South Platte Independent 0827

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August 27, 2020

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO

A publication of

SouthPlatteIndependent.net

VOLUME 75 | ISSUE 44

INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | SPORTS: PAGE 16

Looming Littleton schools cuts spur request for tax hike Guy Grace stands in the Littleton Public Schools security office. Grace retired after more than 30 years working in the district’s security department.

COURTESY PHOTO

Littleton schools security director rides off Guy Grace looks back on decades of lives saved, trauma endured

BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Guy Grace is trying to get used to waking up to silence.

For years, Grace, the longtime director of security for Littleton Public Schools, personally responded to every “Safe2Tell” alert the district received. Many times, it was a latenight call about a student in crisis, on the verge of suicide or overdose.

“We were saving lives,” Grace said.

“But it destroyed my sleep. Three nights a week, I was lucky to sleep an hour.”

Grace, 53, quietly retired from LPS

over the summer, after more than 30 years on the job. In early August, he awoke for the first time in his new home, on eight acres outside Green River, Wyoming.

“I wasn’t unhappy with my job,” Grace said. “I realized time was fleeting. My wife and I are getting older.

I’m watching my kids grow up. We’ve always dreamed of going somewhere

BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Littleton voters could be asked to decide on a sales tax increase

PRSRT - STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LITTLETON, CO PERMIT #70 EDDM POSTAL PATRON

next year, part of efforts to address what city officials call a crisis in the city’s capital projects fund.

The capital projects fund is the portion of the city budget that pays for road projects, vehicle fleets including police cars, street maintenance, construction and upgrades to city-owned buildings and other infrastructure costs.

The fund has three primary sources of revenue: building use

BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

taxes largely imposed on construction projects, gasoline taxes, and an annual transfer from the city’s general fund arranged after the city disbanded its fire department in 2018. City fees account for a small minority of the fund.

The fund has been a headache for city officials for years, as it has failed to meet a growing list of

Littleton Public Schools will ask voters to approve a property tax increase this fall, hoping to stave off what district officials call “catastrophic” cuts to the district as a result of budget shortfalls caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The district will ask voters in November to approve a mill levy override that aims to raise $12 million in its first year, hoping to offset slashed state funding and increased expenses related to the pandemic If the measure doesn’t pass, district officials say, LPS could face cuts beginning in 2021 including laying off more than 180 employees, increasing class sizes, slashing funding for mental health and Ewert security services, cutting teacher pay, and eliminating programs including Options High School, Village Preschool, and career and technical education programs.

“We can’t fix this by reducing a few budget items,” Superintendent Brian

SEE CITY, P24

SEE CUTS, P8

SEE GRACE, P6

City eyes sales-tax request to address capital projects Road construction, infrastructure funding in dire need, officials say

District says ‘catastrophic’ outlook won’t be relieved by state

2 The Independent

August 27, 2020A

Hot town, summer in the city

BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

T

he high temperature approached triple digits on Aug. 22, part of a heat wave poised to set a record for most days above 90 degrees in a single summer.

But the heat, coupled with a tenacious haze of wildfire smoke, wasn’t enough to dissuade Littleton and Engelwood locals from finding old-fashioned ways to cool off.

For Tina Norman, it was hitting the miniature links at Colorado Journey mini golf course at Cornerstone Park in Englewood.

For others, it was a spin around Englewood’s Belleview Park on the the miniature

railroad.

For brother and sister Max and Sophie Sher, it was splashing around in Big Dry Creek, hunting for bugs.

Armed with handheld nets, Max, 6, and Sophie, 4, nabbed water striders and spiders galore along the rocks of the little stream that functioned as Englewood and Littleton’s first water park, long before Pirates Cove.

“I got another one!” Max shouted to his sister as he scooped up his fourth water strider in as many minutes.

“He’ll go all day,” said Max’s mom Stacy, sitting on the bank.

“There’s not much else to do this summer, but this is free and they’re having a blast. What else could you ask for?”

Max Sher, left, and his sister Sophie catch water striders in Big Dry Creek.

PHOTOS BY DAVID GILBERT

Conductor Scott Marsh gases up the C.P. Huntington, the miniature locomotive of the Belleview Park Railroad, before parking the train in a tunnel for the night after a day of circling the park.

Tina Norman of Colorado Springs winds up for a putt in front of the Mesa Verde set at Colorado Journey mini golf course.

Bike shop has seen business surge during pandemic Coloradans switch gears to socially-distant exercise

BY BRIAN WILLIE AND KYLE COOKE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

As small businesses across the state struggle to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic, a bike shop in Littleton has been busier than ever.

Lauren Dimartino is the general manager at Pedal, a bike shop at 2640 W. Belleview Ave. just off the Platte River trail. She’s been in the cycling business for 10 years and says she has never seen business like this.

While she wouldn’t go into specific numbers, Demartino said Pedal has “definitely been busier than ever.”

“As a small business, especially during the time of COVID, things could’ve gone two ways. And so there was a moment in time when we thought we were going to get shut down, and literally within the next 24 hours bike shops were deemed essential,” Dimartino said. “So we’re open and we’ve stayed open the whole time. We’re very grateful for that. It’s been very busy.”

Dimartino says Pedal is selling bikes faster than they can assemble them.

In the corner of the shop sits over a dozen boxes of bicycles in need of assembly. It’s the shop’s “build queue.”

Pedal bike shop in Littleton has seen a spike in business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PHOTO BY BRIAN WILLIE/ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

Demartino says all the boxes arrived over the course of a weekend and Pedal’s employees are hustling to get them built.

According to NPR, this bump in business has been enjoyed by bike shops across the country. In March,

when COVID-19 began spreading rapidly through the United States, bike sales were up over 50% from the same time last year. Pedal’s owner Andrew Chrismen said this is due to people wanting to get out of the house.

“There was a stay-at-home order and

all of a sudden people were looking for activities to do, so they were buying new bikes, getting bikes out of the garage, getting things fixed up so they could spend time together, which is pretty awesome,” Chrismen said.

Because of the high demand, Pedal says it can’t even answer phones reliably, so they’re asking customers to place orders online where the inventory is updated every day. In order to comply with social-distancing recommendations, Pedal is only allowing five customers in the shop at a time.

Repairs, however, can be done outside.

Another observation from the employees at Pedal is that it’s no longer mostly serious cyclists coming into the shop. There are more first-time customers.

Dimartino says she hopes that she will be able to look back on this time in Pedal as a positive memory.

“Getting kids on bikes with their families and teaching people the whole love and passion we have for it has been awesome,” Dimartino said. “To see just dozens and dozens of families out riding, it warms my heart. And that’s why I’m here.”

This story is from Rocky Mountain PBS, a nonprofit providing news and information across Colorado over the air and online. Used by permission. For more, and to support Rocky Mountain PBS, visit rmpbs.org.

The Independent 3

0August 27, 2020

C NVERSATIONS Join Commissioner Jeff Baker with special guest Open Spaces Director Shannon Carter on Thursday Aug. 27 @ 7 p.m.

Get updates on recent and upcoming projects and initiatives that affect our diverse communities.

Get details at arapahoegov.com/townhall Joyce Neufeld, president of the Food Exchange Resource Network, shows off the network’s Englewood warehouse. Last year, 202,000 area residents were served through the food pantries of the network.

PHOTOS BY JOSEPH RIOS

Food pantries collaborate to feed thousands Food Exchange Resource Network operates out of large warehouse

BY JOSEPH RIOS JRIOS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Denver resident Maria, who declined to give her last name, was doing house cleaning services before the COVID-19 pandemic forced her out of a job.

Maria receives benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federal program that helps low-income Americans purchase groceries — but sometimes, the program doesn’t provide enough support for her. So, to get food she’ll occasionally go to Community Ministry of Southwest Denver’s food pantry at 1755 S. Zuni St. “To tell you the truth, it’s very helpful when you don’t get (enough support from SNAP). It’s hard for people to survive like that, but I’m glad there’s places like this one,” said Maria as she packed a grocery cart of food from the pantry into her car on Aug. 20.

Some of the food from Community Ministry of Southwest Denver comes from the Food Exchange Resource Network (FERN) — a food resource collaborative located at a 15,000-squarefoot warehouse at 2830 S. Zuni St. in Englewood.

The network is made up of seven sharing partners and eight participating member food pantries, such as Community Ministry of Southwest Denver, who share the warehouse that holds food, serves as a major food distribution center, increases storage capacity and the amount of food available for those in need and serves as a space where the network can share food and other resources.

“We can’t make it all on our own.

Unless we’re working together, we’re all going to be in big trouble and no one will be served very well,” said

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Find what you need by visiting ArapaSOURCE.org Photograph your space Do you have kids at home, or do you work with kids who want to explore wild spaces, learn about photography and submit their best shots for a chance to be featured online? We have just the activity to get them (and maybe you) into the great outdoors.

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Deadline to enter is Aug. 31.

Maria packs food into her car at Community Ministry of Southwest Denver’s food pantry on Aug. 20. She recently lost her house cleaning job because of the pandemic.

Joyce Neufeld, executive director of Community Ministry of Southwest Denver and president of FERN. “We all benefit off of each other’s services.”

FERN was started in 2011 after it received a grant from the Denver Foundation, an organization that helps to mobilize resources to strengthen the community. The Denver Foundation helped to fund three formal food pantry collaborations like FERN to create changes in delivering food and to advance best practices within the emergency food delivery system.

At the time, Community Ministry of Southwest Denver was collaborating with other food pantries. Neufeld said the most common need for the pantry partnership was storage to hold refrigerated food, and with the grant, the pantries were able to purchase a large fridge, a walk-in freezer and other resources at the warehouse.

“Sometimes, you get major food loads in, and then you’re scrambling for (storage space),” said Neufeld.

SEE FOOD, P17

That mask wearing everyone is talking about? It’s helping.

Thanks to your dedication to wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and washing your hands, our positive COVIDcase numbers are headed in the right direction—down! In fact, 99% of Arapahoe County residents and visitors have been wearing face coverings where required. That’s great! Let’s keep it up (the mask-wearing, that is)!

Colorado offers special enrollment period If you’ve recently lost some or all of your income, you might qualify for a 60-day Special Enrollment period for health insurance. Connect for Health Colorado will allow eligible individuals to sign up for a new insurance plan, change a current plan, or apply for financial help to lower monthly health insurance costs.

Visit bit.ly/2ZcOlUd to learn more.

arapahoegov.com

4 The Independent

August 27, 2020A

Arapahoe County’s exception from COVID-19 rules remains in place Variance allowing larger crowds was at risk of being revoked

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Arapahoe County’s residents have reined in the spread of the coronavirus enough to prevent the state from rolling back the county’s progress on reopening — as long as it stays on the right course.

The state so far has not revoked the county’s waiver from Colorado’s restrictions on crowd sizes at businesses and places of worship.

Also known as a “variance,” the exception allows counties a break from some of the state’s restrictions on activities and businesses aimed at containing COVID-19.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment was expected to make a decision on the county’s variance in the first week of August, said Luc Hatlestad, a county spokesman. A permanent decision hadn’t arrived as of Aug. 20, but it appears the county can tentatively continue under its variance rules.

“CDPHE has not guaranteed anything but has expressed its willingness to allow us to continue along our current path, pending any changes in case numbers,” Hatlestad said.

Gyms, restaurants, places of worship and the county’s only indoor mall — the Town Center at Aurora, near East Alameda Avenue and Interstate 225 — received expanded capacity

under the state’s June 29 approval of Arapahoe County’s variance request.

In mid-July, about one-fourth of Colorado’s counties were notified that the virus’ trend has become intense enough that their variances must be reconsidered, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.

When the virus’ spread in a county shifts from low or medium to high — based on benchmarks the state outlines — a county must submit a plan to bring transmission levels back down. The public-health department then monitors the county’s COVID-19 case counts for two weeks and may alter or remove the variance if deemed necessary.

Instead of submitting a mitigation plan, counties also can choose to return to terms of the state’s “safer at home” order with no variances. Several of the smaller counties decided to do so.

In mid-July, Colorado issued a statewide order requiring people to wear masks in public indoor spaces and began a two-week pause on accepting any new variance applications.

The state resumed processing variances starting with communities with low or no COVID-19 transmission, according to an Aug. 11 state publichealth department statement.

Businesses must follow guidelines The state put Arapahoe County on notice because its COVID-19 test-positivity rates approached 5%.

As of July 20, by one metric — known as the 14-day “rolling” rate — positivity stood at 4.9%, according to a letter from the county to businesses that urged them to help turn the

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In a May 2020 file photo, hairstylist Jen Ambrose works with longtime client Teresa Caldaro at Indulgence Salon on Main Street in Littleton. Colorado is under a statewide order requiring people to wear masks in public indoor spaces.

PHOTO BY DAVID GILBERT trend around.

“We need all local businesses to redouble their efforts to monitor, track and enforce the guidelines established by the variance,” the letter said.

In addition to frequent hand-washing and wearing masks, the variance’s guidelines include the following: • Gyms, restaurants and houses of worship each may allow for 50% of the posted occupancy code, not to exceed more than 175 people, in a confined indoor space with a minimum of 6-foot distancing.

• Restaurants and houses of worship may work with their local authorities to determine how many people they may have in an outdoor space.

• For the Aurora mall, the state public-health department said the county’s request of 30% building capacity “does not include a total person limit, other than what is calculated using a ratio of one person per 55 square feet.” Based on the state’s variance approval, the total limit for an indoor mall for any confined indoor space is 175 people. The state also stressed that “it is critical for the common spaces within the indoor mall to be wellmanaged … to mitigate gatherings above 10 people and keep traffic flow moving.”

Seeing results The county is “trending toward” the state’s conditions for keeping its variance, Hatlestad said. Generally, the conditions include meeting certain benchmarks for low rates of new COVID-19 cases and a county’s trend in hospitalizations, according to the state’s COVID-19 website.

“While our variance remains in place, we’re continuing to implement our mitigation plan and monitor the continuing decline,” Hatlestad said.

The county submitted a mitigation plan to the department on July 20 that, among other steps, included:

• Educating county residents to stay home when sick or when they have been in close contact with a COVID-19 case.

• A public information campaign to increase awareness of the county’s COVID-19 statistics.

• Continuing to work with the state to distribute personal protective equipment, or PPE, to health care personnel and other frontline workers.

• Conducting weekly business roundtables with public-health experts to address industry and sitespecific questions, which the county hoped would increase attention to detail regarding cleaning, distancing, mask-wearing and flow of patrons.

Asked what fueled the decline of COVID-19’s spread in the county over the past few weeks, Hatlestad said: “Our residents and visitors are doing an excellent job of following best practices such as maintaining social distancing and frequent hand-washing and avoiding large gatherings outside the home.”

The proportion of people wearing masks in public in Arapahoe County was estimated at 99%, according to Tri-County Health Department, which covers Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties. That number was recorded during the week of Aug. 9, the most recent data available as of Aug. 22. TriCounty collects that data by observing crowds at “local facilities,” according to the agency’s website.

Businesses have been pitching in to maintain the county’s variance as well, Hatlestad said.

“We’ve fielded many calls and emails from business owners doublechecking to make sure they’re doing everything correctly,” Hatlestad said.

“And we’ll be pushing a lot of ‘keep it up’ messaging over the next few weeks to encourage and remind people to not let their guard down over the Labor Day weekend.”

The Independent 5

0August 27, 2020

State cracks down on large events, not protests Conservatives see ‘clear double standard’ in protest policy

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Colorado officials in recent weeks took enforcement action against events that threatened to overrun the state’s limits on crowd sizes, but the crackdown called attention to the lack of similar enforcement regarding racial-justice protests around metro Denver in recent months.

The office of Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser issued a ceaseand-desist letter in late July to Live Entertainment, the company behind a planned July 26 rodeo in Weld County and at least one other event that have drawn as many as thousands. The office proactively sent cease-and-desist orders to an organizer, Adixion Music, as well as a venue, Imperial Horse Racing Facility, to stop such events in the future, according to a governor’s office news release.

Gov. Jared Polis called such gatherings “dangerous superspreader events” at an Aug. 4 news conference, referring to large crowds’ ability to spread coronavirus.

“People who put themselves at risk aren’t just putting themselves at risk — they’re putting their family, their neighborhood and community at risk, and we cannot stand for that,” Polis said at the news conference.

In all, Weiser’s staff has sent four

A crowd of about 200 gathered in O’Brien Park in Parker on June 4 for a demonstration protesting the death of George Floyd and racial injustice in America. The protesters lay down for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time Floyd was pinned down by his neck while in Minneapolis police custody.

PHOTO BY NICK PUCKETT cease-and-desist orders to organizers for violating size limits on large events, said Weiser spokesman Lawrence Pacheco on Aug. 19.

‘Double standard’ alleged The state’s response to the Weld County rodeo prompted a conservative blog, Colorado Peak Politics, to

argue that protests received a “free pass” on crowd-size enforcement and that Polis looked the other way when it came to “mobs rallying their Democrat base.”

That complaint echoed other conservative writers in recent months, including in an op-ed piece in Colorado Politics magazine by business-

man Barry Farah, a 2018 Republican candidate for governor, that spoke of a “clear double standard” in the state’s treatment of protesters. An opinion piece by U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican of Windsor, made a similar point about protests nationwide.

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6 The Independent

August 27, 2020A

STATE FROM PAGE 5

Protests amassed in the downtown Denver area for at least two weeks in late May and June following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer, an incident that sparked nationwide unrest.

Protests that also focused on criminal justice issues in Colorado — such as the death of Elijah McClain in August 2019 following an encounter with Aurora police — continued into at least late July in the metro area.

In some cases, the demonstrations saw crowds of thousands. Denverarea protests are often organized and advertised on social media.

Under Colorado’s safer-at-home order, gatherings of more than 10 people in public and private spaces are prohibited, but crowd sizes can be larger in numerous circumstances depending on the activity or business, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Under the safer-at-home order, outdoor events — including receptions, fairs, rodeos and concerts and others — can allow up to 175 people, excluding staff, per designated activity with a minimum of 6 feet between individuals or non-household contacts.

‘Right to protest’ Weiser’s office and the state publichealth department declined to respond to questions from Colorado Community Media about complaints of political bias and why protests should be treated differently than other types of large gatherings.

Polis’ office did not directly address those questions but provided a statement in response.

Polis “respects every Coloradan’s right to free speech. The governor has been very clear that we are still experiencing a global pandemic, and if people choose to exercise their right to protest, they need to wear masks, practice social distancing, and get a free and easy test afterwards,” said Conor Cahill, a spokesman for Polis.

Despite Polis’ support for the motivation for protests, he worried about the

GRACE FROM PAGE 1

more rural, and if I didn’t do it now, I’m not sure I ever would.”

Green River, less than a six-hour drive from Littleton, is a world away.

An old railroad town, it sits in the desert of southwest Wyoming, one of the last true vestiges of the Wild West. Grace said he’s looking forward to taking his kids, 10 and 13, on camping trips.

But, as he sat in the dining room of his new home, surrounded by moving boxes, Grace said it was going to take some adjusting.

“It’s tough,” he said. “For years I’ve woken up with a mission. That’s gone now. It’s hard not to feel like I’m not doing my part. I’m trying to distract myself.”

Grace’s contributions to school security are legendary, earning him a slew of national awards and a writeup in Popular Mechanics. He remains the chairman of the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools, and measures he developed have been emulated in districts nationwide.

Vandals and thieves When he started on the district

An event decrying racial injustice gave way to protests in Castle Rock on June 2. effect of large demonstrations on the spread of COVID-19 and encouraged participants to get tested. The governor stressed the importance of wearing masks and staying 6 feet from others.

“Health experts tell me (the protests) could result in hundreds of new cases,” Polis said at a June 2 news conference.

As a dramatic rise in the state’s rate of new COVID-19 cases took shape in June, Polis pointed partly to protests as a driving factor.

“Our uptick, like the major spikes in other states, is largely among the younger demographic,” Polis said at a June 30 news conference. “I think it is partially attributable the bars and nightclubs and also potentially to the large public gatherings and the protest movements that we’ve seen outside.”

Earlier that month, Polis didn’t characterize the protests as playing

a large role in Colorado’s outbreaks, saying “there’s some evidence that” some of the people involved in a Boulder outbreak attended marches.

“We don’t necessarily have that same information from Denver,” Polis said at a June 24 news conference. “We believe it was associated with large get-togethers and parties.”

Asked how large a role protests played in Colorado’s June and July spike in COVID-19 cases, the state public-health department put the focus on Coloradans’ wider socializing compared to earlier in the pandemic.

“The increase in cases last month is likely due to a change in behavior, including socializing in larger groups, especially if without proper physical distancing or mask-wearing,” said an Aug. 20 statement from the Colorado State Joint Information Center, which includes staff from the state publichealth department.

security team in 1989, as a 22-year-old not long out of the Army, school security was more about catching vandals and thieves than preventing suicides and shootings.

Still, Grace took his job seriously from the start.

“We used to have burglaries in the schools every other week,” he said. “I emphasized patrols and mandatory responses to all alarms. As a young man, my Friday night was waiting to see who would break into a school.”

The approach worked — vandalism and burglaries plummeted, and district officials took notice.

Then, in 1999, everything changed.

state to integrate its radio network with those of first responders, to attend federal emergency training, and to develop an incident command structure.

“We were exploring everything possible, to give the community the satisfaction that the district was taking things seriously,” he said. “We weren’t resting on our laurels. We never have.”

Meanwhile, Grace and his team began hardening schools: cameras, access control, fewer entrances.

“Back in the 1990s, you could walk up to any elementary school and find almost any door unlocked,” he said.

“It’s sad to look back on. Those were the final students who went to school in the innocent times.”

The post-Columbine pendulum swing ushered in heavy-handed attitudes. Across the country, school districts implemented “zero tolerance” behavior policies, and students who got in fistfights often found themselves in front of judges.

“Sometimes, involving the criminal justice system is necessary, but I greatly prefer restorative justice principles,” Grace said. “Nobody wants to see a school-to-prison pipeline. Zero tolerance policies have fallen by the wayside, and that’s absolutely for the best.”

End of the ‘innocent times’ In the aftermath of the Columbine High School shooting, in which two students killed 12 classmates, a teacher and themselves in the nearby Jefferson County school district, suddenly school security rocketed to the top of districts’ priority lists nationwide.

A month later, Grace found himself promoted to head of Littleton’s security department.

In the years that followed, he kept LPS at the forefront of the movement to reshape school security, guiding Littleton through a series of firsts: the first district in the

PHOTO BY JESSICA GIBBS

Demonstrators gathered May 28 at the Colorado state Capitol in Denver to protest the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

PHOTO BY CHRISTY STEADMAN

Troubling trends As the 21st century matured, more tragedies would follow. Troubling trends began to emerge in youth mental health — increasing rates of anxiety, depression and suicide.

Grace said student suicides weren’t unheard of in decades past, but theorized the digital revolution, and the explosion of social media, has upended how young people interact and view themselves in distressing ways.

“How I’m supposed to look. How I’m supposed to act. What’s expected of me in terms of popularity. It’s a terribly skewed impression of reality,” he said.

School shootings increased as well.

Schools began paying attention to student mental health to greater degrees, and the field began to meld with school security.

In the early 2010s, Littleton onboarded Safe2Tell, an anonymous reporting system that allows students or families to report concerns or threats.

Calls numbered in the dozens in the program’s first years. Still, Grace’s job began to involve a new paradigm: crisis interventions, rushing to save young people from disaster. Many calls came in the middle of the night.

Grace responded to every single one.

SEE GRACE, P8

The Independent 7

0August 27, 2020

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8 The Independent

CUTS FROM PAGE 1

Ewert told the school board on Aug. 13. “We would have to drastically alter how we operate. It would reduce the opportunities we offer students of all ages.”

The district, which serves about 15,000 students, is facing reduced state funding of about $18.5 million in the 2020-2021 school year, part of ongoing statewide cuts stretching back to the Great Recession called the “negative factor” — a policy of withholding funds otherwise due to schools under the terms of Amendment 23.

The $18.5 million shortfall is $9.4 million larger than the “negative factor” imposed on Littleton in the 2019-2020 school year. The district has been shortchanged to the tune of nearly $157 million in state funding since 2009, according to district data.

The Colorado legislature approved $3.3 billion in statewide cuts in May as coronavirus wreaked havoc on state tax revenue collection.

The gap between the state cuts and the federal funds this year will be exacerbated by a further $4.2 million in cuts already approved by the LPS school board last fall, caused by rising costs and stagnant state funding, spurring the district to eliminate 17 positions.

The cuts will be offset by $6.6 million in one-time federal funds earmarked for coronavirus-related expenses such as complying with state and local health orders, planning and implementing remote learning options and purchasing sanitation supplies.

The district’s total general fund budget for the 2020-2021 school year is $177.8 million.

The total financial impact of the pandemic on the 2020-2021 school year isn’t yet known, said Donna Villamor, the district’s finance director.

The cost of the TOPS program, an online alternative to in-person

GRACE FROM PAGE 6

Missed opportunities Then, in 2013, tragedy struck.

On Dec. 13, a student stormed into Arapahoe High School with a gun, killing classmate Claire Davis before turning the gun on himself.

“I was planning on leaving for my mom’s that day,” Grace recalled.

“My car was loaded. I got a call from the security office — it was bad. I raced over to the school. I destroyed the engine on my car, actually.”

Grace oversaw the incident command, evacuating the school and reuniting families.

“It was one of the most stressful situations I’ve ever been in in my life,” he said.

In the months that followed, inquiries and investigations into the shooting found gaps in informationsharing and missed opportunities.

“I had never heard (the shooter’s) name before that day,” Grace said.

“There was a threat assessment, but it wasn’t followed up on like it should have been. I hate that kids died for us to learn. I hate it.”

The aftermath only intensified Grace’s attitude toward his job.

Processes and procedures were revamped. Information-sharing increased. Amid other school violence

August 27, 2020A learning, could wind up reaching $5 million this year, Villamor said. Paying for coronavirus testing and sick leave for teachers could also prove expensive.

Reserves likely to take hit Ewert anticipates the school board will dig deeply into its reserves in the coming year, and if the ballot measure doesn’t pass, the district could come close to exhausting all but the reserves mandated by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. While Ewert said the district anticipates being able to weather the coming school year without severe cutbacks, funding for the 2021-2022 school year and beyond looks bleak.

A statewide income tax measure that would have raised money for education and other programs failed to gain enough signatures to make it onto the ballot this fall. Other statewide ballot measures aimed at increasing school funding have also failed in recent years. Statewide revenue collection is constrained by TABOR, and the Gallagher amendment, which constrains property taxes.

Marijuana tax revenue is no panacea, Ewert said.

“Proponents of Amendment 64 (which legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado) acted like it would just soak schools with money,” Ewert said. “It was a heck of a marketing gimmick.”

Since Amendment 64 was passed in 2012, the district has received just enough marijuana tax revenue to hire one substance abuse counselor, Ewert said.

State won’t be rescuer “The state will not or cannot help,” Ewert said. “School districts are completely on their own to solve financial problems.”

Currently, district residents pay a mill levy rate of 59.266 toward LPS, or $423.75 per year per $100,000 of home value.

If approved, the district’s mill levy override ballot measure would raise

around the nation, Grace and his team hardened schools even further.

“It put me into a mayhem of trying to do better,” he said. “We tightened up everything. What can I do better? How can I learn from my mistakes? How do I save these kids’ lives?”

‘The failures are what follow you’ The district’s security apparatus kept evolving, with controlled entrances, and a growing district-wide panopticon of cameras.

Meanwhile, Grace responded to students in crisis at a feverish rate. Safe2Tell reports skyrocketed following the Arapahoe shooting, growing from dozens a year to nearly two a day, motivated in part by a greater familiarity with the program.

Grace knows he saved many lives.

He sent paramedics to rescue teenagers from overdoses. Responding officers cut one girl down from a noose in the nick of time.

Still, Grace was haunted by the suicides he couldn’t prevent. A teen busted for drinking on school property. A former student who returned to Arapahoe High School’s field to die. A student who died on camera on a school playground while Grace was en route.

“We had so many more successes than failures, but the failures are what follow you,” he said.

the mill levy on homes in the district by 6 mills in its first year, with the option to increase by one mill per year, up to a maximum of 11. The 6-mill increase would be $42.58 per year per $100,000 of home value.

That means on a home valued at $500,000, the measure would increase the annual taxes paid toward LPS from $2,118.75 to $2,331.65.

The amount a homeowner would pay if the mill levy was increased by 11 over five years is difficult to estimate, Villamor said, because mill levy payments are based on the property tax rate, which is subject to fluctuation. If the rate remained steady at 7.15%, a full 11-mill increase would result in an increase of roughly $78 per year per $100,000 of home value.

Mill levy hike would aid capital fund If approved, the money raised by the mill levy override would not be deposited into the district’s general fund, which covers operating and personnel costs, but would go instead into the district’s capital fund, and would be earmarked for maintenance costs, technology upgrades and capital construction.

Ewert said the idea is to backfill the capital fund and minimize transfers from the general fund, saying while the district would prefer to simply bring money directly into the general fund, statutory limitations mean they could only go for a set percentage of the general fund, raising at most around $7 million per year, which he called inadequate to cover the district’s need.

Littleton Public Schools boasts a long track record of public support for fundraising measures. Voters have approved every local bond and mill levy the district has put before them in recent memory, including a $12 million mill levy passed in 2010 and a $298 million bond measure approved in 2018 and earmarked for rebuilding and overhauling schools districtwide.

The ballot measure is not entirely a response to the pandemic — dis-

‘In the peace of the night’ By the tail end of the 2010s, Grace was struggling.

“Safe2Tell. Safe2Tell. Safe2Tell.

Arapahoe. Suicides. I haven’t told you half of what I saw, what we dealt with. It was spinning in my head. Racing thoughts. In the peace of the night, I couldn’t shut it off.”

Grace, Army tough, said despite his job, he hadn’t always been the type to seek mental health care himself. That changed, and he sought treatment for PTSD. On the phone from Wyoming, Grace paused.

“If I’m honest,” he said, “it’s why I’ve sought a quieter life. I want to be here for my kids. I think they like me most of the time. I’m proud I’m still married.”

In good hands Still, he grapples with guilt.

“I miss responding. I woke up this morning really sad, actually. You wonder who you’re not saving.”

By no means is Grace leaving his field of expertise. He is staying busy recording presentations for the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools, where he is working on an updated version of safety recommendations for K-12 schools nationwide. He has also been recruited to develop safety protocols for high school and college sports seeking to reopen amid the challenges of the novel coronavirus era.

trict officials began discussing the idea late last year, around the time the school board approved a round of budget cuts.

A poll of district residents in January and February — before the novel coronavirus pandemic impacted American schools — found 58% supported the idea of a mill levy override, said district spokesperson Diane Leiker. A followup poll in July found support had dropped to about 50%.

Still, Leiker said, a majority of survey respondents said they would prefer school funding problems to be solved at the local level rather than waiting for the state to help.

School board members acknowledged that asking voters to increase their taxes during a pandemic that has resulted in widespread unemployment and hardship could be a harder sell than previous ballot measures, but said they felt compelled to ask.

“The idea of cutting $12 million makes me sick to my stomach,” said board member Lindley McCrary at the Aug. 13 meeting. “We owe it to students, teachers and schools to at least ask the question.”

Kelly Perez was the only board member to vote against referring the ballot measure to voters at the Aug. 13 meeting, saying constituents have told her it’s a bad year to talk tax hikes.

Board president Jack Reutzel said the board wouldn’t be doing its duty if it didn’t ask voters.

“We never take the largesse of this community for granted,” Reutzel said. “We are humbled by their support. Even in the best of times it’s risky, but we have developed a partnership between the district and the community that makes this one of the more attractive places to raise your children … Our function as a board is to find the resources we need to make LPS the place we want it to be. It’s a public school district, so we should ask the public what they think. I don’t like to lose, but I’d like to ask the question.”

In coming years, Grace and his wife, a school psychologist, want to start a support network for school employees who have endured tragedy.

“There are a lot of people out there hurting,” he said.

Grace said he’s confident he left Littleton Public Schools in good hands. He praised the expertise, passion and devotion of the district’s security personnel, mental health team, faculty and administration.

He expressed deep gratitude to the LPS community for the opportunity to pursue his calling and work with wonderful staff, parents and students.

Still, he harbors concerns.

“I’m worried about what will happen when schools return,” he said.

“Will they be so focused on COVID, while nothing else has disappeared?

The issues could be compounded.

Kids are going through a major disruption. Mental health crises aren’t going away. Shootings aren’t going away. Heck, tornadoes aren’t going away. When you’re not looking, that’s when these things happen.”

But, for the time being, Grace is trying to keep his mind in Wyoming, with his wife and kids. He tries to quiet his mind as he watches mule deer tiptoe through his yard, or the sunset paint the distant bluffs.

“I might even try to go fishing,” he said.

The Independent 9

0August 27, 2020

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10 The Independent

LOCAL

August 27, 2020A

VOICES

Want divisiveness to stop? Campaign for empathy

T

he other day I was in a Zoom meeting with some folks, one of whom I have struggled with personally. There are few people in my life with whom I default GUEST to judgment anyCOLUMN more, but she has been one. For several years, I’ve been working on dumping my assumptions about people and increasing my curiosity about them instead. But there I was, listening to this Linda Newell person and feeling my blood pressure rise feeling her ego dripping off the screen. Then, I caught myself, stopped, and took a breath. I began to look and listen as if I had no judgment. I focused on her as just another human like me, trying to do the right thing in what-

I’m very proud of the work that I do and of my personal growth over the years. But clearly, my personal work is not done and never will be. Just like everyone else on the self-improvement track, I’ve got to have patience with myself as I attempt to do better.

This experience reminded me that if we want this divisiveness to stop in this country, it’s not only up to “our society,” but it’s up to ourselves first.

If we can’t have empathy and genuine curiosity with each other in our own lives, how can we have it for others whom we don’t even know?

We’re conditioned to see people who are different or separate from us as “the other.” In business and sports, they’re our competitors. In politics, they’re whacko or stupid. In religion, they’re the ones we feel sorry for as they won’t have eternal peace. In racial divides, their lives don’t really matter or they’re self-righteous. Educationally, they’re the ignorant other

ever way she knew how.

In just one moment, I could feel my body calm down and my heart and mind open. Rather than feeling her ego, I could see her as a fellow child of God. OK, that might sound cheesy to some people, but it felt real. It was real and very healing. I can now honestly say that I won’t shy away from being with her again or try to avoid eye contact as I had done before. In reflection afterward, I had to ask myself: “Who’s the problem here?” Is it the woman with the ego or the other woman with the ego (me)? I had to acknowledge that no matter how many years of teaching empathy skills or facilitating conflict, I am not immune to getting sucked into my Judgment Self.

I get so upset about people judging people by the color of their skin, the sound of their accent, or the political party they belong to. But how can I expect all of us to change if I’m not changing me? Don’t get me wrong.

T Lesson still unknown as pandemic year schools us all QUIET DESPERATION

Craig Marshall Smith

T

he title of the assignment was intentionally dumb: “How I Spent My Summer Vacation,” a holdover from the grade school writing projects many of us were assigned.

It was the first assignment in the fall semester of the advanced drawing class I taught for years as a university professor and it was always a success. It was a perfect introduction to the top drawing students in the school. Or an immediate indicator that a student had reached a level they were incapable of maintaining for 16 weeks.

I’ve reminisced about that project this summer and wondered what a wall of drawings might look

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or the elitist who thinks they know it all. When is this going to stop? HOW is this going to stop?

Well in this political season and beyond, I’m campaigning for empathy; emotional intelligence — with our family members, partners, neighbors, customers, colleagues, students, professors, and even our elected officials.

And especially, ourselves. Imagine how quickly we’d unite, in dignity, if we truly tried to understand others’ lived experiences with empathy and curiosity; listening to each other without judgment. What have we got to lose?

Former Colorado state senator, now with a master’s in Social Justice and Ethics from Iliff School of Theology, Linda Newell is a writer, speaker, facilitator, and filmmaker. Senlindanewell@ gmail.com, www.lindanewell.org, www.senlindanewell.com, @sennewell on Twitter, Senator Linda Newell or @ TheLastBill on Facebook.

The positive evolution of professional selling

hink about a time when you decided not to get behind a cause, chose not to buy into an idea or plan, or decided not to make a purchase of a product or service. When I ask WINNING people why they chose WORDS not to participate, buy in, or make the purchase, one word comes up most of the time: trust. Or rather a lack of trust.

They either didn’t trust or believe in the cause, they didn’t trust the plan, they didn’t trust the person selling Michael Norton them the product, they didn’t trust the product or service, or they didn’t trust the company to stand behind the product or service.

In a recent virtual sales training session that I participated in, the facilitator shared a graphic showing how people viewed certain professions regarding trustworthiness. Would it shock you to learn that salespeople were seen as the least trustworthy of all the professions listed? It did and it did not shock me.

It did not shock me because salespeople have endured a negative stigma for a very long time. Whenever a group of people are asked for words that they think of when they think of salespeople, they typically come up with words like: slimy, sleazy, dishonest, liar, unprofessional, and many more derogatory

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characterizations.

It did shock me because I have been around a lot of salespeople over the past three decades. And as I look back at the evolution of professional selling, I have seen how salespeople have evolved, and how companies have become increasingly selective in making sure they hire and develop professional salespeople.

More and more companies are investing in the people they hire in providing the right skills-based training. They provide them with industry and product knowledge to make sure that they represent themselves and the company professionally.

I meet with salespeople every day.

These meetings take place virtually and the salespeople are trying to sell me something that they believe I might need or want. When I agree to take a meeting, I do so for two reasons. First, I may actually have a need or desire for a product or service they are selling.

Second, I like to see how salespeople are selling. Are they connecting with me, are they professional, are they actively listening, do they ask me relevant questions, do they have their facts and data right? Are they earning my trust?

And I have to tell you that for the most part, today’s salesperson is very professional, they are well educated on their offerings, even in a virtual setting they are engaging and making great eye contact. They ask relevant questions and take good notes. And they follow

Columnists & Guest Commentaries Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Independent.

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The Independent 11

0August 27, 2020

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Silent Gardner should speak up Senator Cory Gardner has been rather noisy lately.

Noisy about meeting with start-ups in Colorado Springs, health centers in Grand Junction (as he supports the lawsuit against ACA with no replacement plan), forest products workers in Montrose, a sculpture in D.C., visiting bus facilities in Durango.

Noisy about the Great American Outdoors Act, which will provide needed funding for public lands.

And using this one bill, he has been promoting himself as a conservation supporter even when the League of Conservation voters has awarded him with a 10% lifetime score for his conservation votes.

In previous years these visits would be seen to have their merits. But now?

The senator has been silent on much more pressing issues this year.

Silent about the president’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, not enough testing and contact tracing, the tHeroes Act which would provide much needed re-

lief for the unemployed, those facing evictions, small businesses, stimulus payments, aid to state governments and more actions that were needed yesterday.

Silent about the president’s dismantling of the United States Postal Service in order to suppress mail-in voting, a system that propelled him to the Senate in 2014.

Gardner has refused to promote Colorado’s voting process as something for states to emulate.

Interfering with our right to vote is inexcusable for an elected official.

And the collateral damage is the unnecessary delay in delivering medications, mail order products, car registration and insurance cards, checks, etc.

Senator Cory Gardner’s silence is more deafening than his noise.

Lynne Popkowski Littleton Don’t cut off immigrant center The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is planning to greatly increase the cost to immigrants applying for citizenship or for

SMITH FROM PAGE 10

like, were I still teaching.

Masks and ventilators? Street protests? Empty stadiums? Cabin fever in quarantine?

Believe or not, the project was very challenging. Every day, we do a hundred or more things that might become a memory. Any memory can become an image in the hands of someone who is creative.

Sifting through ideas is what all artists do. “Artists” includes inventors, lyricists, architects, and anyone else who has to make choices for a living.

If you were asked to sift through your 2020 summer and represent it with a drawing on a single piece of paper, what would it look like?

Generally, the drawings I looked at were scenes from a vacation, something like that. Rarely were they dark.

One young woman had the temerity to depict her breakup with a married man.

After I retired I was asked now and then to sub or make an appearance as a guest artist. And once I was asked if I would be interested in teaching an online drawing course.

It sounded like madness and I said so.

The intimacy of instruction in an art room is absolute, I thought: no exceptions.

Now look.

Almost everything we once considered normal is now something else, and that includes schools and schooling.

What if school buildings disappeared and all students were educat-

a green card (work permit). In addition, for the first time ever in the U.S., there will be a fee for those applying for asylum.

The cost for a citizenship application will go up on October 2 to $1,170, up more than 80%. The cost to apply for a green card will rise 83%, to $1,140, plus a 51% increase in cost for children. In addition, fee waivers for low-income immigrants are being eliminated.

Many immigrants who are eligible to become citizens are unable to pay for an immigration lawyer to help with their applications, and many will be unable to pay these greatly increased fees.

That makes the work of the Littleton Immigrant Resource Center at Bemis Library even more essential. The center is one of the few authorized in the state to assist immigrants with filings, and it does so at low cost.

Littleton has long been known as a community that reaches out and welcomes people from around the world.

Certainly, the city has suffered loss of revenue

ed at home? Or not? Truancy would be easy as pie. Ferris Bueller could take off for months at a time.

I know someone who teaches at Overland High School. My best friend is a dean at the University of North Texas.

That’s as close as I am to what the school year might actually mean.

I hope to be around long enough to find out what the 2020 educational data that was collected and analyzed determined.

That’s something the National Center for Education Statistics will do.

Is it possible our children will be better educated at home or in environments outside of a typical classroom?

It seems very unlikely, doesn’t it?

Further, the absence of socialization might have a huge impact on, well, learning how to socialize, get along and coexist.

Have you ever wanted to flip a switch and see the future? Where’s Rod Serling?

My friend in Texas does not foresee higher education ever being the same again.

What else? Anyone who experienced depression before the pandemic isn’t likely to be singing show tunes right now.

Every day I ask myself, “What can I do?”

Realistically, this is about it. Along with journalists all over the country, I am trying my best to continue to provide crucial information to our readers.

Have you heard about that new corduroy pillow? It’s making headlines.

Craig Marshall Smith is an artist, educator and Highlands Ranch resident. He can be reached at craigmarshallsmith@comcast.net.

due to COVID-19, but the center’s budget is small in the scheme of things, and the pandemic should not be an excuse to end a program that is so important to so many.

The city council should continue funding for the center’s important work.

Susan Thornton’ Littleton Back troops, not Trump The greatest insult from Trump’s actions to disrupt processing and delivery of the mail is that in so doing he is disenfranchising our troops. Never mind us here at home, our military personnel serving in far-flung places around the world have only one way to vote, by absentee ballot through the mail. Considering this, it should be clear to all where Trump’s interest lies. How can any patriotic citizen vote for such a person?

Dwight Roinestad Highlands Ranch

NORTON FROM PAGE 10

up, doing what they said they would do, when they said they would do it. All of this contributes greatly to earning my trust.

It has been said that there are five primary reasons people choose not to buy something, or not to buy into something. No Time, No Want, No Money, No Need, but the number one reason is No Trust.

So now when I am on a virtual sales training session, I ask everyone to make sure their cameras are on, and I ask them a different question.

I ask them what they see as they look around at all the faces on the screen and how they would describe the salespeople on their team. What I hear from people these days are words like: professional, honest, integrity, successful, great attitude, achiever, smart, and more positive and affirming words. The world has changed, and so has the profession of selling. The world will continue to change, and so will the salespeople as they work towards earning and maintaining our trust.

How about you? Have you seen how salespeople have grown and changed? Are you in sales, and if so, have you noticed the positive difference in yourself and in your team? I would love to hear your trust story at mnorton@tramazing.com, and when we live and work from a foundation of trust, it really will be a better than good week.

Michael Norton is the grateful CEO of Tramazing.com, a personal and professional coach, and a consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator to businesses of all sizes.

OBITUARIES GIBBONS

DIANA KAY (BENSON) GIBBONS developed real estate, mined Diana Kay Benson was born silver and owned racehorses May 22, 1949 to Jake and in Colorado. Her boss took Leola Benson in Anthony, her to the Kentucky Derby KS, the fourth of six children. in 1980 where their horse She passed away August finished second. Diana also 23, 2020. Diana was raised volunteered for Evergreen on a farm southwest of Floral where she quickly Manchester, OK where she learned the art of flower arrangement. attended Manchester school grades The house was always full of flowers 1-8, and Rosedale Church of Christ. thereafter. Diana and Chris traveled She went to Wakita High school extensively all their lives, visiting all 50 where she graduated in 1967 and states and 40 countries from Australia then attended Oklahoma School of Rio de Janeiro to Istanbul.

Banking and Business.

As a freshman Name: Untitled 995 copy copytocopy co1; Depth: 8 in; Ad Diana was preceded in death by her in high school, she met a sophomore Number: -; Customer Name: OBIT parents and one brother-in-law, Duane named Chris Gibbons. They became Baker. She is survived by her husband good friends and then dated and then of 51 years, Chris; her sons, Jamie and married on Sept. 7, 1968 in the Wakita wife Kristen of Kingman, AZ; Sam Christian Church. They began their and wife Jessie and daughter Sasha of life together in Norman, Oklahoma as Bailey, CO; sisters Cathy Baker, Wichita Chris finished school at OU while she KS, Beverly Hendricks and husband worked as an accountant at American Richard of Anthony KS, Rita Benson of Trailers. The couple moved to Enumclaw WA and brother Bill and wife Oklahoma City and then later to Twin Betty Benson of Afton OK. Memorials Peaks, California. In 1977, they moved in Diana’s name may be made to to Evergreen, Colorado where they Evergreen Christian Outreach (EChO); built their dream home in a beautiful Mt. Evans Hospice, or the Wakita valley in the Rocky Mountains. Diana Cemetery and can be sent to the funeral and Chris raised two sons, James home at Evergreen Memorial Park, (Jamie) and Sam. The light of her 26624 N. Turkey Creek Road, Evergreen, life was their granddaughter, Sasha.

Grandmother and granddaughter spent Co. 80439.

A come-and-go celebration and countless hours baking in the kitchen remembrance of her full and happy and experimenting with new recipes life of kindness and giving will be that Sasha concocted (not all of them held at Diana and Chris’s home at 168 edible).

Siesta Circle in Evergreen from 1:30 In Denver, Diana worked as office to 4:30 p.m. on August 29th. Please manager and accountant for a law wear masks to prevent the spread of firm, a software company and a Covid-19. conglomerate owned by E.K. Gaylord (owner of the Grand Ole Opry) that

Funeral Homes Visit: www.memoriams.com

12 The Independent

LOCAL

August 27, 2020A

LIFE

Virtual learning provides challenges for dance instructors

BY NICK PUCKETT NPUCKETT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

I

nstructors at the Parker Dance Academy are getting better at using their words.

Studio director Lexie Steinhauser has danced and taught dance for years. But even she struggled when it came to teaching through a computer screen.

“Usually, as you’re teaching the technique of dance, you go around and touch their shoulders, tell them to go back, tell them to fix their foot,” said Steinhauser. “We’ve gotten really into imagery with our students, and with movement, how you utilize different body parts.”

Without the ability to get up close with their students to adjust an elbow here or a plie there, dance teachers are adapting their methods to reach students beyond the studio.

“As dancers, especially dance teachers who have worked all over the world, you have to learn how to adapt to a situation no matter what,” Steinhauser said. “It’s part of the gig.

If someone goes the wrong way, makes a wrong step, gets too close to another dancer, the music stops, the audience throws something at you — you have to adapt to that situation and make it seem like nothing has gone wrong.”

Dance instructors throughout Denver are finding new ways to reach their students and picking up new tricks themselves along the way.

Allison Jaramillo, co-director of the Littleton Ballet Academy, said the instructors found some new tools while learning to teach virtually. The angle with which the students position their web cameras can sometimes help instructors visualize a student’s form. The shy students in class have been noticeably more engaged.

Less-advanced dancers don’t feel left behind in a big group and end up discouraged.

“They knew they weren’t the best in the class, but all of a sudden they were the best in their house,” Jaramillo said.

They say dance like no one’s watching, Jaramillo said.

“For some of them, it was actually true.”

The pre-ballet students, from ages 3 to 6, have been the most difficult to engage. Students are sometimes left without a parent watching at home and become distracted.

Instructors have to be more expressive and praise the students as much as possible. Lisa Leafgreen, director of education at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, said the instructors have to give twice the effort to get half the output from the students.

“It’s just not an ideal format for a performing art,” Leafgreen said. “But we adjusted. They pivoted their teaching style like we all did to put more into their teaching. It’s not that they didn’t before, but it takes more excitement and exuberance.”

Jaramillo said the Littleton Ballet Academy may not be back to full inperson teaching for several months.

The academy is operating under a “hy-

Students at the Parker Dance Academy do plie squats led by Studio Director Lexie Steinhaus. Some students say their strength has improved over the months because they have been forced to relearn some of the basics from home.

PHOTO BY NICK PUCKETT

Students at the Parker Dance Academy are back in the studio, and some say in better shape than when they left. Being away and struggling with learning how to improve from home, some say they’ve gone back to basics, and are better for it.

PHOTO BY NICK PUCKETT

brid” model, letting students choose to stay home or find spots in a class. The school won’t be holding any performances until at least spring, hoping to perform “The Nutcracker” as soon as they can.

“The ones that started coming every day because they had nothing else to do realized they started improving, which helped them keep up,” Jaramillo said.

High school students lost their proms, graduations and most of their spring semester. Lisa Leafgreen, director of education at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, said the center set out to make sure its art programs were one of the few things that didn’t close or cancel.

“As writers need to write, dancers need to dance,” Leafgreen said. “It is such an important time to stay connected.”

The Arvada Center is offering in-person classes for its all its usual dance courses. Capacity is limited to about half as many students with social distancing maintained. Lessons are available online as well.

Leafgreen said the shift to a virtual teaching format has given the center more opportunities to reach a wider range of people as well. Leafgreen said the center has had people take virtual lessons from across the country. One person tuned in from Guatemala.

“As a director of education, that was something that wasn’t on my trajectory of what I thought our program would be doing, but we shifted, we pivoted, we’re nimble and it opens different possibilities,” Leafgreen said.

Dance instructors are just beginning to venture into this world of virtual

Students at the Parker Dance Academy take part in an outdoor lesson in a parking lot near the studio. Dancers and teachers are adjusting to virtual and socially distanced learning, creating unique obstacles and opportunities.

COURTESY PHOTO

teaching, Leafgreen said.

“I wake up each day thinking, ‘OK, is this going to happen? Is that going to happen?’” Leafgreen said. “How do we stay relevant here? How do we continue to keep kids engaged? It’s rethinking everything we do.”

Without any competitions to work toward, no thunderous applause to look forward to and no “The Nutcracker” over the holidays, instructors are also finding new ways to motivate their students.

Steinhauser says she tries to remember what makes dance important to the kids.

“A lot of these kids, the reason they dance is for the friends and community and the relationships you only get with someone in an artistic way,” Steinhauser said. “We’ve been continuing to think outside the box to move together.”

The Independent 13

0August 27, 2020

‘Vibrant Bounty’ offers rich glimpse into culture Folk art from China’s Shaanxi Province at Littleton Museum

BY SONYA ELLINGBOE SELLINGBOE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

New at the Littleton Museum — and clearly worth more than one visit — is a collection of Chinese folk art from the Shaanxi Province called “Vibrant Bounty.”

It will engage art lovers from 8 to 80 with its detailed presentation of rural scenes via tempera paintings, plus a collection of charming fabric toys certain to make one smile.

The exhibit, organized by Exhibits USA, a program of Mid America Arts Alliance, will be at the museum through Oct. 17, open during museum hours.

It shares works from a region of China, near the beginning of the fabled Silk Road, that has many similarities to rural America, with its sturdy, hard-working people.

(Readers may be familiar with the famous nearby archaeological find, the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and his Terracotta Army.)

In the center of the gallery are glass cases with colorful crittters — we especially loved the gray-green embroidered silk toad, with its googly eyes and pink nose ... close to a bright redcrested rooster and an embroidered

IF YOU GO “Vibrant Bounty” will be exhibited through Oct. 17 at the Littleton Museum, 6028 S. Gallup St., Littleton. Open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Free admission. Reservations required: 303-7953950; www.littletongov.org/city-services/ city-departments/museum. (Limit on number of people in a group: 10) piggy with flowers and a smile.

Paintings in a uniform size and style circle the room, depicting rural customs and scenes many Americans will relate to. They were created between 1958 and 1961, and were part of the Communist Party’s “Great Leap Forward.”

To the right of the entrance is a painting by Shengtao Zhao, called “Harvesting Sugar Cane in the North,” which establishes the folk art style that carries throughout the exhibit. It relates to American “Grandma Moses” folk art, with a rhythm of rows of people and plants, and bright colors.

Next is one by Quan Tang called “Making Paper by Hand,” illustrating the way it’s been done for centuries.

China is widely credited with development of papermaking techniques and one can buy a similar handmade paper today. It’s popular with some watercolorists.

Third is “Rinsing Cloth on the River” by Zijian Lui, followed by “Hoeing in Spring” and “Picking Lotus

Chinese folk art from Shaanxi Province is on display in the “Vibrant Bounty” exhibition at Littleton Museum.

PHOTO BY MOIRA CASEY/COURTESY OF LITTLETON MUSEUM Seedpods.” (This one brought to mind the giant Lotus Pods now in the Water Gardens at Hudson Gardens.)

While different artists are presented, the paintings are the same size, created with a similar palette of paints and in a related folk style.

They go on to show drying tobacco leaves, and several especially bright ones focused on drying peppers — one can almost smell the hot peppers in Szechuan foods.

Several elaborate opera masks by unknown artists stand out in mid gallery. Perhaps readers have seen performances of Chinese opera, with elegant costumes, grotesque masks and villains shouting lines and bran-

dishing swords?

A case on the wall holds “Hanging Crab With 12 Animals,” illustrating the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac that symbolize “The Happy Cycle of Life” and are said bring good luck to a home where they are displayed.

Near that crab is a painting of a flutist sitting on the back of a “Grazing Cow,” characterized as a “poetic scene of country life.”

Also included in this rich exhibit: New Year prints of Chinese deities, embroidered shoe pads, a baby quilt and a painting showing children floating lanterns in a festival, celebrated on the fifth day of the Chinese New Year.

‘The Walls Between Us’ shares works by collective

“W

itness,” a painting

by Patricia Aaron of Greenwood Village, hangs in Metro State University’s gallery, Center for Visual Arts, at 965 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, in a new exhibit called “The Walls Between Us.” The exhibit is a collection of works by the artist collective Artnauts. The exhibition explores “walls, SONYA’S whether emotional barriers, physical SAMPLER structures, implied boundaries or heavily guarded barriers ...” according to a statement from CVA. The collective focuses on social justice. The exhibit runs through Oct. 17. Gallery hours: Tuesday-Friday, 11 Sonya Ellingboe a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday: noon to 5 p.m.

Admission: free. 303-294-5207, www. msudenver.edu/cva. Free parking by entrance or on the street nearby.

Virtual quilt show In normal summers, Littleton celebrates the summer, and part of that celebration is a beautiful quilt show at First Presbyterian Church, where church members share quilts: some crafted by the exhibiter and others passed down in families, from a mother, grandmother or aunt, perhaps. And then there are some, like those shown by the show’s organizer, Jennie Staritzky, which belong in her personal collection. “This year’s show is online, produced by Pastor Cody Sandahl,” Staritzky writes. “Access through the church website: littleton-

can be involved? The museum will send a video invitation. To be exhibited May 21 to Aug. 22, 2021.

Littleton Garden Club Members of the long-running Littleton Garden Club have decided to cancel meetings through 2020. If there’s to be a January 2021 meeting, we will hope to publish a notice. This local group hopes members will create gardening videos to share and seeks new computer-savvy members — and any others interested. See littletongardenclub.org. The group maintains a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ littletongarden.club. (It may be a long winter!)

Patricia Aaron’s painting “Witness” was created with beeswax, pigment and mixed media. It is being shown in the Center for Visual Arts’ exhibition “The Walls Between Us.” COURTESY PHOTO presbyterian.org/quilt. There are two formats: a 5 minute video with music, or you can click through at your own pace and enjoy the fascinating tidbits the owners have shared about their quilt’s history.”

‘Vibrant Bounty’ On Wednesday, Sept. 2, there will be a family program on crafting that will tour the Chinese exhibit at the Littleton Museum with exhibit-related child-friendly crafts. Visit facebook. com/LittletonMuseum/videos to see a video with Littleton Museum Curator of Collections Jenny Hankinson and Curator of Exhibits Moira Casey as they guide you through some exhibit-

related, kid-friendly crafts.

Denver Art Museum With a future exhibit in mind, Denver Art Museum announces “Each/ Other”, a collaboration between two leading Indigenous contemporary artists: Marie Watt (Seneca, Scottish, German) and Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota and European), whose practices both focus on collaborative art-making. The exhibit will include 24 mixed-media sculptures, wall hangings and largescale installation works. In addition, there will be a “new artist-guided community artwork.” Watch for more news about this — perhaps readers

Littleton author David Weiden of Littleton announces publication of a debut novel: “Winter Counts,” a “literary thriller set on the Rosebud Indian Reservation,” he writes. He is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, he writes.

(Will hope to read and review soon — publication date is Aug. 25.)

Highlands Ranch history Mark Stevenson of the Highlands Ranch Historical Society met with Gary Debus, original Highlands Ranch manager to record an oral history. Look for it on the website, thehrhs.org, where the society’s other videos are available ...

DMNS A new film, “Superpower Dogs 3 D” is available at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, to compliment the exhibit, “Dogs: A Science Tail.” DMNS is located at 2001 Colorado Blvd., Denver. See dmns.org for information.

303-370-6000.

14 The Independent

August 27, 2020A

Polis extends ‘last call’ drinking order, but allows extra hour Governor said he could soften rule if disease trends improve

BY MARIANNE GOODLAND COLORADO POLITICS

Gov. Jared Polis has extended for another 30 days the July 21 executive order mandating a “last call” for breweries, restaurants and similar establishments to serve alcohol.

The new order, which went into effect Aug. 22, changed “last call” to 11 p.m., an hour later than the previous executive order.

In his Aug. 21 announcement, Polis said that if the data continues to show positive COVID-19 trends, within a month he could change the cutoff time to midnight, which is what restaurant owners are calling for.

The data being used to make decisions about restaurants and bars are “across the board,” Polis said, including epidemiological data and scientific studies that show how it spreads in different environments, as well as contact tracing and where people have likely contracted the virus.

State epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said that there has been a substantial decrease in COVID-19 cases among 20- to 29-year-olds, the age group “we know spends more time in bars and restaurants and later into the evening.”

Chris Fusilier, owner of Blake Street Tavern in Denver and a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed on behalf of restau-

Gov. Jared Polis at an Aug. 21 news conference announces an extension of the state’s “last call” rule on serving alcohol.

COURTESY OF GOVERNOR’S OFFICE VIA FACEBOOK rants and bars against the state challenging the last call order, said Polis’ change would not stop efforts to move forward with the lawsuit. The Denver judge hearing the lawsuit has ordered the two sides to go to mediation, and the plaintiffs are seeking an expedited process, Fusilie said.

The lawsuit also challenges an order reducing restaurant capacity to 50 people per room; Fusilier said that for his business, that’s a maximum of 17% of his total capacity of 900.

“I’m fighting for my life” right now, said Fusilier, who also is concerned about what happens once the fall and cold weather begin to set in, and they can no longer offer patio seating.

The governor on Aug. 21 also announced a revamping of the Colorado

Department of Public Health and Environment’s website offering COVID-19 data. Herlihy said the changes consolidate data in one place, and among the most significant changes, the site will provide “patient-level demographics” -- age, race, sex and ethnicity information, and how it’s changed over the course of the pandemic.

That also includes demographic information for hospitalized patients and where they went after discharge, such as going home, a skilled nursing facility or long-term care, she said.

According to the Aug. 19 outbreak report from CDPHE, 561 outbreaks (defined as at least two positive cases) have been reported since the pandemic began.

Among the 561 outbreaks, 32 were

at sit-down restaurants; an additional five are breweries or bars.

Half of the restaurant outbreaks are marked as “resolved,” meaning those outbreaks have been investigated and are considered over. Not one lists a customer who said they contracted COVID-19 at a restaurant or bar. The 150 positive or presumed positive cases are all for employees.

The original “last call” order applied to restaurants, bars with food service, breweries and tap houses and liquor stores. However, Polis amended the order on July 23 to allow liquor stores to remain open until midnight. Restaurant owners alleged in the lawsuit that he did so under pressure from industry lobbyists.

The lawsuit, filed by the Tavern League of Colorado, initially sought a temporary restraining order putting the “last call” on hold until a trial could be held. In court documents, the league said Polis’ decisions around limiting customer capacity on June 30 and the “last call” order on July 21 were arbitrary and not based on any scientific data, in contrast to other public health orders that the governor has said rely on science.

On July 30, after a two-day hearing, Denver District Court Judge Brian Whitney denied the restraining order.

While calling the selection of 10 p.m. “arbitrary,” Whitney said people left to their own devices won’t take necessary precautions and the virus will get out of control.

This story is from Colorado Politics, a statewide political and public policy news journal. Used by permission. For more, visit coloradopolitics.com.

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16 The Independent

LOCAL

August 27, 2020A

SPORTS

Tennis is escape for top singles player Time on court has helped athlete get through stress of mother’s illness

BY JIM BENTON JBENTON@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

For Chase Walters, tennis was a way for him to get through a rough time in his life.

Walters is a senior and the No. 1 singles player at Littleton’s Heritage High School. His mother, Laurie, was diagnosed with breast cancer and it’s been tough on her son, but he said tennis was a big help.

“He has played No 1 singles for us for three years,” said Heritage coach Chad Hanson. “He’s been through a lot the last couple years. His mom had breast cancer and was just recently given a clean bill of health. She went through chemo and all the other treatments. Chase has been a steady and fun player to be around the entire time. He’s very strong and never wavered a bit.”

Thanks to tennis.

“It was definitely hard,” said Walters. “Getting back on the court, I’m a different person. All the emotions I have off the court, it all drains out on the court. I love tennis so much, no matter what I do, it tends to be the No, 1 thing and helps me to see things, and whenever I need to get things off my

Heritage tennis player Chase Walters. mind, you know you are going to have good and bad days, and tennis helps me get through it.

“She is A-OK and is recovering. I’m happy and blessed. It’s a miracle and I’m thankful to say the least.”

Walters was on the court at Heritage on Aug. 20 for a dual meet against two-time defending state champion

PHOTO BY JIM BENTON

Regis Jesuit. The Regis Raiders posted a 7-0 victory over the Eagles, winning all the matches in straight sets, and Walters had to play defending No 1 singles champion Morgan Schilling from Regis.

Walters lost 6-4, 6-1, but showed improvement over last season, when he lost 6-0, 6-0 to Schilling.

“I got destroyed last year,” admitted Walters. “That’s the goal, to try to get better this year. I’ve trained so hard. I want to get better at tennis, that’s the main thing. Being a captain, not only just playing for myself but leading the team.

“I played great against him. His serve is just going to overpower me.

He just had a better serve than me. I played well. I think I played my best match and he was just the better player.”

Walters hopes to develop into a more aggressive player this season.

“I’ve got to be more aggressive out there on the court,” he said. “Schilling is a bigger kid that me and hits a harder ball than me. I’d like by the end of the season hit as hard as he can. On the physical side he can hit a harder ball but at the same time you can be aggressive and be a smaller kid. But the mental side, you have to stop being more conservative. You have to think about being aggressive because it is risky.”

After the loss to Regis Jesuit, the Eagles were 1-1 in dual meets so far this season.

“I’m very proud of where are team is at right now,” said Walters. “We can get better. We will be focused by the time regionals and state come. It’s great to get out and play. It’s so fun.

Every match, every practice, I’m so grateful to get out there. I’m happy we have a season. Yeah it’s shortened, but if we get through it, it will be fun.”

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The Independent 17

0August 27, 2020

C R O S SWO R D P U Z Z L E

The Food Exchange Resource Network’s warehouse. It is 15,000 square feet and serves as a major food distribution center.

PHOTO BY JOSEPH RIOS

FROM PAGE 3

The partners of FERN — Colorado Feeding Kids, Colorado Pet Pantry, Community Ministry of Southwest Denver, Denver Metro Ministries, MetroCaring and St. Mary’s Parish Pantry — rent space in the warehouse to hold their goods and supplies. The members — Brentwood United Methodist Church’s Table of Grace, Mercy Housing, New Apostolic Church Pantry, Nourish Meals on Wheels, Sharing with Sheridan and others such as Integrated Family Community Services — pay a fee to FERN on a monthly basis for access to the shared food.

Partners and members all have access to large distributions of food and workspace to receive and process large donations.

“It’s like a grocery store for us,” said Todd McPherson, development director for Integrated Family Community Services — a nonprofit based in Arapahoe County that provides necessities such as clothing and food through its food bank at 3370 S. Irving St. in Englewood.

“We all have to play together and

maximize what we can do as a group more so than trying to do it individually,” said McPherson.

Last year, 202,000 residents were served through the food pantries of FERN while 59,316 pets were provided with food by the Colorado Pet Pantry.

Neufeld said at this time last year, Community Ministry of Southwest Denver was serving around 800 people a month. But in the midst of a pandemic, that number is up to at least 1,200 a month now.

FERN is in need of donations to carry out improvements to the warehouse for features like security cameras and lighting, Neufeld said.

People can donate to FERN at fernfoodbank.org.

“There’s been such generosity in a lot of ways. Everyone is worried, and they are worried about people going hungry,” said Neufeld. “I know that won’t last long because the longer (the pandemic) goes on, people will lose their spirit of giving, I think after a while. And then there are places that have popped up that are serving food now that never did. Once the weather comes, they won’t be there. Agencies like (Community Ministry of Southwest Denver) and others that are part of FERN — we’ll still be here when the other people are gone.”

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18 The Independent

August 27, 2020A

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20 The Independent

August 27, 2020A Roofing/Gutters

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The Independent 21

0August 27, 2020

P L A C E A D S O N L I N E 2 4/ 7 AT

www.ColoradoCommunityClassifieds.com

To Advertise call Karen 303.566.4091 Colorado Statewide Classified Advertising Network To place a 25-word COSCAN Network ad in 91 Colorado newspapers for only $300, contact your local newspaper or call Colorado Press Association Network at 303-571-5117.

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Misc. Notices

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kearhart@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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TO ADVERTISE CALL 303-566-4100

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Commercial Property for Rent

kearhart@coloradocommunitymedia.com Hampden Center

To Advertise call Karen 303.566.4091

Real Estate Home for Sale

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*Commissions subject to change

Please Recycle this Publication when Finished

730, 750, & 770 W Hampden Ave., Englewood, CO 80110 The Hampden Center is a commercial office/medical complex in the heart of the Englewood Business District situated between Santa Fe and Broadway on Hampden Avenue with easy access to the RTD and Light Rail station. With our competitive market rates starting at $19 psf, full-service gross and class A general contractor our custom tenant buildouts are second to none and offer a truly personal tenant experience. The Hampden Center offers a great value for all tenants with numerous dining and retail options within walking distance, easy free parking and more!

For current suite availability and more leasing information please contact Omni Development: Tristan Sedbrook: tsedbrook@omnidev.net - Mobile: (720) 421-4971 Jared Kelleher: jkelleher@omnidev.net - Mobile: (303) 868-3056

22 The Independent

August 27, 2020A

www.ColoradoCommunityMedia.com/Notices

PUBLIC NOTICES

Public Notices call Sheree 303.566.4088 Legals City and County Public NOTICE CITY OF CENTENNIAL NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on Monday, August 17, 2019, the Centennial City Council approved the following ordinance on second and final reading: ORDINANCE NO. 2020-O-06 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CENTENNIAL, COLORADO, AMENDING ARTICLE 8 OF CHAPTER 2 OF THE CENTENNIAL MUNICIPAL CODE CONCERNING THE DISPOSITION OF UNCLAIMED PROPERTY The full text of the ordinance is available for public inspection in the office of the City Clerk and is also available on the City’s web site, www.centennialcolorado.com. The ordinance may be obtained by contacting the City Clerk, 303-754-3324. by a vote of 9 in favor and 0 against.

(First published August 6, 2020) By: Barbara Setterlind, MMC, City Clerk Legal Notice No. 524065 - 60113 First Publication: August 27, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent and the Centennial Citizen Independent Public Notice NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING OF THE TOWN OF BOW MAR, COLORADO NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Board of Trustees of the Town of Bow Mar held a public meeting to consider the adoption of an ordinance 330 amending the Town of Bow Mar Municipal Code, adding Section 7 and creating a planning and zoning commission. Said public meeting was held at a Regular Meeting scheduled for Monday, August 17, 2020 at 7:00 p.m., via Zoom: https:// zoom.us/j/95980783690. A copy of said proposed ordinance is on file for inspection at the office of the Town Clerk at 7995 E. Prentice Ave., Suite 103E, Greenwood Village, CO 80111.

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that the effective date of Ordinance No. 330 is 30 days following this publication.

By Order of the Board of Trustees of The Town of Bow Mar, Colorado TOWN OF BOW MAR, COLORADO ORDINANCE NO. 330 AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE TOWN OF BOW MAR AMENDING CHAPTER 2 OF THE BOW MAR MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING A NEW ARTICLE 7 AND CREATING A PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION WHEREAS, the Board of Trustees of the Town of Bow Mar (“Board of Trustees”) has the authority pursuant to C.R.S. § 31-15-401 and its general police powers to pass and enforce regulations that may be necessary or expedient for the promotion of the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the Town of Bow Mar (“Town”); and WHEREAS, the Town desires to create a planning and zoning commission in accordance with C.R.S. §§ 31-23-201, et seq. and C.R.S. § 31-23-306 to exercise the zoning and land use powers and duties granted by Chapter 31, Article 23 of the Colorado Revised Statutes; and WHEREAS, the Town desires to amend the Bow Mar Municipal Code (“Code”) and create such a commission, as more particularly provided in this ordinance.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE TOWN OF BOW MAR, COLORADO: Section 1. Amendment to Chapter 2 of the Code. A new Article VII of Chapter 2 of the Municipal Code, entitled Planning and Zoning Commission, is hereby added to read in full as follows: ARTICLE VII – Planning and Zoning Commission Sec. 2-120. – Creation.

The Planning and Zoning Commission for the Town is hereby created in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 31, Article 23 of the Colorado Revised Statutes (“C.R.S.”), as may be amended from time to time. For purposes of this Chapter 2, Article VII, the Planning and Zoning Commission may be referred to as the “Commission.”

Sec. 2-121. – Powers and authority.

The Commission shall have the powers and authority concerning the application and enforcement of this Code as those powers are delegated to it by provisions of state law and by the specific provisions of this Code, including but not limited to the following: (1) To prepare and maintain, subject to periodic

revision as necessary, a Master Plan and a plan pursuant to C.R.S. § 31-12-105(1)(e)(I), as further described by state statutes.

(2) To implement the provisions of Chapter 17 of this Code, and to perform all functions and powers referred to in said chapter where reference is made.

(3) To study and recommend to the Board of Trustees amendments to the Zoning Map of the Town.

(4) To review and make recommendations on proposed text amendments to Chapter 16 of this Code and review and make recommendations on such other text amendments to provisions of Chapter 16 as may be specifically requested by the Board of Trustees.

(5) To conduct public hearings as required by state law.

(6) To study and recommend appropriate zoning classifications for all annexations to the Town.

(7) To exchange information with the various governmental agencies charged with zoning responsibilities and with the Board of Adjustment of the Town.

(8) To have all other duties and powers incidental to the above and any and all powers and duties set out by state statute, except that nothing herein shall permit the Planning and Zoning Commission to make amendments to changes in the zoning of the Town, such powers expressly being reserved by the Board of Trustees.

Sec. 2-122. – Membership.

The Board of Trustees shall serve ex officio as the Planning and Zoning Commission, unless the Board of Trustees appoints members as provided in this section. The terms for ex officio members shall correspond to their respective official terms.

The Board of Trustees may appoint members of the Planning and Zoning Commission by resolution, provided that the membership of the Commission shall not exceed seven (7) members. All members of the Commission are required to be bona fide residents and qualified electors who have resided in the Town for at least twelve (12) consecutive months immediately preceding the date of appointment. If any member ceases to reside in the Town, his or her membership shall immediately terminate. The term of appointed members shall be four years or until his or her successor takes office. Appointments of the members of the Planning Commission shall be made such that the terms are staggered. Appointed members may be removed for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. Vacancies occurring otherwise than through the expiration of a term shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by the Board of Trustees.

Sec. 2-123. – Organization.

The Commission shall elect from its members a chairman and chairman pro tem during its first meeting of each calendar year and may create and fill such other offices as it may determine are necessary and expedient. The Commission shall adopt rules and procedures and shall keep a record of its resolutions, transactions, findings, and determinations, which shall be a public record.

The Commission shall hold at least one regular meeting each month, but may provide in its rules for the cancellation of meetings if no business is before the Commission.

Section 2. Safety Clause. The Board of Trustees hereby finds, determines, and declares that this ordinance is necessary and proper for the health, safety, and welfare of the Town and its residents.

Section 3. Severability. If any part, section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining sections of the ordinance. The Board of Trustees hereby declares that it would have passed the ordinance including each part, section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that one or more part, section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase is declared invalid.

Section 4. Repealer. All ordinances or resolutions, or parts thereof, in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed, provided that such repealer shall not repeal the repealer clauses of such ordinance nor revive any ordinance thereby.

Section 5. Codification Amendments. The codifier of the Town’s Municipal Code, Municipal Code Corporation, is hereby authorized to make such numerical and formatting changes as may be necessary to incorporate the provisions of this Ordinance within the Bow Mar Municipal Code.

INTRODUCED, READ, APPROVED, AND ORDERED PUBLISHED this 17th day of August, 2020.

Legal Notice No. 524074 First Publication: August 27, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Metropolitan Districts Public Notice NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to § 38-26107, C.R.S., that on September 2nd 2020 final settlement with Levi Contractors Inc. was made

by Southwest Metropolitan Water & Sanitation District for the “2020 Capital Improvement Water Main Replacement” project subject to satisfactory final inspection and acceptance of said facilities

legals@coloradocommunitymedia.com

by the District. Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company or corporation that has furnished labor, materials, team hire, sustenance, provisions, provender, or other supplies used or consumed by such contractor or his or her subcontractor in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done or that supplies, laborers, rental machinery, tools, or equipment to the extent used in the prosecution of the work whose claim therefore has not been paid by the contractor or subcontractor, at any time up to and including the time of final settlement for the work contracted to be done, may file a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on such claim with Southwest Metropolitan Water & Sanitation District, c/o, Mr. Timothy Flynn, Attorney, Collins Cockrel & Cole, 390 Union Boulevard, Suite 400, Lakewood, CO 80228-1556. Failure to file such verified statement or claim prior to final settlement will release the District and its employees and agents from any and all liability for such claim and for making final payment to said contractor. s/s Southwest Metropolitan Water & Sanitation District Legal Notice No. 524073 First Publication: August 27, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Summons and Sheriff Sale Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO Court Address: Arapahoe County District Court 7325 S Potomac St Centennial, CO 80112 Case No.: 2020CV031388 Division: 15 Plaintiff: THE WILLOW CREEK HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, a Colorado nonprofit corporation v.

Defendants: JANET K. DALTON; MOUNTAIN PACIFIC MORTGAGE COMPANY; THE OFFICE OF THE ARAPAHOE COUNTY PUBLIC TRUSTEE Attorneys for Plaintiff: Orten Cavanagh Holmes & Hunt, LLC Hal R. Kyles, #23891 1445 Market Street, Suite 350 Denver, CO 80202 Phone Number: (720) 221-9780 Matter ID #1701.0120 SUMMONS [BY PUBLICATION] THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF COLORADO TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS: You are hereby summoned and required to appear and defend against the claims of the complaint filed with the court in this action, by filing with the clerk of this court an answer or other response.

You are required to file your answer or other response within 35 days after the service of this Summons upon you. Service of this summons shall be complete on the day of the last publication.

A copy of the complaint may be obtained from the clerk of the court.

If you fail to file your answer or other response to the complaint in writing within 35 days after the date of the last publication, judgment by default may be rendered against you by the court for the relief demanded in the complaint without further notice.

This is an action of foreclosure pursuant to Rule 105, C.R.C.P. to the real property situate in Centennial, Colorado more particularly described as Lot 121, Block 28, Willow Creek Filing No. 1, County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado.

Dated: August 10, 2020.

ORTEN CAVANAGH HOLMES & HUNT, LLC By: /s/Hal R. Kyles Hal R. Kyles, #23891 This Summons is issued pursuant to Rule 4(g), Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure.

Legal Notice No. 524059 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 17, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Littleton, CO 80127 Telephone: (303) 863-1870 Facsimile: (303) 863-1872 SHERIFF’S NOTICE OF SALE Under an Order Granting Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs, to Amend the Judgment, and for an Order and Decree for Judicial Foreclosure on May 20, 2020, in the above titled action, I am ordered to sell certain real property as follows: Original Lienee: Harold Dill and Dorothy A. Dill Original Lienor: BrandyChase II Homeowners Association, Inc. Current Holder of the evidence of debt: BrandyChase II Homeowners Association, Inc. Date of Lien being foreclosed: October 5, 2018 Date of Recording of Lien being foreclosed: October 9, 2018 County of Recording: Arapahoe Recording Information: D8099665 Original Principal Balance of the secured indebtedness: $4,541.02 Outstanding Principal Balance of the secured indebtedness as of the date hereof: $21,614.86 Amount of Judgment entered May 20, 2020: $20,110.03 Description of property to be foreclosed: CONDOMINIUM UNIT NO. 202, BUILDING NO. 11, BRANDYCHASE II CONDOMINIUMS, ACCORDING TO THE 1ST. SUPPLEMENT TO CONDOMINIUM MAP BRANDYCHASE II CONDOMINIUM, RECORDED ON OCTOBER 24, 1979, AT RECEPTION NO. 1905904 IN THE RECORDS OF THE CLERK AND RECORDER OF THE COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, COLORADO, AND AS DEFINED AND DESCRIBED IN THE CONDOMINIUM DECLARATION FOR BRANDYCHASE II (A CONDOMINIUM), RECORDED ON OCTOBER 25, 1979, BOOK 3105 AT PAGE 669, AND FIRST SUPPLEMENT TO CONDOMINIUM DECLARATION, RECORDED ON FEBRUARY 19, 1980, IN BOOK 3172 AT PAGE 536 IN SAID RECORDS, TOGETHER WITH THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE THE FOLLOWING LIMITED COMMON ELEMENTS: STORAGE SPACE 11-202 AND PARKING SPACE 11-202, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO. Also known as: 14102 E. Colorado Drive, #202, Aurora, CO 80012.

THE PROPERTY TO BE FORECLOSED AS DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN. THE LIEN BEING CLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. The covenants of Plaintiff have been violated as follows: failure to make payments on said indebtedness when the same were due and owing.

THEREFORE, NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that I will, at 10 o’clock A.M., on October 15, 2020, on the front steps of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, located at 13101 E. Broncos Pkwy, Centennial, CO 80112 sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property described above, and all interest of said Grantor and the heirs and assigns of said Grantor, for the purpose of paying the judgment amount entered herein, and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. **BIDDERS ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE CASH OR CERTIFIED FUNDS SUFFICIENT TO COVER THEIR HIGHEST BID AT TIME OF SALE.** Inquiries regarding this Sheriff’s Sale must be directed to the Civil Unit of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, telephone 720-874-3845.

DATED at Centennial, Colorado this 14 day of July, 2020.

Tyler S. Brown, Sheriff Arapahoe County, Colorado By: Sgt. Trent Steffa Deputy Sheriff Legal Notice No.: 523956 First publication: August 20, 2020 Last publication: September 17, 2020 Published in: Littleton Independent, 750 W. Hampden, Suite 225 Englewood, CO 80110

Public Notice

Legal Notice No. 524046 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Dennis Paul Brzezicki, Deceased Case Number: 20 PR 30768

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 28, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Emily Bright Hays Attorney to the Personal Representative 8795 Ralston Rd, Ste 113 Arvada, CO 80002 Legal Notice No. 524075 First Publication: August 27, 2020 Last Publication: September 10, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of TERRENCE MICHAEL TUCKER, a/k/a TERRENCE M. TUCKER, a/k/a TERRENCE TUCKER, a/k/a TERRY MICHAEL TUCKER, a/k/a TERRY M. TUCKER, a/k/a TERRY TUCKER, Deceased Case No. 20 PR 30820

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 28, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Jo Anne Bonicelli Personal Representative 130 Sierra Vista Drive Colorado Springs, CO 80906 Legal Notice No. 524063 First Publication: August 27, 2020 Last Publication: September 10, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Karen Allene McCubbin-Linch, Deceased Case Number 2020PR30610

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 28th, 2020 or the claims may be forever barred.

Michael Dudley McCubbin Personal Representative 5381 S. Hickory Street Littleton, Colorado 80120 Legal Notice No. 524071 First Publication: August 27, 2020 Last Publication: September 10, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Opal Louise Brittain, aka Opal L. Brittain, aka Opal Brittain, Deceased Case Number: 20PR231

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 24, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Vicky G. Brittain Personal Representative 1801 S. Elm Street Denver, Colorado 80222 Legal Notice No. 524033 First Publication: August 13, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice

DISTRICT COURT, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO 7325 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, Colorado 80112

Notice to Creditors

Case Number: 2019CV031957

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of DOROTHY JEANNE LONNQUIST, aka Dorothy J. Lonnquist, aka Dorothy A. Lonnquist, aka Dorothy Lonnquist, aka Dorothy Avoy, aka Dodie Lonnquist, Deceased Case Number: 20PR30753

Plaintiff: BRANDYCHASE II HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., a Colorado non-profit corporation,

Wheat Ridge, CO 80033

Public Notice

Defendants: JERRY DILL, AS EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATES OF HAROLD DILL AND DOROTHY A. DILL; BRANDYCHASE RECREATIONAL ASSOCIATION; SUE SANDSTROM AS TREASURER FOR ARAPAHOE COUNTY; UNKNOWN TENANT(S) IN POSSESSION.

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe, County, Colorado on or before December 20, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Plaintiff’s Attorney: Wendy E. Weigler, #28419 WINZENBURG, LEFF, PURVIS & PAYNE, LLP 8020 Shaffer Parkway, Suite 300

Michael A. Lonnquist Personal Representative c/o Pearman Law Firm 4195 Wadsworth Blvd.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Johana Masters, aka Jay Masters, Deceased Case Number: 2020 PR 30790

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 28, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Adam G. Masters, Personal Representative 3082 E. Nichols Circle Centennial, CO 80122 Legal Notice No. 524058 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Littleton Legals 8.27.20 * 1

The Independent 23

0August 27, 2020

Alzheimer’s Association offers free webinars in September STAFF REPORT

The Alzheimer’s Association offers a variety of free webinars for caregivers and anyone who would like to learn more about the disease.

September’s free webinars highlight Alzheimer’s research and the latest advances in research to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

Among the September webinars are: The 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease Noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 2, 6-7:30 p.m.

Sept. 15, and noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 24 Attendees will learn about the 10 common warning signs, what to watch for in yourself and others, typical age-related changes, the benefits of a diagnosis, early detection and more.

Understanding Alzheimer’s and Dementia 4-5 p.m. Sept. 10, 3-4 p.m. Sept. 17, and noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 30 This webinar will offer an opportunity to learn about the impact of Alzheimer’s, the differences between Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, risk factors, current research, treatments to address some symptoms and more.

Understanding and Responding to Dementia-related Behavior 1-2:30 p.m. Sept. 14 Behavior is a powerful form of communication and one of the primary ways that people with dementia communicate their needs and feelings as the ability to use language declines.

But these behaviors can be challenging for caregivers. Join us to learn

how to decode behavioral messages and learn strategies to intervene with some of the most common behavioral challenges.

Dementia Conversations 11 a.m. to noon Sept. 16, and 10-11:30 a.m. Sept. 28 This webinar will provide tips on how to have honest and caring conversations with family members about going to the doctor, when to stop driving and making legal/financial plans.

Effective Communication Strategies Noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 8, 1-2:30 p.m.

Sept. 18, 4-5 p.m. Sept. 24, and 2-3:30 p.m. Sept. 29 This workshop teaches caregivers to decode verbal and behavioral communication from someone with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. De-

velop strategies for having meaningful connection with people in differing stages of dementia.

Healthy Living for Your Brain and Body: Tips from the Latest Research 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 10, 4-5 p.m.

Sept. 17, and 1:30-3 p.m. Sept. 25 The health of the brain and body are linked, but now science is able to provide insights into how we can optimize our physical and cognitive health as we age. Learn about research in the areas of diet and nutrition, exercise, cognitive activity and social engagement, and use hands-on tools to help you incorporate these recommendations into a plan for healthy aging.

To learn more about Alzheimer’s Association, visit www.alz.org or call its 24/7 Helpline: 800-272-3900.

Public Notices Estate of Betty Jane Raab, also known as Betty J. Raab, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR030783.

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 14, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

John H. Raab Personal Representative 7702 Deertrail Drive Parker, CO 80138 Legal Notice No. 524027 First Publication: August 13, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Charles Joseph Grant, aka Charles Grant, aka Charles J. Grant, aka Chuck Grant, aka Chuck J. Grant, Deceased Case Number: 20PR30745 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Lawyer for the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 15, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Margaret A. Althoff, Lawyer for the Personal Representative 713 Sandpiper Point Fort Collins, CO 80525 Legal Notice No: 524026 First Publication: August 13, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Evan Adam Breitkreuz, aka Evan A. Breitkreuz, aka Evan Breitkreuz, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR30725 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 13, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Kenneth A. Breitkreuz Personal Representative c/o James A. Littlepage, Esq. 1777 S. Harrison Street, Suite 1500 Denver, Colorado 80210 Legal Notice No. 524022 First Publication: August 13, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Frederick Henry Frech, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR30445 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 20, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

David R. Frech, Personal Representative 1504 E. 17th Casper, Wyoming 82601 Legal Notice No. 524039 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Thomas G. Murray, Deceased Case Number: 2020 PR 30755

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 21, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

MARGARET A. CAMPBELL Personal Representative 8079 Lt. William Clark Rd Parker, CO 80134 Legal Notice No. 524038 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Ronald George Justice, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR190

Attorney to the Personal Representative 6480 W. Sumac Avenue Denver, Colorado 80123

c/o Walter M. Kelly II, Miller & Steiert, P.C. 1901 W. Littleton Blvd.

Littleton, CO 80120

Legal Notice No. 524032 First Publication: August 13, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Legal Notice No. 524048 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Public Notice

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of GRAHAM A. DAVIES, A/K/A GRAHAM ALLAN DAVIES, A/K/A G.A. DAVIES, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR30638

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of CYRIL MCALPINE MCQUILLAN, JR., aka CYRIL M. MCQUILLAN, JR., aka CYRIL M. MCQUILLAN, aka CYRIL MCQUILLAN, JR., aka CYRIL MCQUILLAN, aka BUD MCALPINE MCQUILLAN, JR., aka BUD M. MCQUILLAN, JR., aka BUD M. MCQUILLAN, aka BUD MCQUILLAN, JR., and BUD MCQUILLAN, Deceased Case Number: 2020 PR 30836

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 21, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 21, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Douglas J. Perko, Attorney for co-Personal Representative Marlene Davies DiGiacomo, Jaggers, & Perko, LLP 5400 Ward Rd., Bldg. III, Ste. 200 Arvada, CO 80002

Geoffrey Mark Justice, Personal Representative 6161 S Rosewood Dr Centennial CO 80121

Legal Notice No. 524036 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Legal Notice No. 524054 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Carmen M. Houle, aka Carmela Asunta Molello, aka Carmen Houle, Deceased Case Number :2020PR30810 All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 21, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Barbara Houle-von Behren c/o Katz, Look & Onorato, P.C. 1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 1100 Denver, CO 80203 Legal Notice No. 524057 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Ruth E. Thomas, Deceased Case Number: 2020 PR 30826 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 21, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Jane E. Crosson Personal Representative 7994 E. Hampden Circle Denver, Colorado 80237 Legal Notice No: 524050 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of JAMES ARLINGTON PATTON, a/k/a JAMES A. PATTON, a/k/a JAMES PATTON, Deceased Case Number 2020 PR 170 All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 14, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Charles D. Burg, Personal Representative 1776 South Jackson Street, Suite 402 Denver, CO 80210 Legal Notice No. 524031 First Publication: August 13, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of NATALIJA VUKOVICH, Deceased Case Number 20 PR 30770; Div. CLX All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to District Court of Arapahoe, County, Colorado on or before December 14, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Boris B Vukovich CO-Personal Representative 2 W. Dry Creek Cir., Suite 200 Littleton, CO 80120 Mirko B Vukovich CO-Personal Representative 2 W. Dry Creek Cir., Suite 200 Littleton, CO 80120 Legal Notice No. 524030 First Publication: August 13, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Gwendolyn Writer, Deceased Case Number: 20 PR 253

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Richard Jay Eber, aka Richard J. Eber aka Dick Eber, aka Richard Eber, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR30633

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 18, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 20, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

G.G. Alan Vaughan

Robert Eber, Personal Representative

PUBLIC NOTICE

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative, or to: The District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 27, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Jennifer L. McQuillan, Personal Representative c/o Poskus, Caton & Klein, P.C. 303 East 17th Avenue, Suite 900 Denver, CO 80203 Legal Notice No. 524072 First Publication: August 27, 2020 Last Publication: September 10, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Nancy Jean Lange, also known as Nancy J. Lange, a/k/a Nancy Lange, Deceased.

Case Number: 2020-PR-30772 All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of the County of Arapahoe, Colorado, on or before December 21, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Person Giving Notice: Brian J. Freisinger Personal Representative 239 Glen Park Avenue San Rafael, CA 94901 Legal Notice No. 524041 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Margaret Louise Cridlebaugh, a/k/a Margaret L. Cridlebaugh, a/k/a Margaret Cridlebaugh , Deceased Case Number: 2020 PR 30739 All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before December 21, 2020, or the claims may be forever barred.

Myka M. Landry, Attorney for Personal Representative Julie Ann Crotty Personal Representative PO Box 2276 Elizabeth, Colorado 80107 Legal Notice No. 524047 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Name Changes PUBLIC NOTICE

Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

Public notice is given on August 14, 2020, that a Petition for a Change of Name of an adult has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

The petition requests that the name of Karen Michel Brantley-McCollum be changed to Kaye Conley McCollum Case No.: 20 C 100348 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524062 First Publication: August 27, 2020 Last Publication: September 10, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

Public notice is given on July 24, 2020, that a Petition for a Change of Name of a minor child has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

The petition requests that the name of Terner Carlos Meeks be changed to Duke Carlos Meeks Case No.: 20 C 100305 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524040 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

Public notice is given on August 3, 2020, that a Petition for a Change of Name of an adult has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

The petition requests that the name of Heather Marie Hanson be changed to Heather Marie de Alva Case No.: 20 C 100326 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524042 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name Public notice is given on August 2020, that a Petition for a Change of Name of an adult has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

The petition requests that the name of Martha Maurine Stocker be changed to Elizabeth Maurine Swayngim Case No.: 2020 C 100329 By: Kathleen Jaushi Legal Notice No. 524037 First Publication: August 20, 2020 Last Publication: September 3, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name Public notice is given on July 31, 2020, that a Petition for a Change of Name of an adult has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

The petition requests that the name of Jabria Rae Bing-Starks be changed to Jabria Rae Bing Case No.: 2020C100300 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No: 524025 First Publication: August 13, 2020 Last Publication: August 27, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

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Littleton Legals 8.27.20 * 2

24 The Independent

August 27, 2020

CITY FROM PAGE 1

infrastructure needs — particularly related to big-ticket road projects needed to address traffic congestion.

Now, city finance director Tiffany Hooten told city council at an Aug. 18 study session, the fund stands to take further hits, as the novel coronavirus pandemic has slowed revenue collection.

Gasoline taxes are down significantly as fewer people are driving this year, Hooten said. Use taxes — which tend to fluctuate widely from year to year anyway — are down as well.

Meanwhile, the city’s infrastructure needs are only growing — partly as the result of the last recession over a decade ago.

“We deferred a lot of maintenance back then,” Hooten told council.

“We’re not making any headway in infrastructure improvements.”

Under current conditions, projections show the fund dwindling from

an end-of-the-year available balance of more than $2 million this year to below $10,000 by 2023. City officials have identified needs of up to $20 million per year, Hooten said.

“The capital projects fund is in a crisis,” City Manager Mark Relph told council. “I’m not overstating it.

It’s a crisis.”

Relph said current projections will leave the city unable to pay matching funds required to obtain federal money necessary to build huge infrastructure projects, such as building a flyover ramp to replace the chronically congested intersection of Mineral Avenue and Santa Fe Drive. The project could clock in at $100 million total, according to projections, with Littleton on the hook for 20%.

The fund is in dire need of diversified, dedicated revenue streams, Relph told council.

Raising the city’s sales tax rate could generate millions of dollars a year in revenue, Hooten said.

Littleton’s current sales tax rate is 3%. By comparison, Englewood’s sales tax rate is 3.5% and Denver’s is 4.31%.

Raising Littleton’s rate from 3% to 3.25% could generate another $3 million annually, according to city data, while raising it to 4% could generate more than $12 million annually.

Any tax increase would have to be approved by voters, as required by Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights law, or TABOR. A sales-tax ballot measure likely wouldn’t go before voters until 2021, Relph said.

If the city pursued a sales tax increase, it may end up coupled with a bond issue, Relph said, in order to raise enough up-front cash to pay for larger projects. The bond would likely sunset after 15 or 20 years, he said.

Mayor Jerry Valdes was the only member of council who said he was not in favor of asking voters for a sales tax increase.

The city could also ask voters to approve a lodging tax, Hooten said, which could generate $425,000 annually.

Littleton currently does not impose city taxes on lodging, though Hooten acknowledged this could be a tough time to impose one, consid-

ering Littleton’s hotels have seen vacancy rates of around 90% during the pandemic.

The city could see a bump in tax revenue if voters approve a citizen initiative to allow recreational marijuana sales, Hooten said. Advocates for the measure estimate the city could see $1.5 million in annual tax revenue.

Councilmembers flatly rejected a proposal to impose a grocery tax, which estimates say could raise $425,000 per year. Littleton once had a grocery tax, but it was repealed by citizen initiative in 2002.

Other proposals drew little council support, including imposing fees on residents for street maintenance and street lighting.

Councilmembers were more receptive to the idea of charging fees to obtain and renew business licenses, which could raise $150,000 annually. The city currently provides businesses licenses at no charge, an aberration in the Denver metro area.

“I don’t like to be an outlier,” Mayor Pro Tem Scott Melin said.

“Let’s not shortchange ourselves.”

2020 CENSUS RESPONSE RATES Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the national census continues. Here are census response rates as of Aug. 9 among metro-Denver counties and cities, ranked by response rate.

To respond to the census, visit 2020census.gov.

COUNTIES Douglas-78.3% Jefferson-77.3% Broomfield-74.1% Boulder-73.8% Arapahoe-72.3% Elbert-72.3%

Golden-74.3% Lakewood-74.1% Westminster-74.0% Littleton-73.2% Thornton-71.5% Englewood-69.3% Northglenn-69.0% Denver-65.2% Elizabeth-61.6% Kiowa 43.1% STATEWIDE-66.5%

Adams-67.8% Denver-65.2% CITIES AND TOWNS Bow Mar-89.0% Columbine Valley-84.8% Centennial-84.2% Arvada-81.0% Castle Pines-80.1% Castle Rock-77.4% Parker-77.2% Wheat Ridge-74.8%

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