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March 12, 2020
SUMMER CAMP PAGES ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE!
Teachers’ rally will close local schools Day of Action will see educators at Capitol pushing for more funding BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Preparing for liftoff: Shawn Kirscht (in gray) and Dick Wood of the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum inspect Goddard Middle School’s old Nike missile. Littleton Schools is donating the missile to the museum, but it’s up to Kirscht and Wood to figure out how to move it. PHOTOS BY DAVID GILBERT
lot expansion. Davis said he’s thankful the missile will be going to a museum where it can be restored and cared for, and can be given proper historical context and interpretation. “It gives everyone in Colorado a chance to see it,” Davis said. “It will be taken care of the way it deserves.” Davis said numerous organizations from around the country reached out about acquiring the missile after a Colorado Community Media published an article about its unknown fate. Strong contenders included the Nike Site Summit, a former Nike missile base in the mountains outside Anchorage, Alaska, and Nike
Littleton Public Schools will be closed on March 19, as many of the district’s teachers plan to join a region-wide school walkout to protest what they call inadequate state education funding. LPS would have needed 233 substitutes to cover classes for the day, according to a district letter sent to parents, and was only able to arrange 91. “Please know the decision to cancel classes is never taken lightly,” the letter reads in part. “We recognize that this presents challenges and inconveniences for many of our families and we hope the advance notice is helpful.” The rally, which begins at 8 a.m. on the steps of the state Capitol, follows a similar walkout day in April 2018. The rally was organized by the Colorado Education Association, the state teachers union. Roughly a dozen other Denver-area districts had canceled classes for the rally as of March 6. The rally is meant to urge the state Legislature to boost education funding, said Amanda Crosby, the head of
SEE MISSLE, P4
SEE TEACHERS, P4
Missile is bound for Pueblo After more than 50 years, symbolic missile will give way to parking lot expansion BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Goddard Middle School’s old missile will soon be lifting off. Littleton Public Schools will donate the old Nike Hercules surfaceto-air missile to the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum this spring, said Terry Davis, the district’s director of operations. The missile, which was placed outside the west Littleton school when it opened in 1968, is being removed to make way for a parking
THE BOTTOM LINE
“If you are sick and have a respiratory infection, stay home. Don’t be a hero.”
PRSRT - STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LITTLETON, CO PERMIT #70 EDDM POSTAL PATRON
Dr. John Douglas, executive director of Tri-County Health Department | Page 2
SouthPlatteIndependent.net
INSIDE
VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 23 | SPORTS: PAGE 26