Mamma Mia! @ 7pm Red Rocks Amphithe‐atre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison
The High Road
Home at Backyard Bluegrass Series @ 7pm
Columbine Cafe, 15630 S Golden Rd, Golden
Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road @ 7pm
Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom & Other Side, 2637 Welton St, Denver
Paramount Theatre Club Seating: STS9
@ 8pm / $49.50
Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm, Denver
Dreadnought
@ 8pm Hi-Dive, 7 S Broadway, Denver
Fri 7/21
Eric Golden @ 8pm Morrison Holiday Bar, 403 Bear Creek Ave, Morrison
George Thorogood and The Destroyers and Hamish Anderson @ 8pm Arvada Center for the Arts and Humani‐ties, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, Arvada
TV TRAGEDY @Squire Lounge @ 8pm Squire Lounge, 1800 E Colfax Ave, Denver
Sat 7/22
The Savage Blush: COWAPALOOZA
@ 12pm Cowapalooza, 1269 N Ogden St, Denver
Tenia Nelson: Jon Romero and the Taco Cats at Colorado Dragon Boat Fest @ 12pm
Sloan's Lake Park, 1700 N Sheri‐dan Blvd, Denver
Sarah Slaton: SoFar Sounds @ 7:30pm SoFar Sounds Denver, Denver Buscabulla w/ Brijean @ 8pm Bluebird Theatre, 3317 E. Colfax Avenue, Denver
Mon 7/24
Tue 7/25
The Funeral Portrait @ 6pm Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St, Denver
For the Fallen Dreams @ 6pm Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St, Denver
Braid @ 8pm Bluebird Theater, 3317 E Colfax Av, Den‐ver
Wed 7/26
Kenny Passarelli @ 7pm Dazzle Denver, 1512 Curtis St, Denver
Eric Martinez: Cubanstack at Cactus Jacks in Evergreen, CO
@ 6pm Cactus Jacks Tavern, 4651 Co Rd 73, Evergreen
ARTHUR-S
@ 8pm The Black Buzzard, 1624 Market St, Den‐ver
Neil Z @ Sloans @ 7pm
Sloan's Bar & Grill, 5850 W 25th Ave,
Edgewater
Phantomstone: Westward records & Heinous music presents @ 7pm The Roxy Theater, 2549 Welton St, Denver
MoonRadish @ 8pm Mercury Cafe, 2199 California St, Denver
Preservation Hall Jazz Band @ 6:30pm Denver Botanic Gar‐dens, 1007 York St, Denver
Cedars at Your Mom's House @ 7pm Your Mom's House, 608 E 13th Ave., Den‐ver
Josiah @ 8pm Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St, Denver
Tropa Magica @ 8pm
Hi-Dive, 7 S Broad‐way, Denver
Lance Roark @ 8pm / $15
The Black Buzzard at Oskar Blues, 1624 Market St, Denver
Ambrosia @ 8pm Bluebird Theatre, 3317 E. Colfax Avenue, Denver
piston-engine division, Harvey and his team were brought into a hotel ballroom where the almost 3-foottall stainless steel victory cup sat on a table. at was in 1949.
ey had a photo made with the trophy and it was the last day any of them would see it until more than half a century later.
In 1999, Zellie Rainey-Orr got involved with the Tuskegee Airmen as the result of a Tuskegee Airman pilot from her Mississippi hometown who died in combat — 1st Lt. Quitman Walker.
Rainey-Orr confesses, until that day, she never knew much about the Tuskegee Airmen.
She was about to get a rsthand lesson from the men who were there.
“I thought I was just gonna go and put a ower on the grave of Quitman Walker,” she said. “I assumed he was buried here in Indianola, Mississippi and that’s when I would learn that no one knew where he was buried.”
Rainey-Orr reached out to the Walker family in an attempt to help locate the airman’s remains.
rough her quest to help, she would eventually meet Alva Temple, the captain of the 1949 “Top Gun” team at a 2004 event to award Walker’s medals posthumously, at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi.
It was there that she learned of the missing trophy.
“I just felt a connection,” RaineyOrr said.
Unable to resist, she began a quest to locate it.
Not knowing what the trophy looked like, and with Temple, at that time, in failing health, she reached out to the family in hopes of nding more details.
Someone in Temple’s family mentioned that there was a newspaper story covering the event, dated May 12, 1949, on a bedroom dresser. at clipping provided RaineyOrr with enough information to start contacting military bases and museums.
Within a week, she received a response from the National Museum of the United States Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.
“ ey said they had the trophy and attached a photo,” she said.
Rainey-Orr called Temple’s family on Sunday, Aug. 29 to share the good news, but was told Temple had passed the day before.
“It was almost like his spirit guided me,” she said. “I didn’t know the story or the impact. I was just looking for a trophy.”
Oddly, while it took Rainey-Orr less than a week to locate a trophy that had been missing for more than 50 years, it would take her much longer to get the U.S. Air Force to agree to bring it out of mothballs.
“I was talking to the historian at the Air Force Museum, the one who
sent the photo, and I said I’d love to come see it,” she recalled. “And he (the historian) said, ‘It’s not on display — and it will never be on display.’”
Rainey-Orr was confused.
She thought that this was an important piece of Air Force history, it was the rst nationwide gunnery competition since the end of the war and it was the rst time that Black pilots had participated.
Why wouldn’t they want the trophy displayed?
After a lot of back-and-forth negotiations, the Air Force agreed to let the trophy be shown.
In December of the same year, Air Force Museum representatives took the trophy out of storage and delivered it to Detroit, Michigan, the home of another Tuskegee Top Gun, Harry Stewart, for its rst unveiling at the National Museum of the Tuskegee Airmen’s annual banquet.
After the banquet, the trophy was returned to the museum where it went on permanent display in early 2006.
Harvey was unable to attend the 2004 banquet in Detroit, but Rainey-Orr, who is now an author and Tuskegee Airman historian, prompted him to make the journey to Ohio in 2006.
When asked how he felt upon seeing the trophy on display, Harvey smiled and said, “Feels good. Feels very good — very, very good. Mission accomplished.”
About that 100th birthday
Harvey plans to celebrate his 100th birthday with true ghter pilot air. He says close to 270 friends, family and guests from around the country, many of them “military brass,” will join him for a private gala celebration in Centennial, Colorado.
ere will be three birthday cakes, one fashioned into the shape of a Corvair F-102 Delta Dagger — “made of gluten-free marble and cappuccino,” of course.
What does one hope for after blowing out all of those candles?
“Continued good health,” he said. “Continued excellent health.”
And what does 100 years feel like?
Harvey will tell you.
“It doesn’t feel any di erent than the rst year,” he joked. “ Actually, I don’t remember the rst year, but I do remember the second — that’s when I got measles.”
His secret to longevity?
“I try to be a nice person to everybody — until they prove otherwise,” he said. “Just be nice to people. My motto has always been, ‘Do unto others as you have them do unto you.’ I live by that one and it works.”
Rainey-Orr agrees, and describes Harvey, whom she rst met in 2005 as “caring and compassionate.”
“I just like to say he is a real example of what we sow, we get to reap,” she said. “He is a rst in many areas, including becoming the rst Black pilot to y jets in Korea — and often unless he told the stories, they were forgotten.”
While saddened that she’ll miss Harvey’s birthday bash, Rainey-Orr is happy for her friend.
“I’m just so happy he got to live long enough to see the day, and to understand that people really do appreciate his sacri ces in the service of our country,” she said, “because
he had comrades who did not. ey survived the war, but didn’t get to see the respect.”
But the big question is, what does the rst “Top Gun” think of the new “Top Gun: Maverick” movie?
“I liked the rst one better,” Harvey said.
Foot tra c on Colorado’s highest peaks tumbled 33% in 2022 from the record 415,000 hiker days logged in 2020.
e annual Hiking Use Estimates report by the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative recorded an estimated 279,000 hiker use days during the 2022 season. at’s about 24,000 fewer hikers than in 2021, which saw 303,000 hiker days, and a dramatic drop from 2020’s record of 415,000 hiker days.
ough some ebbs and ows are expected in hiker data due to drought or snowpack, Lloyd Athearn, executive director of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, worries that the last year’s decrease is in part an overreaction to the high-tra c pandemic year.
For instance, in 2021, Clear Creek County posted “No Parking” signs along the road that people traditionally parked along to access Grays and Torreys peaks. And in 2022 a reservation system was in e ect for the full season on Quandary, the fourteener
that has consistently topped the hiker use charts since recording began.
“It’s sort of curious to me. Just as we’re getting close to having almost every fourteener with some kind of intentional route on it — something we’ve been working on for decades, and that the state has spent millions of dollars on — now the communities are saying, ‘we don’t want people here,’” Athearn said. “It’s like we built an interstate highway and all of a sudden the towns start saying they’d rather people run out the county roads.”
ough almost all of the fourteeners experienced a decline in tra c, the numbers and impact are not evenly dispersed. Overall, the state experienced an 8% decrease in trafc. is, in itself, is not particularly alarming. e pandemic year, when people got bored of fearing for their lives inside, created a high watermark of tra c. Even the double-digit decrease from 2020 to 2021 was something to be expected.
e Mosquito Range and the Elk Mountains are the only groups that did not see decreases. e Elks near Aspen — which consist of Castle Peak, Maroon Peak, North Maroon, Capitol Peak, Snowmass Mountain,
Conundrum Peak, and Pyramid Peak — showed roughly the same number of hikers as last year, at 7,000. e Mosquito Range, just east of Leadville, actually increased its hiker count to almost double — to 32,000 in 2022 from 17,000 in 2021 — because of a two-month closure of Mount Lincoln, Mount Democrat and Mount Bross in 2021.
e most drastic decrease was on Quandary Peak, just south of Breckenridge, which saw roughly 13,000 fewer hiker days in 2022 than in 2021. Athearn speculated that a season-long reservation system and the introduction of a shuttle fee in 2022 drove down that number. e next steepest losses came from the Sawatch Range, west of Buena Vista, which hosted 11,500 fewer hiker days, followed by the San Juans at 10,000 fewer hiker days. e Front Range peaks, including some of the most accessible fourteeners like Grays and Torreys, Mount Evans, and Mount Bierstadt, lost about 3,000 hiker days, while the Sangre de Cristos rounded out the losses with 1,500 fewer hiker days.
Athearn isn’t unsympathetic to the concerns of local communities.
In rural mountain towns, residents face the consequences of high visitor numbers— acutely felt in labor and housing prices — and a loss of the serenity that many moved there for in the rst place. Last month, a report by Montana’s Headwaters
Economics outlined the paradoxical challenges of living in a mountain town so plentiful with natural features that its allure brings in crushing numbers of visitors and secondhome owners, thereby degrading the quality of life for locals. e report called this type of town an “amenity trap.”
ose fears carry over to natural spaces. e dialogue about “overloved” natural resources is wellfounded in Colorado, and many heavily tra cked areas have implemented strict permit systems to try to do some damage control.
What Athearn is wary of is the knee-jerk reaction by local communities who see more people and immediately want to regulate rather than invest in better infrastructure.
“Some people think we need to permit everything, but you have to think, who are the people that really bene t? People who have exible schedules, who can book a trip six months in advance,” Athearn said. “What about someone who works a retail shift and might not know they can get out until the day before? Who are the people that will get access to public lands, versus those who will feel locked out or that the system is too Byzantine to navigate?”
With so much focus on diversifying public lands, and on reducing barriers to entry like cost, Athearn nds it strange that communities also want to start charging people for some-
thing that was traditionally free.
“We’re at this crosscurrent,” he said about the future of the fourteeners. “What do people actually want?” is year, the heavy and latestaying snowpack is going to have an impact on the hiking season. at much CFI is expecting. Overlaid on those natural conditions are an increase in parking and reservation fees, and an increase of private land closures — more than 10% of the fourteener’s summits are on private land — due to liability issues. e way that those three forces will impact hiker numbers this year concerns Athearn.
“I worry that we’re going in this negative direction where people are just saying ‘there’s too much. Too many people, too many dogs, too much whatever, and so let’s just stop,’” Athearn said during a recent fourteener safety panel. “Is this a canary in the coalmine for our recreation-based economy?”
Another driver of what Athearn called the knee-jerk, “shut o the tap” reaction, is the fallacy that more people means more damage.
In 2015, CFI’s trail condition report card, an assessment that they conduct every four years, gave the Quandary Peak trail a C+. at year the trail hosted 18,000 people, according to the hiker use report. CFI used that information to prioritize
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Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs is seeking small nonprofit applicants for its Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program.
The program is a statewide grant program for small, communitybased, nonprofit organizations with annual budgets between $150,000 and $2,000,000 that provide services to communities
the Quandary trail’s improvements. In 2018, the next iteration of the report card, the trail received an A-. It hosted 38,000 people that year.
“There were more than twice the amount of people on it, but the trail was better,” Athearn said. He emphasized that high numbers don’t necessarily mean high impact. “If you have a good trail, people are going to follow it like cattle. Nose to tail,” he said. “And that’s a good thing, right? That means they’re not going to be going off
that have historically been underrepresented, underserved or under-resourced. The grant is not for programming, but provides for other needs such as strategic plan-
trail, picking flowers, damaging the ecosystem.”
Higher concentrations of visitors on popular peaks is also a boon for local search and rescue crews. “From a rescue standpoint, to go back up the same trail again to rescue someone with a broken ankle, it gets a little monotonous,” Jeff Sparhawk, executive director of Colorado Search and Rescue, said. “But, if we had to go search for people all over the place, searches take a long time. And that’s volunteer time. That’s time away from work or time away from family.”
Sparhawk added that locals go wherever they want to go. They understand traffic patterns, and know where they can find solitude.
ning, professional development for board and staff, technology, etc.
A total of $33,100,000 in grants will be awarded, with selected organizations awarded up to
The majority of rescues that COSAR conducts are for out-of-state visitors. Sparhawk hesitated to say it aloud, but added that keeping those travelers on a few consolidated peaks makes COSAR’s job easier.
Athearn recently had the opportunity to talk with climbers on Grays while a helicopter flew logs to the summit. While he was holding the foot traffic back, he asked where all of the climbers were from. “I recall only about five people from Colorado,” he said. “There was an extended family from St. Louis, a woman from Maryland, a man from Wisconsin, some people from Los Angeles, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee.”
$100,000.
To apply, interested applicants should contact their geographically-appointed Regional Access Partner directly for technical assistance and to learn more about the process, criteria and funding.
The application will open on July 5 and close on Aug. 31.
To learn more, visit dlg.colorado. gov/nonprofit-infrastructuregrant-program.
Ultimately, Athearn encouraged Coloradans to think more broadly. “The thing that’s always hard for communities to understand is that these are our national forests and our national parks,” he said. “They may be located largely in the West, they may be in our backyards, but they’re really owned by all the people in the USA.”
This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. The Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.
If there’s a piece of advice Emma Stutzman would give her younger self on the track, she would say to show up prepared, be patient and let your hard work speak for itself. e younger Stutzman hoped, but never imagined, she would be named the best female track runner in the state.
After stamping a historic high school career at Pomona High School, Stutzman was named the Gatorade Colorado Girls Track & Field Player of the Year for 2022-23. at’s a rst in the Arvada school’s history.
“It wasn’t necessarily one of my goals to get the (Gatorade) award,” Stutzman said. “It was more of just like a cherry-on-top kind of thing. It de nitely wasn’t something I really even knew that much about.”
e award comes a month after Stutzman earned a long-anticipated rst state title, nishing the Class 5A girls 3,200-meter run in a time of 10 minutes, 12.68 seconds in May.
A day later, her winning time of 4:39.94 in the 1600 shattered the previous Colorado prep sports record, and ranked No. 3 nationally among girls prep competitors in 2023, earning Stutzman her second state title in two days. e previous 1600 record was held by Katie Rainsberger of Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs, with a time of 4:44.31 in 2016.
Stutzman is also the 2023 Je erson County District Female Athlete of the Year. Another milestone: she clocked the nation’s No. 4 mark in the twomile run (9:55.75) this spring at the Brooks PR Invitational in Washington state and the No. 5 national mark in the 3200 (9:56.34) at the Arcadia Invitational in California.
Stutzman joins recent Gatorade Colorado Girls Track & Field Players of the Year Agur Dwol (2021-22, Mul-
len High School), Riley Stewart (202021, Cherry Creek High School), Taylor James (2019-20, Niwot High School), and Anna Hall (2018-19, Valor Christian High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
After four years of close calls and almosts, Stutzman claimed her rst and only individual high school state title in the nick of time, coming a week before graduating and saying goodbye to high school.
According to Je co Athletics’ Dennis Pleuss, Stutzman had placed in the top four of the 1,600 and 3,200 at the state meet the past two years. As a sophomore she took third in the 1,600 and runner-up in the 3,200. Last year, she took fourth in both the 1,600 and 3,200.
Her freshman year on the track was canceled due to COVID-19, so already time was ticking if she wanted a title.
In the 3,200 last month, Stutzman held onto her lead from the very beginning of the match and never let up, nishing with a victory scream as a wave of relief washed over her.
“It was just so exciting to nally be on the top of that podium and nally be able to go into a state meet and come out of it knowing I did everything I wanted to do,” she said. “It was de nitely nice to cap o my Pomona season (and career) with that win.”
Now all focus shifts toward college. Stutzman is heading to Northern Arizona University in Flagsta on a full scholarship to take her talents to the next level this fall.
For one, she “hates running in the cold,” so it will be nice to escape to the desert when she wants to. But at the same time, Flagsta “isn’t too different from Colorado” climate-wise, meaning it won’t be a huge transition.
But still, Stutzman isn’t tempering her expectations for herself, despite making the college leap.
“I de nitely want to try to see how far I can go, with not just running for myself (but for my team),” she said.
“I’m really excited to see what I can do, being a part of a team like that, and then just going as far as my mind and my body will take me. I de nitely want to be an NCAA All-American.” ough she’ll miss her home, her teammates, the camaraderie of an ordinary practice, team camps, running at Je co Stadium, and countless others, Stutzman said she’s excited about the challenge of the next level.
“I had a great team at Pomona. I absolutely love every single one of them,” Stutzman said.
As one of the school’s best to ever do it in any sport, Stutzman is leaving as an all-time legend.
For those student athletes, coaches, administrators and others that have proven consistent greatness, sports-
manship and dedication, their chance at being enshrined in history is now. e Colorado High School Activities Association, or CHSAA, is accepting nominations for its 2023 Hall of Fame class through Aug. 15. Candidates can be nominated in any of the following categories: Student participants O cials Coach/sponsors Administrators Signi cant contributors
Generally, between ve and 10 inductees are added every year across all the categories.
Rashaan Davis, the assistant commissioner of CHSAA, walked me through the quali cations and nomination requirements.
“To be inducted into the CHSAA Hall of Fame, nominees are screened through our selection committee,” Davis said. “ e process for nomina-
tion does not require any more than to be nominated.”
Anyone can make a nomination –from a coach to a player to a parent.
After a person is nominated, the selection committee surveys them on an individual basis, weighing di erent factors based on category and contribution like time contributed,
CHSAA is now accepting hall of fame nominations for its 2023 class until Aug. 15. Visit chsaanow.com for more information about how to nominate candidates. COURTESY PHOTO accolades earned, and more.
However, there are no prerequisites, Davis said. ere is no singular measure of success, either.
“ e criteria do change for each category, as it has a direct correlation in what de nes excellence in that category,” Davis said. “For example, it might be overall championship wins or appearances in title games for coaches. Whereas for student participants, it might be records set, times achieved, number of victories over their four-year career.”
Classi cation and gender of sport are also factored in as they relate to particular accomplishments and accolades, Davis said.
at way, each nominee is measured against peers at their same level, rather than everyone competing against everyone for the same honors.
It’s a long and tedious process, but one that Davis said is fair and about striking the right balance.
“We always look to balance induction as we look at accomplishments,
schools, classi cations, athletics versus activities, geography, and so many other factors,” Davis said. “As you know, we oversee more than 30 sports and activities. So between coaches, o cials, student participants, administrators, and signi cant contributors, this is not an easy process.”
If you or someone you know might have a nominee in mind, get those nominations in using the submission form on CHSAAnow.com
e site also features a full list of all the previous CHSAA Hall of Fame inductees dating back to 1989. ere are currently 222 hall of fame members.
Recent members in the Colorado Community Media coverage area include wrestling coaching legend Tim Ottman of Ponderosa High School in Parker (2022), two-time basketball state champion Ann Strother Abromaitis of Highlands Ranch High School (2022), and 1999 Miss Colorado Basketball, Jamie Carey, of Horizon High School in ornton (2019), among others.
Nominate someone instrumental to your athletic journey as the newest member today. Last year’s inductees were announced in October.
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Margaret Bones had to wait for the rotor blades on the Bell Long Ranger helicopter to begin to whirr before there was electricity to power up her computer, cameras and sensors, but once the blades were spinning, she punched the buttons turning on her gear.
Bones and her pilot Raphel Perozo were headed to Indian Hills, a neighborhood east of Evergreen in search of wild re risks using high resolution cameras and laser radar, known as lidar.
e search has taken on heightened urgency in the wake of the 2021 Marshall Fire, the most destructive in Colorado history razing more than 1,000 Boulder County homes and businesses, tallying $2 billion in damages.
One cause of the re, county o cials concluded, was an Xcel Energy distribution line that had come loose in high winds. e utility has disputed that nding, but is already facing lawsuits from homeowners and businesses.
Still, electrical lines do pose a risk, the company noted in a ling with the Colorado Public Utilities commission, citing a 2019 study by Verisk Analytics that found one-third of the more than 2.2 million housing units in the state are in either moderate or high wild re risk areas.
at ranked Colorado third behind California and Texas for properties exposed to wild re danger.
And so, the hunt is on.
e use of lidar radar and computer analysis of the data it amasses are part of Xcel Energy’s Wild re Mitigation Plan, submitted to state regulators in 2019 and funded with $148 million in ratepayer dollars.
Bones, 27, an airborne systems oper-
ator for Sandy Springs, Georgia-based GeoDigital, has own lidar runs all over the U.S. and Canada, sometimes collecting data for self-driving auto systems and sometimes for utilities checking their high-voltage transmission lines.
More and more of the work is checking smaller power lines, Bones said.
“LiDAR is more commonly applied to transmission lines,” Drew McGuire, director of research and development at the nonpro t Electric Power Research Institute, said in an email. “With increasing focus on wild re risk reduction, some utilities are nding ways to use this technology on distribution lines as well.”
McGuire said that these applications are emerging technologies. “Not all LiDAR is created equal,” he said. “ ey’re easy to use, but tricky to get ‘accurate’ data.”
Still, the experience with lidar is rising as the costs of the technology and data analysis decline. “New innovations to collect and process these data will likely make LiDAR application in distribution even more common in the future,” McGuire said.
Bones and Perozo are searching for possible problems with vegetation, inadequate clearance for lines and potentially overloaded poles.
e project, begun in 2020, aims to cover 1,500 miles of distribution lines in more than 300 wild re risk zones by 2025. Last spring — spring is the prime time to do this work — the project scanned the San Luis Valley. is year it is scouring the foothills west of Denver. e work is painstaking as it can take multiple passes to complete one serpentine line. “On a good day we can do 20 miles of line, but usually only manage 12 to 15 due to afternoon storms,” Bones said.
On the belly of the Long Ranger — a
bigger, more powerful version of the Bell Jet Ranger to deal with mountain turbulence — is the lidar sensor, three high resolution cameras and a near-infrared camera. ere is also a weather probe recording wind, temperature and humidity.
As they trace a line, Bones watches the images from the three cameras — one facing forward, one facing down and one facing aft — on her computer monitor. Once the line has cleared the rear camera, Bones knows the section is done.
At the same time the lidar — short for Light Detection and Ranging — is sending out laser pulses measuring distances and generating data that is the basis for a 3D representation of the lines and poles. e near-infrared camera can also identify unhealthy trees near lines.
All this data — up to four terabytes each day or the equivalent of uploading one million photos — is then used to create a 3D computer model of the distribution system by an Xcel Energy contractor, Fort Collins-based EDM International.
With the model the network can be stress tested for temperature, wind loads, and to see if lines are adequately spaced and whether poles are overloaded.
“We are looking for those inadequate clearances and overloaded poles,” said Andy Stewart, president of EDM International.
Finding potentially problematic poles without some kind of scanning would be a challenge in as much as Stewart estimated there are 89,000 poles in wild re risk zones.
e data ts into other Xcel Energy initiatives, such as its Mountain Hazard Tree Program focused on addressing tree mortality from pine bark beetles. e lines can be tested against simu-
After
Property, of Article VI, City Property, of Chapter 2, Administration, of The Arvada City Code.
Ordinance #4851: An Ordinance Amending
Certain Provisions Within the Land Development Code, of the Arvada City Code to Add the Zoning District, Commercial, Neighborhood.
Legal Notice No. 416603
First Publication: July 13, 2023
Last Publication: July 13, 2023
Publisher: Jeffco Transcript Public Notice
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT at the meeting of the Arvada City Council to be held on MONDAY, August 7, 2023, at 6:15 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 8101 Ralston Road, Arvada CO, City Council will hold a public hearing on the following proposed ordinances and thereafter will consider them for final passage and adoption. For the full text version in electronic form go to
lated 90-mph winds. Would that catch a line being blown loose by the wind?
“Yes, LiDAR modeling enables Xcel Energy to identify poles within the wild re zone that could become overloaded due to strong winds,” the company said in a statement. “When these poles are identi ed, Xcel rebuilds these poles to Grade B Heavy loading of the National Electric Safety Code (NESC), which is the most conservative standard.”
is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.
www.arvada.org/legal-notices, and click on Current and recent Legal Notices to access legal notices. The full text version is also available in printed form in the City Clerk’s office. Contact 720.898.7550 if you have questions. The full text version is also available in printed form in the City Clerk’s office. Contact 720.898.7550 if you have questions.
CB23-019 An Ordinance Authorizing an Intergovernmental Agreement By and Among Apex Park and Recreation District, Jefferson County School District R-1 ("JCSD"), and the City of Arvada for JCSD's Priority Use of the George J. Meyers Swimming Center Replacement Facility.
Legal Notice No. 416602
First Publication: July 13, 2023
Last Publication: July 13, 2023
Publisher: Jeffco Transcript
Misc. Private Legals
LEGAL PUBLIC
The annual meeting of the Arvada Cemetery Association will be held Monday August 7, 2023 at 7:00pm in the Cemetery building. This meeting will include the election of directors for the coming year. All members are welcome.
