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January 8, 2015 VOLU M E 1 3 | I S SUE 51
LoneTreeVoice.net D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
SLEDDING AND SLIDING
Consumers paying less at the pump South metro area seeing prices below $2 a gallon By Mike DiFerdinando
mdiferdinando@colorado communitymedia.com Gasoline prices have fallen to their lowest point in years, bringing relief to consumers at the pump. According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, which tracks and compares prices nationally, fuel prices in the Denver metro area have fallen more than a dollar since the same time last year. “I think it has been a big relief for a lot of people, especially considering how high the prices were a few years ago,” said Ryan Strange, a Denver resident who stopped to fill up at the Conoco station at 9010 Park Meadows Drive in Lone Tree. As of Jan. 5, the average price per gallon in Denver was $2.05 for regular gas, down from $3.14 at the same time in 2014. Many stations in the south metro
Pump continues on Page 10
Mountain Vista High School students Will Flynn, bottom, and Colton O’Donnell tear it up at Acres Green’s Altair Park on Dec. 29.
With snow falling steadily and temperatures in the teens, a group of Highlands Ranch students took tubes and sleds to the hills in Acres Green’s Altair Park on Dec. 29. The group included five boys from Mountain Vista High School, one accompanied by his younger sister. PHOTOS BY JANE REUTER
From left, Mountain Vista High School students Jerry Capocelli, Calvin Flein and Colton O’Donnell check out the hill at Altair Park in Acres Green.
IT’S A GAS THE AVERAGE PRICE OF REGULAR UNLEADED GAS, ACCORDING TO AAA FUEL GAUGE:
DENVER AREA
UNITED STATES
JAN. 5: $2.05
JAN. 5: $2.19
DEC. 29: 2.19
DEC. 29: $2.28
DEC. 5: $2.70
DEC. 5: $2.71
YEAR AGO:
$3.14
YEAR AGO:
$3.31
Photo illustration
Vying to have their voices heard Some say school district not always on target with communication efforts By Jane Reuter
jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com The Douglas County School District’s five-plus years of education reform have made national headlines. But some community members say the district’s extensive communications effort accompanying the changes glosses over their deep concerns, drowning them under a tidal wave of multi-channel messages to parents, district employees, students and county residents. To try to make their voices heard, parent and teacher groups have launched
their own Facebook pages and websites, established groups, invited education experts to speak in public venues, filed lawsuits, organized protests, made innumerable open-records requests, filed formal complaints and devoted countless volunteer hours to broadcasting their own story. At the same time, the district’s communications department has grown in size, budget and sophistication. The department’s adopted 2014-15 budget, which includes salaries for 14 full-time equivalent positions, is about $934,000. That’s an almost 80 percent increase from five years ago, when the 2009-10 total communications budget was $524,500. DCSD’s communications department uses emailed parent and employee newsletters, its website, a cable TV channel, Voices continues on Page 12