Lone Tree Voice 0226

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February 26, 2015 VOLU M E 1 4 | I S SUE 6

LoneTreeVoice.net D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O

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Garden will soon take root Seeds of long-desired project to spring to life in May By Jane Reuter

jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com

Jennifer Griffin, with her son — 2015 Wish Week recipient Jeremy Griffin — wipes her eyes as a video about Jeremy plays during the kick-off rally at Rock Canyon High School. Photos by Jane Reuter

Wish Week off to rousing start Rock Canyon event benefits Parker elementary student By Jane Reuter

Garden continues on Page 12

jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com Rock Canyon High School kicked off its annual Wish Week with a rally so loud and spirited it astounded the Wish Week family. “We’re just overwhelmed,” said Jennifer Griffin, whose son Jeremy was chosen as this year’s Rock Canyon Wish Week child. Jeremy, who has been diagnosed with lymphoma, is a 7-year-old Mountain View Elementary School student who lives in Parker with his parents and sister Natalie. All were in attendance for the opening rally of RCHS’ Wish Week, which launches seven days of student-led events to raise money designed to grant Jeremy’s wish and that of other children. Jeremy’s wish is to go on a Disney cruise. RCHS has repeatedly shattered national records with its weeklong Make-A-Wish Colorado fundraiser. Last year, it raised $72,500 as part of the foundation’s Kids for Wish Kids program, eclipsing its previous record 2013 tally of $60,500. Teacher Tony Koy reminded the students the week isn’t a competition. “This week is about what we can give to somebody else,” he said. Students in matching blue Wish Week T-shirts cheered and stamped in unison during the assembly, shaking the gymnasium bleachers so hard they made principal Andy Abner cheerfully nervous. Jennifer Griffin frequently dabbed at her eyes and Jeremy smiled as a video about his diagnosis and generous spirit played during the assembly. “I super hate cancer,” Jeremy said during the video. The week’s events include benefit dinners at area restaurants, a dodgeball tournament and fashion show, concluding with the Feb. 27 closing assembly and check presentation. Jeremy will be there for several of the events. Wish continues on Page 12

This summer, Sharon Porter finally will get to grow squash. Her Lone Tree yard doesn’t have enough room for the space-hungry vegetables, whose vines sprawl for several feet. But the plot she anticipates tilling in Lone Tree’s community garden will. Construction at the Lone Tree Elementary School site begins soon, with a planned May grand opening of the 30-plot garden. Porter, a member of the city’s community garden committee, is also a nutritionist. So her anticipation about the new city amenity stems from personal and professional reasons. “I’m thrilled for my own purposes but at the community level, too, to encourage people to be more connected with the earth, get to know their food up close, eat more vegetables and really think about their health from a nutrition standpoint,” she said. Grocery store vegetables often taste bland, Porter said, because they’re shipped before they’re ripe, artificially

Police plan spring citizen academy Free 10-week class offers peek at law-enforcement life By Jane Reuter

jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com

Students dumped bags of change — and in this case a piggy bank — into plastic buckets as part of the Miracle Minute of initialy fundraising Feb. 20. The total raised isn’t yet known.

Senior Josh Colville shows his support for Wish Week during the opening rally at Rock Canyon High School.

Sophomore Matt Givin donates change during the Miracle Minute.

Pete Roozing wanted a dramatic change of pace from his career as an insurance company accountant. So last spring, he signed up for the Lone Tree Citizen’s Police Academy and learned how to drive a police car, analyze a crime scene and handle a gun. “It was an entirely different world than what I was used to,” said Roozing, a Lone Tree resident. “I’d always had an interest in law enforcement and it was fascinating.” Now retired, Roozing is training to become a member of Lone Tree’s Volunteers in Police Service, and will assist with the upcoming citizen academy. It’s an experience he recommends to everyone, though he cheerfully admits he didn’t do well in the Range 3000 exercise — a computerized firearms simulator that requires participants to make quick decisions about using deadly force in a variety of realistic scenarios. “I think I died a couple of times,” Roozing said, laughing. “It wasn’t a good thing for me. “You see these guys on the street, Police continues on Page 12


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