August 19, 2021
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JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
GoldenTranscript.net
VOLUME 155 | ISSUE 35
Goodbye Miss Genie Former city councilwoman rose to fame on popular children’s show BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
three set routes from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday with shuttles arriving at designated stops every five to 10 minutes. The shuttles are guided by lasers and a digital map and were built by the Denver-based company EasyMile. They contain seats for six passengers, plus an operator who is trained to take over control of the vehicle in what both Mines and EasyMile say is the unlikely event that anything goes wrong with the vehicles. Those operator positions will be staffed by lucky Mines who may now be able to claim they have some of the coolest jobs on campus.
Most Denver and Phoenix-area residents of a certain age likely know Eugenie deLuise as Miss Genie, the magic mirror-wielding host of the local versions of “Romper Room.” That was the live children’s educational series that helped set the stage for programs like “Sesame Street” in the 1960s. “It was a real big deal,” said Genie’s daughter, Coco Burget. “Everyone knew her everywhere she went.” But in Golden, deLuise is instead best known as a longtime fixture of the community who was involved in everything from city council to the founding of the Golden Civic Foundation during the 63 years she spent in the city. The legacy of those contributions will now live on following deLuise’s recent death at 91. “She was just always helping everyone,” said her son, Scott deLuise. “And she always had a smile on her face.” deLuise’s familial roots in Golden date back to her great-grandfather, Frederick Steinhauer, who helped engineer the Lariat Loop Trail and was one of the first trustees for the School of Mines (Steinhauer Fieldhouse was named in his honor). However, she was born and grew up in Denver, where she graduated from South High School. It was while she was attending CU-Boulder that she met her husband, Rudy.
SEE ROVERS, P16
SEE DELUISE, P16
Colorado School of Mines students step onto the Mines Rover autonomous shuttle to take a ride across campus. PHOTO BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO
Look mom, no driver: Self-driving rovers debut at Mines Shuttles will drive three routes for at least the next year BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Goldenites got a glimpse of the future on Aug. 10 and it likely looked a little funny. That’s because it took the form of several white, toaster-resembling vehicles that will be making the rounds on campus and around downtown Golden for the next year at the speed of 12 miles an hour. The shuttles, which the school
has christened Mines Rovers and are intended to transport students as well as the public around campus and to downtown Golden, are part of what the school says will be the largest fleet of low-speed, driverless shuttles in the nation. “Today, here at the School of Mines…, we will write a new chapter in the world transportation history books at a time when we need a new chapter desperately,” said Tyler Svitak, the executive director of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance that is helping to bring the vehicles to Golden and, eventually, Greenwood Village and Colorado Springs. The shuttles began service after the ribbon-cutting and will travel
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 22
REGISTERING HISTORY Forgotten sites tell an interesting tale
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