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November 6, 2014 VOLU M E 1 1 9 | I S S UE 40 | 7 5 ¢
ElbertCountyNews.net E L B E R T C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
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Town explains plan to cull deer Strict rules govern program to reduce animal numbers By Rick Gustafson
Special to Colorado Community Media
Hunter Neelley, who passed away on Oct. 12 after a battle with cancer, is remembered for his faith and the way he placed others first. An Oct. 25 memorial service at Elizabeth High School resulted in the gym being so full that the fire department had to temporarily waive its capacity limit. Courtesy photo
Faith, kindness were hallmarks of boy’s life Hunter Neelley lost cancer fight on Oct. 12 By Rick Gustafson
Special to Colorado Community Media
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ELBERT COUNTY NEWS (USPS 171-100)
OFFICE: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Elizabeth, Colorado, the Elbert County News is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ELIZABETH, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Thurs. 11 a.m. Legal: Thurs. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 10 a.m. G ET SOCIAL WITH US
P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S C OPY
On the evening 10-year-old Hunter Neelley received his diagnosis of bone cancer, the Neelley family had plans to go out for dinner and to see a movie. The family of four had known a phone call from the oncologist was imminent and was praying for the best. When they received the news, the family, who has never been shy about exercising their faith, gathered in the living room of their home to pray. After a few minutes, Hunter said, “So, we’re still going to dinner and the movie, right?” “He didn’t let us sit in our self-pity very long,” said his father, Scott Neelley. This moment would be indicative of Hunter’s attitude about himself and others throughout his four-year battle with the osteosarcoma that eventually ended his life in the early morning hours of Oct. 12. He is remembered by family and friends for his faith and for putting others first. Whether joking with the nurses following a round of chemotherapy or letting the hospital staff off the hook for waking him in the middle of the night to check his vital signs or administer his medication, “it was always about the other guy, never about him,” his father said. In the months following the diagnosis, Hunter underwent several rounds of chemotherapy along with a painful surgery to resect a portion of his femur with a cadaver bone. After a year and a half on crutches, the doctors declared him cancer-free in October 2011. With the exception of follow-up appointments, Hunter resumed the normal life of a 12-year-old, rejoining the basketball team, hunting with his father and older brother Zack, and pitching for his baseball team. A year later, during a routine threemonth checkup, doctors at Presbyterian St. Luke’s discovered the cancer had spread to Hunter’s lungs. “Originally we knew the odds were 60-40,” Scott Neelley reflected, “And osteosarcoma likes blood and a lot of oxygen.”
Following a surgery to remove part of his lung, Hunter’s first impulse after waking up from the anesthesia was to call his basketball team to wish them luck in an important game. He had no idea that that the surgery had run long and the game had been over for hours. “He was selfless. His prayers were always for others,” his father said. It was his optimism and positive attitude that drew nearly 1,000 people to Hunter’s Hope Barn Dance last February despite a blizzard that dropped more than 7 inches of snow on Elizabeth and forced the shuttle-bus company to cancel. “People came out with horse-drawn carriages and shuttled people from the parking lot,” Scott Neelley said. The fundraiser, sponsored by Creekside Community Church, covered some of the family’s medical bills and allowed the Neelleys to take a family trip to stay with friends in Hawaii. It was on the overnight flight home following a long day of deep-sea fishing, that Hunter turned to his father and said, “I’m done.” “I was turning over every rock, looking for any treatment I could find.” Scott Neelley said. “I had been hanging on to Hunter, trying to spend every moment I could with him, just to get one more day, giving him as many experiences as possible.” Hunter’s doctors estimated that he had two months to live once they removed the peripheral line that deliver his chemotherapy. Hunter’s family believes that it was his faith that gave him eight months longer than the doctors predicted. “His faith came naturally,” his father said. “My wife’s father is a preacher, but Hunter’s faith was his own.” At the end, it was Hunter’s mother, Robin Neelley, who sat with him the night he faded in and out of consciousness and slipped away. “She was his full-time caregiver,” Scott Neelley said with a tearful smile. “The staff at St. Luke’s referred to her as a mom-cologist.” On Oct. 25, a memorial was held for Hunter at Elizabeth High School; so many people attended the event that the Elizabeth Fire Department granted a temporary waiver to allow the high school’s gym to exceed its legal capacity.
When the Elizabeth Board of Trustees approved a proposal to allow a deer hunt within the city limits, it created some confusion and enough controversy to draw at least one Denver news station to town last summer. The board’s approval of the hunting program on July 8 came in response to increased complaints about conflicts with residential deer. The program approved by the board did not create a special hunting season, but it did remove a restriction prohibiting the discharge of bows within designated areas inside the city limits and allowed a select number of bow hunters to hunt on city property, provided they were willing to submit to the town’s stringent requirements designed in conjunction with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. As with any private property owner within Elbert County, the Town of Elizabeth may grant permission for hunters to use its property for hunting. The three areas chosen are adjacent to public works sites or surrounded by private property. None of the areas is open to the public. Casey Westbrook, district wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, has been studying the conflict for years and has been working closely with the Town of Elizabeth. His counts have put the estimated deer inside the town limits on any given day at 100, and he and his team have counted as many as 137. “The goal is not to obliterate the (deer) population,” Westbrook said, “but to control the population and modify animal behavior.” To qualify for the program, all applicants were required to meet the basic bow-hunting prerequisites for Colorado, to hold a bow-hunter education card and to have been previously licensed to hunt in Colorado. In addition, no one with a big-game hunting violation in the state within the past five years, or who has been suspended from hunting in Colorado, was eligible. Each applicant competed for slots by demonstrating their expertise with a bow having a minimum draw weight of 60 pounds (45 pounds is the minimum required by the state) and, as cited in the proposal, placing “four out of five arrows in a three inch diameter circle on a target placed at random from 15 to 30 yards away.” Candidates were also required to show their ability to meet physical requirements by loading a 100-pound sack into a wheelbarrow and pushing it 100 yards. Out of the 18 applicants, eight met the basic requirements, but only five were chosen. “We capped it at five, because five was a more manageable number,” said Dick Eason, Elizabeth town administrator. Deer continues on Page 9
The Town of Elizabeth approved a program earlier this year to allow limited bow hunting of deer within town limits, in an attempt to reduce the number of the animals living there. Photo by Rick Gustafson