1-Color
May 1, 2014 Adams County, Colorado | Volume 6, Issue 18 A publication of
brightonbanner.com
Volunteer honored for work
WINNING AT LIFE
Cordova receives Mary Ciancio Memorial Distinguished award By Tammy Kranz
Brighton High School’s Brandon Pettinger gives his mom, Ginnissa Pettinger, the game ball after she threw out the first pitch of the game during Tuesday night’s rival baseball game against Brighton and Prairie View. Ginnissa was diagnosed six months ago with ovarian cancer and found out last week she’s now cancer-free. Photo by Michelle Boyer
tkranz@colorado communitymedia.com Health issues have not stopped Veronica Cordova from giving a lot of time and energy to her community. Cordova, 60, has battled breast cancer, has had stomach and back surgeries and a knee replacement. Despite these ailments, she has spent 40 years as a dedicated volunteer — starting at the age of 17 teaching children how to read. She currently volunteers 18 hours weekly at food banks, volunteers for the Adams County Sheriff’s Operation free Bird program, makes Christmas stockings for children, founded the Goat Hill Neighborhood Group and is gearing up now to get a community garden started for the season. “I figure God gave me the body to do what I can for his people,” Cordova said. “If they need my help and I can do it for them, I will.” This willingness to do what she can for others has earned Cordova the 2014 Mary Ciancio Memorial Distinguished Service Award for her 40 years of extensive volunteering. The Community Reach Center Foundation Board has presented this award to a volunteer in the community since 1980.
Work continues on Page 16
Vaccine bill should sting a bit less Senate passes watered-down effort to bolster immunizations By Vic Vela
vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com For those who were opposed to the original language in a proposed child vaccination bill, the new version shouldn’t hurt a bit. What began as legislation aimed at increasing vaccination rates in Colorado wound up being a record-keeping access bill, with the state Senate on April 23 instead passing a watered-down version of an immunization awareness bill. The original version of House Bill 1288 would have required parents of school children to become better educated about the value of immunization before opting
their kids out of vaccinations for personal or religious beliefs. Numerous changes were made before the bill made it to the Senate floor. Supporters say the bill still creates good policy because it allows parents to see vaccination records at schools and day Report care centers, to see how many children have received vaccinations for preventable illnesses like measles or whooping cough. That could be important information to a parent of a child with a weakened immune system. That child may not be able to receive vaccinations and would be particularly susceptible to illnesses carried by other students whose parents opted them
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out of receiving immunizations. “This is really a service to medically fragile children,” said state Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, a bill sponsor. Bill supporters said that by schools being required to have immunization data available to the public, parents will be able to make better decisions as to where they send their kids to school. “This bill will have an impact on the (immunization) rates and will be able to protect children from vaccine preventable childhood diseases,” said Sen. Jeanne Nicholson, D-Black Hawk. But the bill has fewer teeth than when it was introduced in the House in February. The original bill would have required parents who want to opt their children out of being vaccinated to first consult with a doctor about the benefits and risks of immunization. It would also have required an opt-out child to watch an online video having to do with immunization benefits and risks. The original legislation received bipartisan support in the House, passing that chamber on a vote of 42-19. But after the requirements that were part of the House bill were stripped away by the Senate, Aguilar said she did not have the support to get the original bill through the Senate. Many Republicans like Sen. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs, still opposed the bill, even after it had been stripped of much of the original language that concerned GOP members.
Hill said that it’s not the government’s business to dictate to parents that their children should receive vaccinations that are “unscientifically proven.” “I am concerned that we’re setting a dangerous precedent here that somehow we know what’s best; that somehow we in this room can determine what parents should and shouldn’t be doing,” Hill said. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 19-16, with just one Republican — Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango — voting with all Democrats. Aguilar assured Republicans that she would not agree to the original requirements making their way back on to the bill, through work of a post-passage conference committee. Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, the House bill sponsor, said he needs to speak with Senate members “to see how firm they are on their position” before he decides whether to make changes to the bill in conference committee. Pabon was not pleased that the bill got gutted in the Senate, saying the legislation was a victim of “misinformation, innuendo and rumor.” “I think it’s extremely disappointing when you look at who is left unprotected in the Senate version of the bill — those children with immune compromised diseases who are going into facilities where there are huge numbers of unvaccinated children,” Pabon said. “They could be coming down with diseases that we’ve cured.”