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August 7, 2014 VOLU M E 27 | I S S UE 38
HighlandsRanchHerald.net A publication of
D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
Ballot won’t feature schools State funding plan portrayed as unfair by district board members By Jane Reuter
jreuter @coloradocommunitymedia.com
The Backcountry Black team, from left, Dalton Spanbauer, Becky Conzelman, Stephanie Brady, Dave Foster, Meredeth Smith and Chris Dozois, compete in an event called the “worm” at the Reebok CrossFit Games in California. The team placed 15th out of 43 in the overall world competition. Photos by Robbie Wright
Among the most CrossFit Team from Highlands Ranch gym competes in world competition By Christy Steadman
csteadman @coloradocommunitymedia.com CrossFit is a community. “CrossFit is not easy,” said Steve Hartle, owner of Backcountry CrossFit gym in Highlands Ranch. “It’s the motivation from the group that helps drive you. That sense of community that we’re all in this together.” Recently, seven Highlands Ranch athletes from Backcountry CrossFit competed at the Reebok CrossFit Games, a worldwide competition to “find the fittest on Earth,”
which took place July 25-31 in Carson, Calif. According to the CrossFit Games website, “the goal is to find the fittest athletes, not to produce an easily replicable workout program.” Although only seven people affiliated with Backcountry CrossFit qualified to compete in the games, Hartle said it was a group effort that got them there. He said just qualifying for the games is a big deal, and over 45 athletes from the local gym went to spectate and cheer on their team. “We’re (only) the second team in Colorado to ever qualify for the games,” he said, adding that the competition has been around since 2007. Each CrossFit gym is independently owned, and there are about 10,000 in the world, Hartle said. From those 10,000 gyms, 217,000 peo-
ple began the process of qualifying for the CrossFit Games with the Open, a competition that took place at the end of February. Hartle said the Open consisted of five weeks of different judged workouts. Each week, the scores are compared to others from throughout the region. There are 17 regions around the world. Teams competing in Backcountry CrossFit’s region come from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. After scoring high enough in the Open, the top 30 teams from the region went on to Regionals in May, which took place in Salt Lake City. The Regional competition is a “threeday competition of head-to-head workouts,” Hartle said. Of the 30 teams that
Douglas County School District staff proposed a way to fix the district’s aging buildings without raising taxes, but the school board recently decided not to put the question on November’s ballot. Board members unanimously adopted the resolution not to participate in the fall election, citing concerns with the state’s school funding formula, which they believe already puts an unfair burden on Douglas County taxpayers. But a member of DCSD’s fiscal oversight committee said other factors are at play. “I think there are bigger issues the board is facing they need to resolve,” Dave Usechek said. “There is no doubt in my mind there’s a need (for capital funding). But until there is positive support for the board, and no longer this bickering between parents and the board, I am not willing to support giving additional funds. Both sides need to resolve their differences and start working together for the best interests of kids.” The board’s July 15 resolution said the state’s funding formula sends a dispropor-
Ballot continues on Page 9
Union Fracking ballot initiatives dropped numbers declining CrossFit continues on Page 28
Hickenlooper and Polis reach 11th hour deal, task force gets created
Reasons behind decrease in teachers’ membership depend on who’s talking
By Vic Vela
vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com Voters will not be weighing in on hydraulic fracturing this November after all. Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis announced an 11th hour deal on Aug. 4 to create a special task force to address issues surrounding fracking — the very day that signatures to put fracking on the November ballot were due for submission to the Secretary of State’s Office. The task force is part of a deal that the two Democrats reached in the days leading up to the announcement that will also end efforts by Polis to place two anti-fracking ballot initiatives on the November ballot. Later in the day, pro-fracking groups said they too will drop their own ballot initiative efforts, suddenly ending what was gearing up to be a ballot box fight that was expected to be costly — both in terms of campaign advertising dollars and potentially in political price for other candidates seeking office this fall. The Polis-backed initiatives sought to increase setback requirements for wells and would have also given communities greater
By Jane Reuter
jreuter @coloradocommunitymedia.com
gas regulations the city adopted two years ago. But the big news is the agreement to pull the ballot measures. Hickenlooper and the oil and gas industry had opposed Polis’ efforts, concerned that the initiatives would be akin to a fracking ban in a state that relies on drilling to feed the
Membership in Douglas County’s teachers’ union has dropped from about 70 percent of the district’s teachers in 2012 to around 50 percent, its president said. The 47-year collective bargaining agreement between the Douglas County School District and the Douglas County Federation expired after negotiations failed in 2012. School board member Doug Benevento said the decrease points to a failure of leadership, but union president Courtney Smith said it’s a combination of teacher attrition and district roadblocks. “Teachers are fleeing that union as quickly as they can,” Benevento said. “The union leadership is in it for the union leadership, and not for the rank and file.” Smith said many of the teachers who
Fracking continues on Page 12
Union continues on Page 9
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis discusses the details of a deal reached Aug. 4 with Gov. John Hickenlooper concerning fracking and local control initiatives. Photo by Vic Vela control over oil and gas drilling operations. Pro-fracking groups had sought initiatives that could have had economic impacts on communities that ban fracking — the process by which water and chemicals are blasted into the ground to free up trapped oil and gas underneath. Also as part of the agreement, Hickenlooper said that the state would work to end a lawsuit against Longmont over new oil and