BEST

support only two families.

An “evolution of accountability” is how Lenz describes the big picture in the Republican River Basin. “We all knew it was coming. But it was so far in the future. Well, the future is here now.” e district has 10 committees charged with investigating ways to sustain the basin’s economy and leave its small towns thriving. Can it attract Internet technology developers? Can the remaining water be used for higher-value purposes? Can new technology irrigate more e ciently?

“We do know we must evolve,” Lenz told me. e farmers began large-scale pumping with the arrival of center-pivot sprinklers, a technology invented in Colorado in 1940. ey’re remarkably e cient

About Letters To The Editor

Colorado Community Media welcomes letters to the editor. Please note the following rules: such elections. Last year’s election had some hitches and it was a wise call by the seated Board to hire outside expertise. e other decision that the Board made was to conduct a mail-in ballot election. I know the mailin ballot approach is much more expensive (sta estimates a cost of $194,000). However, it a ords the opportunity for a much larger and wider “turn-out” of voters deciding who their board members will be.

• Email your letter to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com. Do not send via postal mail. Put the words “letter to the editor” in the email subject line.

• Submit your letter by 5 p.m. on Wednesday in order to have it considered for publication in the following week’s newspaper.

• Letters must be no longer than 400 words.

• Letters should be exclusively submitted to Colorado Community Media and should not submitted to other outlets or previously posted on websites or social media. Submitted letters become the property of CCM and should not be republished elsewhere.

• Letters advocating for a political candidate should focus on that candidate’s qualifications for o ce. We cannot publish letters that contain unverified negative information about a candidate’s opponent. Letters advocating for or against a political candidate or ballot issue will not be published within 12 days of an election.

Business recognition program is well received

Like other municipalities, Westminster has a business recognition program to honor and highlight businesses of varying lengths of years in business in the community. If you aren’t a local business person or an employee of such businesses, you may not be aware of this important program. After all, businesses large and small, high-tech or lowtech, retail, technical, industrial, service-oriented and others all play an important role in the viability of a community.

Certainly, during the COVID pandemic, we all saw and felt the at extracting underground water. Now, they must gure out sustainable agriculture. at’s a very di cult conversation. Aquifers created over millions of years are being depleted in a century. e Republican River shares similarities with the better-known and much larger Colorado River Basin. e mid-20th century was the time of applying human ingenuity to development of water resources. Now, along with past miscalculations, the warming climate is exacting a price, aridi cation of the Colorado River Basin.

Globally, the latest report from climate scientists paints an even greater challenge. To avoid really bad stu , they say, we must halve our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. ey insist upon need for new technologies, including ways to suck carbon out of the atmosphere, that have yet to be scaled.

We need that evolution of accountability described in Colo-

• Publication of any given letter is at our discretion. Letters are published as space is available.

• We will edit letters for clarity, grammar, punctuation and length and write headlines (titles) for letters at our discretion.

• Please don’t send us more than one letter per month. First priority for publication will be given to writers who have not submitted letters to us recently.

• Submit your letter in a Word document or in the body of an email. No PDFs or Google Docs, please.

• Include your full name, address and phone number. We will publish only your name and city or town of residence, but all of the information requested is needed for us to verify you are who you say you are.

• Letters will be considered only from people living in Colorado Community Media’s circulation area in Adams, Arapahoe, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Je erson and Weld counties.

• Do not use all caps, italics or bold text.

• Keep it polite: No name calling or “mudslinging.” impact on the community when businesses either cut back on service and availability of commodities or went out of business.

In Westminster’s case, the business recognition program goes back to 1989, as best I can remember. To show how it has grown, we started by recognizing businesses in increments of ve years in business i.e. 5, 10, 15, etc.

Today, given the number of businesses in Westminster, the city starts with 10 years in existence and then up goes in ve-year increments.

Currently, businesses with the longest length of service are e Greg Mastriona Golf Courses at Hyland Hills with 60 years of service and Wooden Shoe Preschool with 65 years of doing business. Wow!!

Also, the city has added a Sustainability Award and Community Spirit Award among Westminster businesses.

Time Concepts International owner proud of his recognition

What triggered my memory of the business recognition luncheon event was a recent visit to Time Concepts International located at rado’s Republican River Basin. We need a revolution of accountability on the global scale.

74th Avenue and Federal Boulevard. I have been going to this jewelry and watch store for as long as I can remember.

Business owner Franklin Aquino proudly has on display on the wall in his small shop photos of himself and Mayor Nancy McNally as well as a group photo of himself with several city o cials, when he received his award for 30 years of being in business in Westminster. Obviously, he is proud of such recognition. When asked about the luncheon event, he beamed a big smile and told me all about it.

It just goes to show us all that a “pat on the back” goes a long way when someone or an organization recognizes you for playing a role in your community. Great job City of Westminster for keeping this program going and honoring businesses in the community! Let’s remember, it is all about community.

Bill Christopher is a former Westminster city manager and RTD board member. His opinions are not necessarily those of Colorado Community Media. You can contact him at bcjayhawk68@gmail.com.

Allen Best, a long-time Colorado journalist, publishes Big Pivots. You can nd more at BigPivots.com

Area massage therapists laud the benefits of the practice on their clients’ ailments, stress

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Caring, compassionate hands — and sometimes feet — are used by massage therapists to help improve the lives of their clients. Massage is an ancient practice, and there are more than two dozen types throughout the world, therapists say.

Four massage therapists interviewed by Colorado Community Media say massage has become more accepted by the public, and more scienti c research is being done to document the health bene ts.

Massage can help with pain and injuries; decrease muscular tension; reduce blood pressure, swelling and in ammation; release endorphins; and much more, according to massage therapists.

“Even people who don’t have speci c problems can bene t from massage,” Destine Robertson with Alpine Medical Massage in Centennial and Conifer said. “Everybody has so much stress, and massage can help relieve that.”

People’s perceptions of massage have come a long way, the therapists said.

“A lot of people think of massage as pampering and relaxing,” Ti any Shocklee with Hearth re erapeutics in Golden said, “but it can help people who have many other issues, too.”

A blend of massage styles

Massage therapy is not an easy profession, requiring hours of training, a certi cation exam and licensing in Colorado.

“It’s become a more regulated eld,” said Mary Davis with Healing Traditions Bodywork in Evergreen, “which I think is best. I think it’s needed and necessary to protect people when they are potentially vulnerable going in for a personal treatment like massage.”

But education doesn’t stop at the 600 hours of initial training for most therapists. ey continue to learn di erent techniques to add to their repertoire.

“ e single most popular, most widely done type of massage in the

U.S. and maybe in the world is Swedish massage,” Davis said. “ at is part of your basic training. It is a bit lighter, more relaxing, with long strokes. en what I do and what a lot of therapists do is integrative massage. We have received additional training in areas that have spoken to us.”

Davis said most of the time she’s integrating di erent styles and techniques in one massage.

“I have a toolbox, and I pull different things out based on what I’m feeling that day in their tissues and what they need,” she explained.

Jenna Courage of Littleton erapeutic Massage Center said she has blended together many styles to create her own technique.

“I make each session specialized for each client,” Courage explained. “Some techniques I use on one client but not another. I feel like I am learning from my clients. ey come in with something new, and I gure out how to work with it, then take that knowledge and use it on someone with a similar issue.”

A satisfying career

Some massage therapists like Shocklee chose the practice as their rst career, while others nd massage therapy along their career paths. Davis and Shocklee have been massage therapists for 19 years, while Robertson has spent 22 years in the profession and Courage 31 years.

“Massage is important for me,” Shocklee said. “It’s what I’m meant to do. It helps me stay connected to myself. For me to go to work feels very focusing and a relief from other parts of my day that may be chaotic. It’s doing something that is single-minded by working with one person.”

Courage was working on a premedicine degree when she realized she had a strong interest in alternative health care. She visited a massage school and signed up the

Ti any Shocklee with Hearthfire Therapeutics in Golden massages a client’s shoulder. Shocklee also o ers ashiatsu massage during which she uses her feet. COURTESY PHOTOS