South Platte Independent 1224

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December 24, 2020

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO

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SouthPlatteIndependent.net

INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 11 | SPORTS: PAGE 23

VOLUME 76 | ISSUE 10

Littleton council rezones downtown City-owned housing facility for seniors still leaves unsettled issues

BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

water and yeast.

Home baking exploded this spring during the early days of COVID-19 shutdowns, with flour and yeast flying off shelves as fast as toilet paper. Klann said she thinks that had to do with a renewed focus on personal skills when people are cooped up.

“Bread is aspirational,” she said.

“Lots of people say someday they’d like to learn French, or play the piano, or learn to bake. Suddenly people had time for things. Everything takes longer this year, and bread fits right in with that.”

Littleton City Council unanimously approved a rezoning of the downtown neighborhood at its Dec. 15 meeting, condensing a hodgepodge of zoning districts into a series of “character areas” meant to provide a more cohesive approach to land use.

What the rezoning means for Geneva Village — a city-owned, rentrestricted senior housing facility near city hall — remains murky.

The rezoning formally completes a high-profile step in the Unified Land Use Code, a multi-year effort to rebuild the city’s land use codes from the ground up.

The rezoning affects the “downtown football,” a 180-acre area bounded by Church Street on the south, Santa Fe Drive on the west, Belleview Avenue on the north, and the railroad tracks on the east.

Home to Historic Downtown Littleton, the area is the city’s oldest neighborhood and has been the site of massive redevelopment in the past decade.

SEE BREAD, P6

SEE COUNCIL, P8

At Trompeau Bakery in Englewood, head bread baker Rande Smith, second from left, said good ingredients make for good PHOTO BY DAVID GILBERT bread, but so does practice.

How to elevate your baking game Making bread at a mile high can be tricky, but with experience comes wisdom

BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Nothing brightens a home quite like the warmth and smell of baking bread, but life at a mile high means baking the perfect loaf can get a bit tricky.

“High-altitude baking is definitely a skill that takes time to develop,” said Chelly Klann, the

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founder of the Good Food Project, Project Bake and Edible Revolution — a trio of Denver-area nonprofits dedicated to teaching kids and adults the finer points of cooking and baking.

But before understanding how to bake at high elevation, Klann said bakers should understand bread in general.

“Bread is a whole zen experience,” she said. “You can’t rush it.

Cooking is an art — you just throw stuff in a pan and taste it as you go — but baking is both an art and a science.”

Bread is also “the purest food,” Klann said, built on just flour, salt,

2 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

Stan Scheer, former Littleton superintendent, dies at 77 Scheer, who led district from 1999-2006, passed just days after wife

BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Former Littleton Public Schools Superintendent Stan Scheer passed away on Dec. 13, leaving behind a legacy as a generous leader who steered the district through tumultuous times with a steady hand.

Scheer, 77, died of COVID-19, just days Scheer after his beloved wife Marian, 82, also died from the virus that has now taken more than 300,000 American lives.

The couple lived in Windsor, in northern Colorado.

Scheer led the district from 1999 to 2006, an era when Littleton Public Schools was finding a path forward after a decade of political turmoil, recalled Scott Murphy, who succeeded Scheer as superintendent.

“Stan brought us back together,” said Murphy, who as the district’s director of operations sat on the committee that hired Scheer. “He was a great communicator. His eyes didn’t wander as you spoke.

He was focused on you and only you.”

Though Scheer was a gregarious man who loved golf and travel, Murphy said Scheer approached the job of superintendent more as a lifestyle than a career.

“He’d go home for dinner, then he would head back out to school plays, sports games, whatever events were going on. He was there.”

Many moments stand out in Murphy’s memories of Scheer, like the time a maintenance crew member was hospitalized with a heart problem.

“Stan didn’t know this guy from Adam, but as soon as he heard, we were on our way to the hospital to visit him,” Murphy said. “It wasn’t to get a pat on the back. He didn’t tell anyone. He just wanted to be there for someone in his organization.”

Other moments stood out: on snowy mornings, Scheer would show up at the district’s bus barn before dawn with a box of doughnuts for drivers about to head out.

Scheer would sometimes fill in as a substitute teacher, making sure he stayed grounded in what teacher’s daily lives were like.

Devoted couple

Scheer and Marian were a true love story, Murphy remembered.

“She was his strength when times got tough,” he said. “It can be lonely at the top. You have to understand you’re the captain of the ship, and people are looking to you

for answers, for guidance. In those times, she was there for him.”

Husband and wife were both military veterans, Murphy recalled, adding that Marian would often visit schools on Veterans Day in uniform, and would lead educational programs for students.

Murphy said Scheer told him he came from a rough and troubled childhood in Wyoming, and said teachers were the first ones to see his potential, giving him direction lacking in his home life.

Even long after he left the district, Scheer stayed connected to his former colleagues.

Murphy was serving as the district’s superintendent in December 2013, when a student gunman killed classmate Claire Davis at Arapahoe High School before taking his own life.

“Stan was the first one who called me,” Murphy remembered.

“He was the first one to check on me, to make sure I was OK. He gave me space, but I always felt like he was with me.”

Born in Flint, Michigan, Scheer grew up in Wyoming, according to a report in the Loveland ReporterHerald. He and his wife were both Army veterans. Before coming to Littleton, Scheer worked in school finance in Wyoming and led school districts in Missouri.

Former school board member Mary McGlone remembered Scheer as a blessing to a district seeking direction.

“Stan was the rare combination of brains and heart,” McGlone said. “He sought out the district’s critics and found ways to bring them into the fold. When he first got here, he spent months just meeting with people: teachers, district staff, everyone. He made parents feel like they had something to contribute.”

Legacy continues

Scheer led the charge for district programs that continue today: the Voyager program, which gives high school students access to courses at Arapahoe Community College, and the Phoenix program, which provides counseling and educational assistance to students otherwise headed toward expulsion.

Scheer also pioneered the district’s restorative justice program, which gives students the chance to repair interpersonal relationships strained by bad behavior.

“Those were big deals,” McGlone said. “We kept kids in school we might otherwise have lost.”

Scheer also substantially boosted how the district marked Veterans Day, McGlone recalled.

“It’s a big deal at LPS, and it wasn’t before him,” she said. “Every Veterans Day, he found a way for every school get educated about veterans and remember their sacrifice, everything from choir SEE SCHEER, P3

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The Independent 3

0December 24, 2020

Littleton Adventist Hospital distributes food to struggling employees Dozens of hospital workers sign up for free food boxes, officials say

BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

More than two dozen employees of Littleton Adventist Hospital signed up for a free food distribution program meant to combat hunger, hospital officials said.

Thirty-two hospital staffers said they would like to take home a box of produce, meat and other items collected by a subcontractor that sells surplus food to the hospital, said Jason O’Rourke, the hospital’s director of mission integration.

The hospital employs roughly 1,000 people, he said.

O’Rourke said an internal company survey showed 17% of respondents struggle with food insecurity in their home lives, though he said the number could be higher.

He said he wasn’t sure who the 32 staffers were or what jobs they hold at the hospital.

“It could run from the C-suite to the environmental service workers,” O’Rourke said. “It’s not necessarily a job-related thing.

We don’t know what’s going on outside of here that they’re experiencing this. It could have nothing to do with their paychecks and everything to do with their bills.”

Hospital spokesperson Kevin Massey declined to say if hospital staff have received hazard pay during the COVID-19 pandemic, though he cited the hospital’s Employee Assistance Program, which he said allows employees to donate funds to help one another, and helps struggling employees sign up for public benefits.

SCHEER FROM PAGE 2

concerts at the elementary level to meaningful conversations at the high school level. It was about more than just parents and grandparents. He would bring in community members who served.”

Like Murphy, McGlone holds many fond memories of Scheer.

She recalled his habit of taping a $100 bill beneath a random chair at every graduation ceremony, and his practice of holding private graduation ceremonies for students whose disabilities prevented them from attending regular graduations.

After leaving LPS, Scheer went on to lead a southern California school district, and finished his

Littleton Adventist Hospital is run by Centura Health, which describes itself as the region’s largest health care network.

Hospital officials declined a request to speak to employees receiving the food boxes, citing privacy concerns.

O’Rourke said hospital staff are working hard to provide compassionate care in a challenging time.

“Healthcare workers are taxed,” he said. “They’re tired, they’re fatigued, but they’re resilient.”

Littleton Adventist bought the boxes from FoodMaven, a Denverbased company that supplies some of the hospital’s food.

FoodMaven seeks to capture and repurpose food that might otherwise go to waste, said CEO Ben Deda.

FoodMaven buys surplus food from distributors, grocery stores and farmers and ranchers, Deda said.

“For instance, we work with a chicken processor who primarily sells to grocery retail,” Deda said.

“They may have excess product, and if they freeze it, it’s now out of spec for them. We can bring it in, and it’s bought by restaurants, colleges, hotels or hospitals who can use it and prepare it.”

The company currently has about 300 buyers in Denver and another 250 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Deda said.

The pandemic has been a boom time for FoodMaven, Deda said, as services like at-home meal kits have exploded.

Deda said the company can sell food to struggling restaurants below market value, and said he hopes it helps them stay afloat.

“We’re all about building an adaptable, sustainable, local food supply chain,” Deda said. “This time has been a validation that we’re on the right track.”

career in 2018 at the Thompson Valley School District in northern Colorado.

He and Marian leave behind five children and 13 grandchildren.

McGlone said Scheer’s death from COVID-19 is a sobering and tragic moment.

“This is happening to thousands of families every day,” she said.

Murphy echoed McGlone.

“To understand this moment, this era we’re living through, we have to understand the loss to our world,” Murphy said. “We have to get through this, get past this. We have to take this seriously.”

As for Stan and Marian Scheer, though, Murphy said they have gone to their reward.

“I’m sure they’re standing at the pearly gates,” Murphy said. “And the angel is saying ‘I hope you brought your golf clubs.’”

ARAPAHOE COUNTY Happy Holidays All County offices will be closed on Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 25 in observance of the Christmas holiday. arapahoegov.com/calendar

Telephone Town Hall – Vaccination Update Join us on Thursday, January 7 @ 6:30 p.m. for a discussion on the COVID-19 vaccination and the County’s distribution plans.

Get details at arapahoegov.com/townhall

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Virtual Swearing In You are invited to attend the virtual swearing-in ceremony for newly elected County officials on January 11 @ 6:30 p.m.

Access the live event: arapahoegov.com/BOCC

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4 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

With expanded testing, metro school districts hope for January return Looser quarantine rules to allow for less interruption to in-person learning

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Testing for quarantined students, some preemptive testing in schools and modified quarantine requirements are expected to be the ticket to more consistent in-person classes for several school districts across the Denver metro area, the districts’ leaders said in a Dec. 15 news conference.

But even with the expanded leeway to hold traditional classes, superintendents emphasized that if levels of COVID-19 spread remain at their currently high levels, schools may find it impossible to keep enough teachers out of quarantine to consistently keep classes in schools.

Chris Gdowski, head of Adams 12 Five Star Schools, expressed hope about the expanded testing capabilities that Gov. Jared Polis discussed at an earlier news conference the same day, along with nodding to new, less stringent quarantine guidance.

But “the most important part is to bring down this community transmission,” Gdowski said on the Dec. 15 online news conference. He added: “Without that, if we remain at 1,100 cases per 100,000 (per two

weeks) in Adams County,” plans for in-person learning fall apart.

When COVID-19 becomes widespread enough — at the levels seen in the metro area in the past few months — staffing and numbers of substitute teachers begin to become the weak link in keeping schools running in-person, the superintendents said.

Although schools generally haven’t been shown to be “superspreader environments,” keeping students in school becomes difficult at or above roughly 500-700 new cases per 100,000 people in a county in a two-week time frame, said Littleton Public Schools Superintendent Brian Ewert, referencing data from the Metro Denver Partnership for Health. That’s an organization led by the six public health agencies serving the seven-county metro area.

Like a “house of cards,” in-person school planning “literally begins to collapse” at that point due to widespread quarantines, Ewert said.

Virtually all students in Denver and surrounding suburbs moved to remote, or online, classes this fall as coronavirus spread mounted.

Superintendents frustrated with the torrent of quarantines in the fall semester heard encouraging news with the recent guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: It provides options for reducing time in quarantine to seven days with a negative test at day five or later, or reducing

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quarantine to 10 days with no test for those who remain asymptomatic and “are aware of the need for daily symptom monitoring through the full 14 days of the standard quarantine approach,” a report by the Metro Denver Partnership for Health says.

That’s expected to allow students and staff to come back to school much quicker if they get tested.

The shortened quarantines may come with slightly higher risk of spreading COVID-19, though. See the introduction and the first chart on the CDC’s website at tinyurl.com/ NewQuarantineGuidance for more details.

In early October amid backlash from some metro school superintendents, the state public-health department released relaxed guidelines outlining that in some cases, entire classes or larger groups of students no longer need to quarantine in response to a positive COVID-19 case.

But in schools in counties operating with higher levels of coronavirus spread, classes or cohorts of students still were urged to be quarantined.

Under a recent update to the guidance in November, as long as districts adhere to strict protocols, broad quarantines are no longer necessary regardless of the level of virus spread in a county. School districts can now generally use “targeted contact identification,” which entails quarantining those within 6 feet of a person with COVID-19 or symptoms of the disease for 15 minutes or more when both parties are masked. It also requires quarantines when someone was within 12 feet of the individual for 15 minutes or greater when either party was unmasked and indoors.

Those time criteria are cumulative, meaning two 10-minute exposures in a day is equivalent to one

20-minute exposure, according to the guidance.

Mike Johnston, a leader with an initiative called COVIDCheck Colorado that provides access to COVID-19 testing, said COVIDCheck will be partnering with all the districts on the news conference call for testing people in quarantine. Districts also might have access, to some extent, for preemptive testing for students who aren’t in quarantine.

The districts partnering with COVIDCheck include Cherry Creek School District, Denver Public Schools, Jefferson County Public Schools, Aurora Public Schools, Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Littleton Public Schools and Douglas County School District, although it was unclear if other districts not on the call would also be part of the partnership.

Polis at his Dec. 15 news conference said data continues to suggest that schools generally aren’t a driver of COVID-19 spread in surrounding communities.

“There’s really not been a lot of difference in transmission between communities that have been fully back at school and those that haven’t, which gives us further confidence that schools are not a factor in significant community transmission,” Polis said. “Many districts in Colorado have been fully back, others partially back, others not back — really no real difference in transmission levels in those communities.”

Even with the reassuring news, Cherry Creek Superintendent Scott Siegfried emphasized that the broader community’s efforts to reduce coronavirus spread are key to ensuring in-person class comes back consistently.

“We have three weeks to collectively ensure that students can return to classrooms,” Siegfried said.

‘It’s been a long haul’ Local nurse, among first to get vaccine, urges public to ‘hang in there’

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

When emergency-room nurse Michelle Schroder walked up to her chair, Tracy Lauzon was giddy.

Lauzon, 52, a director of trauma and stroke care at the Medical Center of Aurora, raised her arms in the air as she greeted Schroder, one of the health care workers for whom Lauzon stood prepared to give a COVID-19 vaccine shot.

“It’s been a long haul,” said Lauzon, adding that it feels good to be able to offer the vaccine to people after months of the pandemic stretching on.

Colorado received its first shipments of a vaccine for COVID-19 on Dec. 14, and health care centers in different parts of the state doled out shots to health care workers during

that week.

Schroder, 48, a clinical nurse coordinator for Centennial Medical Plaza, smiled under her mask after Lauzon placed the bandage on her arm the afternoon of Dec. 16 at the Medical Center of Aurora, a hospital along Interstate 225. Schroder wasn’t expecting an mRNA vaccine so quickly — at first, she wasn’t aware it was an option for combating COVID-19.

Technology that uses mRNA — “messenger ribonucleic acid,” molecules that carry genetic code from DNA to help make protein in cells — has been used in efforts to battle cancer, Schroder referenced.

“When you look at controlling a pandemic, the first line is always a vaccine,” said Schroder, noting that mask-wearing and other precautions help as well. “I’m hopeful that getting some of the population vaccinated will mitigate disease spread.”

Like other emergency rooms, the ER at Centennial Medical Plaza has SEE NURSE, P8

The Independent 5

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6 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

BREAD FROM PAGE 1

Chelly Klann shared a tasty bread recipe that works well at high elevation:

But many home bakers in Colorado soon discovered the trouble that comes with high elevation.

“Dough rises quickly here, but it deflates quickly too,” Klann said.

Tomato Foccacia

Adapted from Food of the Italian South, by Katie Parla The semolina flour and potato flakes in this focaccia recipe give it a lovely, soft and fluffy texture that is great dipped in olive oil or marinara sauce. Feel free to substitute olives for the tomatoes or simply add dried herbs and omit the tomatoes altogether.

Loaves and wishes

She offered a few pointers: First, high-elevation dough needs more moisture.

“It’s better to have sticky hands than dry dough,” she said. “If your rolls turn out like hockey pucks, it’s because there’s not enough water in them.”

Next, increase the temperature in the oven, by as much as 25 degrees over what standardized bread recipes call for. That may also bring down baking time by several minutes.

Also, Klann said many home bakers simply don’t knead the dough enough.

“People ask if you can overknead bread, but you’ll get bored long before that happens,” she said.

Perfecting sourdough — bread made with fermented flour using naturally-occurring yeast — is worthy of an entire article, or even a book of its own, Klann said.

“It took me the better part of a year to get good at it, and I turned out some bad sourdough in that time,” she said. “It’s a pretty steep learning curve.”

Klann said a home baker’s best bet to get good at bread is the same as the way to Carnegie Hall: prac-

Ingredients:

Trompeau Bakery head bread baker Rande Smith dumps flour into a mixer.

Smith said while high elevation can make baking in Denver challenging, so can low PHOTO BY DAVID GILBERT humidity.

tice, practice, practice.

“Find a recipe that came out OK one time, and make it over and over until you’re good at it,” she said. “If something goes wrong, you’ll figure it out quicker.”

Bread baking is also highly influenced by ambient conditions, she said, including outside weather, humidity, temperature and other factors.

“This might sound weird, but try keeping a bread journal,” Klann

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1 cup warm water 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 1/4 cup semolina flour 3 ounces potato flakes 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1/2 pound grape tomatoes Dried herbs of your choice — rosemary, thyme, oregano, dill, etc.

Sea salt

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, add the water, flour, semolina, potato

said. “Is it 100 degrees in your kitchen? Is it raining? Is it cold out? You think you’ll remember, but you never do, which is where writing it down comes in. Don’t fret — you’ll get there.”

Fine ingredients

For those looking to step up their bread baking game, ingredients can make a big difference, said Beth Ginsberg, the owner of Englewood’s Trompeau Bakery, which specializes in classic French breads and pastries.

“Grocery store flour can be weeks old, and it can sit in your cabinet a lot longer than that,” Ginsberg said. “Here at the bakery, we’re using fresh, high-gluten flours, which also have a much higher moisture content that dissipates the older it gets. We’re also using live yeast, not the dried stuff, which is a lot more finicky but produces some really wonderful bread.”

Trompeau sells smaller amounts of high-end flour and yeast to home bakers wanting to give the good stuff a try, she said.

Rande Smith, Trompeau’s head bread baker, said he hasn’t adjusted any of the bakery’s recipes to adjust for high elevation, but that’s because he works dough by feel.

“Every batch of flour is a little different,” Smith said as he dumped a sack of flour into a jumbo mixer. “It comes from wheat, which of course is a plant — wheat from different places, from different years will all have slight variations. Some absorbs more water, for instance, or responds to yeast differently.”

Smith said even without fancy ingredients, home bakers can improve their bread by avoiding

flakes, yeast, salt, sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Mix, using the dough hook or a wooden spoon, until the ingredients come together and become a soft, satiny dough, about 10 minutes.

2. Cover the bowl and set in a warm place until more than doubled, about 2 hours.

3. Add the remaining olive oil to a 9x13 pan, preferably metal. Tip the pan to distribute the oil.

4. Gently turn the dough into the pan, deflating it as little as possible.

5. Put some olive oil on your hands and use your fingers to gently press the dough into the pan.

6. Press the tomatoes into the top of the dough and sprinkle the top with dried herbs.

7. Set the dough aside to rise until puffy, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 425 degrees.

8. Just before the dough goes in the oven, sprinkle some additional sea salt across the dough.

9. Put the dough in the oven and bake until golden brown, 15-20 minutes, rotating the pan after 10 minutes to ensure even browning.

10. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then slice and enjoy!

common mistakes like letting the dough get too warm.

“People wake up their yeast with warm water, but you really don’t want the dough that warm,” he said. “Even a stand mixer like a Kitchenaid can warm it up too much.”

Good dough shouldn’t register higher than 75 degrees, he said, and many good recipes call for letting dough rise overnight in the refrigerator.

Baking through time

The intricacies of high-elevation baking go back to Colorado’s settler period, said Andrea Wilhelm, a historical interpreter at the Littleton Museum, which features a working pioneer-style homestead.

Many pioneer diaries and letter mention making alterations for elevation, Wilhelm said.

“Early cooks were intuitive cooks,” Wilhelm said. “There wasn’t so much science behind it as trial and error. Cooks were constantly asking themselves if the batter and looked and felt consistent with past experiences.”

Colorado was settled decades after places like California, Utah and other high-elevation locales, Wilhelm said, so settlers were already aware that baking would be trickier here.

Early recipes were also more “robust,” Wilhelm said, and were more forgiving of errors. Over time, though, “recipes became more delicate with refined flours and sugars, so the room for error increased.”

But just like in the early days, “so much of it is about experience,” said Smith, the head baker at Trompeau. “Don’t give up.”

The Independent 7

0December 24, 2020

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8 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

COUNCIL FROM PAGE 1

Michelle Schroder, 48, an emergency-room nurse for Centennial Medical Plaza, receives her first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 16 at the Medical Center of Aurora.

PHOTO BY ELLIS ARNOLD

NURSE FROM PAGE 4

seen a decline in volume of patients amid the pandemic because people fear coming in contact with COVID-19. But in the past couple months, Schroder has seen the numbers pick back up, and she’s seeing more COVID-19 patients in the ER than she did in April. Centennial Medical Plaza is a campus of the Medical Center of Aurora.

“We’re still here for (the public) no matter what it is,” Schroder said.

“We’re taking absolute precautions with visitor restrictions and PPE (personal protective equipment) so we can treat patients without fear of (them) catching something.”

She emphasized that “wearing

masks and washing hands works,” adding that she’s worked throughout the pandemic and has not gotten sick with COVID-19.

Schroder wants the public “to hang in there,” she said. “Wearing masks, washing hands, staying home if they don’t need to be out.

We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re not there yet.”

Schroder, who lives in Aurora, felt excited to be the among the first groups of Coloradans to be vaccinated. But she also felt a sense of duty.

“I also feel it’s my responsibility to help stop the spread,” Schroder said. “I’m seeing a lot of folks (in the ER). If I can help folks get back to their jobs and kids get back to school, I’m going to do it.

“Because it’s not just about me,” Schroder said. “It’s about my community.”

Previously governed by 11 separate zoning codes, the rezone brings the number down to seven, with a focus on just four: Downtown Main Street, Downtown Mixed Use, Downtown Transition Area and Downtown Neighborhood Residential.

The remaining three are Public/ Institutional, largely governing city and county offices; Open Space, covering Geneva Park; and a Downtown Mixed Use area that limits building height to three stories.

Many of the regulations governing the zoning districts were laid out over the summer and fall in a series of zoning code amendments, and included rules surrounding building height and parking.

The thorniest question to arise from the process is how the rezoning will affect Geneva Village.

Under the old zoning, Geneva Village was within the Central Area Multiple Use zone, like much of the downtown neighborhood.

The new zoning places it within Downtown Mixed Use with a three-story building height limit.

Geneva Village has been a political hot potato since 2019, when South Metro Housing Options, the city’s public housing authority, pulled out of managing the property, leaving the city in charge.

Some members of the public who called into the meeting said

they wished the rezoning offered stronger protections for Geneva Village, fearing the move was a precursor to selling the complex and displacing vulnerable residents.

“Taking care of our seniors and giving them a safe place to live should be one of our number one priorities in life,” said resident Jeanie Erickson, who has long championed leaving Geneva Village in city ownership. “We don’t have enough affordable senior apartments in Littleton as it is.”

Robyn Bernstein, who lives at Geneva Village, begged council to maintain the complex as-is.

“Where would we go?” Bernstein said. “It’s got historic merit, it’s green space, and it’s money in the bank for you people in the future.”

Councilmembers Karina Elrod and Pam Grove said they felt Geneva Village fit in nicely with the adjoining Geneva Lodge and Geneva Lake to form a pleasant entryway to downtown from Prince Street. Grove suggested perhaps Geneva Village could fit within its own special zoning district in the future.

Councilmember Pat Driscoll called Geneva Village “the elephant in the room” and said it’s high time the city figure out a long-term plan for the property.

“We’ve talked about not wanting to be a landlord,” Driscoll said.

“I’d like for us to dig our heels in and talk about what Geneva Village looks like going forward ... I’d like to put a (To Be Determined) label on that property, then come back and figure out the best use.”

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0December 24, 2020

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December 24, 2020D

VOICES Looking near and near for the best things in life

A

nnually I submit a list of things that make (my) life worth living and it’s usually a snap to write. After all, why wouldn’t life be worth living?

Then 2020 showed QUIET up. It walked in DESPERATION the door wearing muddy boots and talked with its mouth full. Just about everything we did without thinking twice was inverted, reversed, changed, canceled, restricted, even Craig Marshall haircuts.

If you are reading Smith this, you’ve made it this far. Close to 300,000 did not. The number of pandemic-related cases is in the millions.

In the past, I tried to go beyond obvious examples: my dog, films, music, friendship.

When I began scribbling down nominees for this year’s list, I thought about digging deeper.

But why?

Nothing in 2020 was more important or meaningful to me than Harry, whose complete obliviousness to current events was the finest antidote on the market.

Harry doesn’t know that 2020 has been any different than 2019, 2018, or 2017, the year he was born.

He doesn’t know and he doesn’t care.

If you have a 3-year-old son or daughter it’s likely they’re out of the loop too. But one of these days, you will have some explaining to do.

I will never have to explain anything to Harry. But if I did, what would I tell him?

It’s been inexplicable.

This year has brought out the very best in people — and the worst. For every affirmative story about man and womankind, there’s an equal and opposite.

I’m one of the lucky ones. A friend said, “You’ve been social distancing your whole life,” and she’s right.

A pandemic doesn’t impact a retired recluse the same way it does an employed extrovert.

But I haven’t taken any chances.

No restaurants, no gatherings, games, concerts, parties, picnics.

Harry and I have two or three walks a day. And two or three films.

I keep a long cue: mostly ones that were made before movies became soused with special effects and gore.

A friend half my age sends me a “Song of the Day,” and it’s generally a song by someone I’ve never heard of.

Invariably she introduces me to a performer or a band I can appreciate without wincing. Have you heard of Phoebe Bridges?

We both like Nina Simone. Django Reinhardt. And Bob Dylan, who just sold his entire songwriting catalog to Universal Music. For an estimated $300 million.

As for friendship this year? It’s been emails, by the hundreds, and daily from some of my best friends.

Artist Mark Friday and I exchange complete drivel: wordplay, puns and jokes.

We created lists of our favorite humorists: on film, television, record, in print.

Bob and Ray, Groucho Marx, W.

C. Fields, Steve Martin, Steven Wright, Dorothy Parker, Nichols and May, Dick Van Dyke, Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Oscar Levant, Soupy Sales, Fran Lebowitz, Leslie Nielsen, Bill Murray, Rudy Giuliani.

He’s a Three Stooges man. I’m not.

Some days, one of us will initiate a random topic, like a vegetable.

What evolves is drivel, sophomoric, anecdotal, epigrammatic, ironic, satirical, hyperbolic, irreverent or droll.

Our correspondences have been tonic. Restoratives.

When I see I have an email from him, I know what I’m in for: a smile.

However, we’re both conscientious enough to know that a lot of what is going on in the world and United States can’t be compromised with a quip.

What makes life worth living?

Life.

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

Waking up each day knowing we are making a difference

T

he inspiration for this week’s column comes from a movie I had watched over the weekend, “The Man Who Invented Christmas.” It is the story of Charles Dickens and how he came to write his book, “A Christmas WINNING Carol.” If you are WORDS looking for a great movie to watch, I highly recommend it.

The book was written in 1843.

And since its initial publishing, there have been more than 2 million Michael Norton copies sold here in the United States alone. The book has never been out of publication. More than 170 years later there have been hundreds of cartoons, movies, plays, and musicals that retell the story. As I finished watching the movie, I had the realization that Charles Dickens could have never known the lasting impact that his book would have on the world.

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doing today? How are we thinking about every conversation and interaction we are having with our family, our friends, through social media, and with strangers that we encounter? Our actions and behavior, what we say and how we say it, could very well have a long and lasting impact on the lives of those we live with, work with, or who we are connected to in some way. And they in turn could have a positive influence on the people in their own circles for years and generations to come.

In a virtual meeting that I was a part of this morning, I found myself being truly inspired by a young man who was a part of the call. As we greeted one another and introduced ourselves, the young man, his name is Jimmy, also included his own personal “why” behind what he does for a living. He shared that he wants to wake up each day knowing that he is making a difference in the world. The sincerity of his words was underscored when he shared with me a diagram that illustrated his priorities, values, and virtues that he aspired to be, do, and have. I firmly believe that

Jimmy’s impact on his own business, co-workers, family, friends, and customers will be felt for many years.

Being a difference-maker rarely happens accidentally. In most cases making a difference is a direct result of someone who was intentional about their actions and the words they chose to provide others with hope, encouragement, a hand up, or guidance. When we are intentional about the words we choose, we recognize that we can build others up by what we say. And we also understand that if we are not careful, our words can also cause great harm, tearing others down.

Unfortunately, the lasting impact of our thoughtlessness can last for years and generations as well.

At this time of year, many of us show our gratitude by doing our best to make a difference through acts of generosity. We search out opportunities where charitable contributions of our time, talents, and resources can make a difference for a family, an individual, or an organization. It doesn’t matter what we call it, at the end of the day it is about changing lives and doing our

best to change or impact people and situations in a positive way.

We are all Charles Dickens in a way, aren’t we? Each one of us can leave a lasting impression upon the earth, bring happiness and joy to another person, provide a muchneeded smile, or give a hug, even if it is a virtual hug, to someone who could really use a hug right now.

And as we do, let us never minimize our ability or our capacity to make a difference, a difference that will be felt for 170 years or more.

How about you? Are you intentional about the impact that you have on others? Have you thought about how grateful others will be generations from now all because one day you changed someone’s life for the better? I would love to hear your story at mnorton@tramazing. com and when we start waking up each morning to be a differencemaker, it really will be a better than good life.

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.

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The Independent 13

0December 24, 2020

-

Heightened anxiety, depression test communities COVID-19 pandemic erodes mental health across state

CALL FOR HELP Whatever you are going through, crisis counselors and professionally trained peer specialists are available to help.

Call the Colorado Crisis Service hotline at 1-844-493-TALK (8255). There is no wrong reason to reach out.

BY TINA GRIEGO AND SUSAN GREENE COLORADO NEWS COLLABORATIVE

On Denver’s west side, an elderly man had been managing his solitude just fine until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, taking with it what social life he had and leaving in its place a loneliness he had not felt for years. Not far from his house, a young woman fights panic attacks after COVID-19 killed her grandfather and landed her in the hospital. Now, she fears the virus will come for her again and this time she will die.

In Fort Collins, the school district announces an early return to online learning, and moments later, a struggling mother calls the local mental health center: “I can’t do this again.”

On the Eastern Plains is a thirdgeneration farmer, and if the pandemic does not weigh on him heavily, this year’s record drought and the crop failure it caused do. It sets off an irritability and dread that words do not capture in the same way they cannot capture the layering of crises that marks this time: the body blows dealt by the pandemic, the shaky economy, climate-change driven fire and drought, civil rights reckoning and a polarizing election.

Coloradans are on edge. As individuals. As families. As communities. Colorado already had greater demand for behavioral health services than it could provide. And the safety net that even the state’s top mental health official says has “too many holes” might be further frayed by the tight state budget.

These crises have led to a welle documented flood of calls to crisis and referral lines, and nearly half of Coloradans recently reported experiencing anxiety or depression.

“Everyone is really struggling with the same things,” says Kristen Cochran-Ward, director of Connections, a mental health and substance abuse program at the Health District of Northern Larimer County. “I have heard people saying that we are all in the same boat. We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm.

And some people might be in a cruise ship and some might be on a tire raft.”

To capture the current psyche of our state, Colorado Community Media is partnering with nearly 100 others through the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) to document how Coloradans are coping. Our hope is that in a state where stigma around mental health struggles runs high, this reporting and the conversations that follow will prompt better understanding of widely misunderstood and hidden experiences.

If there is a silver lining to this time — and we choose to believe there is — it is the realization that even if we find ourselves isolated, we are not alone.

“This has affected all of our

well-being, all of us,” says Dr. Carl Clark, president and CEO of the Mental Health Center of Denver.

“So, I think it has kind of washed away that us-them thing around mental health. I think it is making people realize: ‘Hey, it’s not usthem. It’s us.’”

‘Too many holes in the net’

Colorado was in poor shape to handle 2020’s confluence of crises.

This year’s heightened mental health needs have run headlong into a complex, ever-shifting constellation of decades-old challenges: the state’s higher-than-average prevalence of high-risk mental health conditions; a backlog of demand caused by a thicket of red tape among state agencies and private insurers; a behavioral health workforce shortage compounded by low rates of psychiatrists and psychologists who accept public or private insurance; cultural stigma; and slow public and political recognition that mental health is as important as physical health.

For communities of color that have a history of trauma and lack of access to health care, the need has been especially acute.

The Colorado Health Institute has been surveying residents about behavioral health and access to care since 2009 and found the situation generally deteriorating ever since. Based on its data, 870,000 Coloradans were in significant distress in 2019.

Nationally, Colorado has the third highest prevalence of mental illness among adults, according to the most recent annual report by Mental Health America.

That report, based on data from 2017 and 2018, also finds Colorado has the nation’s highest percentage of adults with substance abuse disorders and the thirdhighest percentage of adults considering suicide. Colorado’s suicide rate hit nearly 22 per 100,000 in 2018 compared to an average of 14 per 100,000 people nationally.

Our national rankings for young people are not much better.

Theories about what explains Colorado’s grim statistics run the gamut from altitude to higher rates of gun ownership to a culture of Western self-reliance that downplays emotions. “‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ is probably the most misleading statement ever,” says Colorado Department of Human Services Office of Behavioral Health chief Robert Werthwein, noting the credo wrongly assumes mental health hinges solely on individual will rather than on

genetics, brain chemistry, trauma and other factors.

State government is partially responsible, Werthwein says bluntly.

A recent study by the Colorado Department of Human Services finds fault with a bureaucracy in which 10 different state agencies run 75 different behavioral health programs, with hundreds of funding streams, thousands of billing rules, and no shared vision for care. Seventy-five programs “means there are 74 wrong doors,” Werthwein says.

“There are too many holes in the net.”

Some of the most gaping are sparsely populated communities, many of which have disproportionately high overdose and suicide cases and high rates of stigma around mental health challenges. The need for counseling or treatment doubled or tripled in many rural counties over the past six years.

In the state study of Colorado’s behavioral health system, lack of access to care was repeatedly cited as the greatest problem.

Even as COVID began its spread, the state legislature cut hoped-for expansions of pilot programs and new money for mental health and substance abuse programs targeting people living in underserved communities and youth and SEE ANXIETY, P14

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14 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

ANXIETY

ABOUT THE SERIES

FROM PAGE 13

adults in the criminal justice system.

The roar

Colorado’s first recorded COVID death — an elderly woman in El Paso County — came on March 13.

The state went under lockdown 12 days later.

People who could work from home did. Behavioral health care providers pivoted to telephone or video sessions. The number of people seeking help dipped across the state’s 17 regional behavioral health centers in what care providers describe as a calm before the storm.

By mid-April, unemployment claims had skyrocketed — a red flag among mental health experts who know job loss can lead to suicide, so-called “deaths of despair.” While the caseloads at some behavioral health centers remain below last year’s levels, the urgency of the need has deepened, providers say. Under the weight of uncertainty and isolation, “what was once acute has become very acute, and what was very acute has become a crisis,” says Carl Nassar, founder of Heart-Centered Counseling, the largest private outpatient behavioral health group in the state. Our cups were already full, he says, and now they are spilling over.

The smell of burning forests triggers an anxiety attack. A marital spat about the presidential election blows up into thoughts about divorce. A high school student descends into depression because he can’t hang out with friends. A young mom, cooped up with three little kids, crumbles.

At the pandemic’s beginning, families worried what might happen, what they might lose, says Janis Pottorff, the director of Weld County’s North Range Behavioral Health’s Family Connects program. “Now we have families who have lost things, lost livelihoods, lost relationships, maybe some have lost family — actual physical death — lost confidence that they can manage the day, they can manage the week.”

Pottorff notes that stress has spiked since the late-fall announcements of an early return to remote learning in some school districts. “We are hearing that roar in families’ emotions.”

Among those for whom the roar of mental illness predated this year’s crises, increased isolation and the sudden inability to see their trusted providers in person have made things even harder.

An August poll by the Colorado Health Foundation found one in two Coloradans reported increased psychological strain — “anxiety, loneliness, stress” — as a result of the pandemic. A more re-

This story is part of a statewide reporting project from the Colorado News Collaborative called On Edge. The intent is to foster conversation about mental health in a state where stigma runs high.

This project is supported in part by the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Reporting and a grant honoring the memory of the late Benjamin von Sternenfels Rosenthal.

as an emergency,” Turner says.

“My mania got so intense that if my family hadn’t been there to help, I’d probably still be out there in the abyss, potentially committing suicide or homicide or something.”

For every person known to be in crisis, experts say there are more who are not known: Coloradans without a support system, people experiencing cognitive or traumatic impacts from COVID, students in remote learning whose suffering is unnoticed by teachers and school counselors. Care providers are especially worried about people who have hunkered down, convinced they can just muscle through in silence.

cent U.S. Census Bureau snapshot survey found that from Oct. 28 to Nov. 9, about 43% of Coloradans reported symptoms of anxiety or depression over the previous seven days. Meanwhile, the number of monthly calls and texts to Colorado’s crisis line has climbed from nearly 16,000 in January to nearly Time to talk 25,000 in October, a more than 50% A few months into the pandemincrease. Most ic, the Mental people are callHealth Center ing about anxiof Denver ety, depression began using and suicidal the video game thoughts, some Minecraft to seeking immehelp some of diate help, and the young peoothers wanting ple it serves. information on Two clinicians providers or each lead coping strateeight children gies. as they mine “It’s called materials and the Colorado build worlds.

Crisis hotline, The game feeds but you detheir need to fine the crisis connect to othfor yourself,” er kids, to play Werthwein and to create says. “... I don’t environments want people over which not to call and they have some say, ‘Well this power.

Vincent Atchity, doesn’t feel MHCD also president and CEO of Mental expanded its like a crisis,’ or ‘Other people Health Colorado telehealth are going appointments through harder from about things ...’ No, five a week to call. It helps all 4,000 a week, of us the sooner that you call.” a remarkable pandemic-spurred But getting longer-term help can shift among all behavioral health be tricky. It generally requires providers in the state. Lawmakreams of paperwork and long ers allocated about $13 million in waits for public providers or a federal CARES Act funding for string of calls to private providers COVID-related behavioral health who often don’t take insurance, needs for smart devices, teleare prohibitively expensive or not health needs and other resources, accepting new patients. such as PPE for therapists to meet Pat Turner, a contractor in high-need clients in person safely.

Meeker, sat on his porch twisting Another $2 million federal grant wires in his hands and drinking has been helping Coloradans who most of June and July as he sank have tested positive for COVID into severe depression. He began receive behavioral health care. disassociating from reality. His Meanwhile, apps are allowing search for help drew him into a lonely singles to meet for coffee labyrinth of hold times, packed or cocktails online and for virtual waiting rooms, 200-mile round meditation groups among strangtrips to the regional behavioral ers. Social media, often divisive, health center in Grand Junction, also has become a place for calland a doctor failing to follow up outs to check on one another and after writing an antipsychotic pre- for admissions that things aren’t scription. His family found a prigoing well. “I need something to vate psychiatrist 90 miles away in look forward to,” a man in BroomSteamboat Springs who is helping field wrote on a recent Facebook treat Turner’s newly diagnosed post that elicited dozens of emoji bipolar disorder. faces hugging hearts.

“We have a real problem if the Yet despite innovative ways to system doesn’t treat a cry for help connect, we are still hurting. As

‘None of us know when we’re going to experience a mental health crisis, and when we do, many of us don’t know how few and poor the resources are to weather it, even in the best of times.’

Caring for our Community by

Using Sustainable Printing Practices.

ColoradoCommunityMedia.com

COVID tightens its grip, infecting record numbers of Coloradans, many of us have again retreated to our homes beset by compassion fatigue and Zoom fatigue and plain old fatigue fatigue. The divisive presidential election has given way to a divisive aftermath.

We are girding for a holiday season defined by remaining apart rather than coming together. And, as increased joblessness and evictions loom, a long winter awaits.

On the horizon are two glimmers of light: The promises of widely distributed COVID vaccines next year and of behavioral health reform in Colorado.

To tackle fragmentation, the state has been developing an online behavioral health registry — the first phase of which is expected to go live this April — with daily updates on available mental health and substance abuse disorder treatment. The administration of Gov. Jared Polis also has created a blueprint for ensuring people who need help are treated like people and not boxes checked for reimbursement.

But at a time when state revenues are stretched, how much can be done and how quickly are open questions. The fractures in Colorado’s behavioral health systems have been decades in the making and will not be mended overnight.

“None of us know when we’re going to experience a mental health crisis, and when we do, many of us don’t know how few and poor the resources are to weather it, even in the best of times,” says Vincent Atchity, president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado, the leading nonprofit pushing for state policy reform.

“You can’t feel good about a community that fails to provide life sustaining support for people with serious mental health needs.”

This moment, he and other advocates say, presents not a hypothetical test of Colorado’s mental health policies, but an active emergency. Now, they say, is the time to get comfortable with uncomfortable conversations — lots of them.

Now is the time to speak more deeply with each other without shame and to listen without judgement, to ask for and offer help: Are you eating? Are you sleeping?

What do you need? What can I do?

“Do we show who we are by finding each other’s humanity and finding solidarity or do we tear each other apart?” Atchity asks.

Support networks are critical, he says. “Be sort of gardener-like about maintaining those relationships. Best to keep calling so-andso when you’re not in crisis, so when you are, they’ll be there.”

At least for now, still in the thick of it, our surest safety nets may be each other.

This story is brought to you by COLab, the Colorado News Collaborative. If you’re struggling, help is available on Colorado’s crisis hotline. Call 1-844-493-TALK(8255).

The Independent 15

0December 24, 2020

Visit gallery’s caboose when it opens again Railroad photographs are focus of exhibit space in Littleton

BY SONYA ELLINGBOE SELLINGBOE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Just north of the Littleton Fine Arts Guild’s Depot Art Gallery at 2069 W. Powers Ave. sits a compatible caboose which holds railroad art photos by guild member Samuel Howard, who frequently has the space open during Depot hours, which are unfortunately nil as we write. As soon as the state lets our immediate world open up again, this choice relic will be one to visit. We will hope to keep readers posted.

In 1876, the nation’s Bicentennial year, there was some extra grant money in the federal system, which Guild members found, adding it to what they had raised in the community through sales of donated works.

They were able to negotiate a lease with the City of Littleton to convert Littleton’s 1881 Rio Grande Depot into an art gallery for members — and at

Cumbres and Toltec Narrow Gauge Railroad runs in the summers through spectacular scenery.

times, other artists, to display their paintings and sculptures. The wooden Santa Fe Depot had been moved to a safe spot in Bega Park when it had to be removed from the actual train tracks. (Local businessman, developer and arts patron Varian Ashbaugh took care of moving it several times.)

Littleton also had preserved the old stone Rio Grande depot, which was moved and serves commuters today.

Fairly soon after the Depot Gallery opened, a relative of a member came

The Caboose Gallery at the Depot Art Gallery in downtown Littleton. Photographer Samuel Howard displays his art inside it.

PHOTOS BY SAMUEL HOWARD

to the group with the opportunity to add a caboose to the tracks. Logistics came later, as I recall it, but the offer was accepted and soon the depot had company on its little piece of track.

At first, there was a club of railroad photographers who exhibited, but

now, Samuel Howard is the sole artist in the Caboose Gallery. He lives in Centennial and loves photographing mountain railroading scenes and the amazing landscape that surround us.

“I photograph all over the state of Colorado where steam engines on the narrow gauge are still king,” he writes. “My favorite place to photograph is still the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad ... My choices to photograph have spectacular environs and complement the power of the trains. A thundering steam engine is a joy to photograph and the viewer is transformed to a long time ago.”

He exhibits color, black and white images and some created on infused aluminum.

His statement adds that he is now the sole artist in the Caboose Gallery in Littleton, housed in an authentic 1880s Chicago/Burlington/ Quincy wooden caboose. He also creates notecards with trains on them, which would make a great gift to an adult or a kid who’s a railroad buff — if only we can open up again.

Perhaps the Easter Bunny can deliver some if the present closure extends into 2021 ...

Class and glass merge in yearly special ornament

E

ach year, Jane Watkins, of Watkins Stained Glass, 3821 S. Broadway, Englewood (on Littleton’s Main Street for SONYA’S many years), creSAMPLER ates a special Main Street ornament to hang on the tree or set on a shelf. This year’s “Main Street Mini” is available at the shop. Probably some from previous years are available as well.

303-798-1515, watSonya Ellingboe kinsstainedglass. com. Nice gift for friend or self !

Holiday lights ... daytime garden visits

While Hudson Gardens in Littleton decided not to produce a light show this season, (open for walkers during the day and free), Denver

Botanic Gardens and the Denver Zoo are lit up, if that’s part of your holiday celebration. Advance tickets required — spaced out for timing. No tickets sold onsite. Denver Botanic Gardens is open for walking from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 720-865-3500, botanicgardens.org. “Blossoms of Light” at DBG: December is sold out, but readers can check for dates in early January. Chatfield’s “Blossoms of Light” is sold out. Chatfield open days, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., again — reserve in advance. 720-865-3500, botanicgardens.org. Denver Zoo Lights 5 to 10 p.m.: must reserve in advance: 720-337-1400 (call 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or check denverzoo.org. These gardens are great places to work out the wiggles when kids and parents have been in the house for long stretches. Daytime walks are fun.

And, there’s always a family drive to look at home lighting. Englewood residential areas were great when

This year’s “Main Street Mini” from Watkins Stained Glass is available from the shop. Call 303-7981515 to inquire.

COURTESY PHOTO

my kids were young. Bow Mar in Littleton was fun and there’s Littleton’s dazzling Main Street, where a stop for coffee or hot chocolate might be nice. Nixon’s Coffee House at Hudson Gardens is open until 3 and also offers hot chocolate and such ... (Unless we get a “Stay at

Home” order from the governor.)

Gift thoughts

Possible gifts for grownups — classes at one of these garden spots: Hudson Gardens offers classes on SEE SAMPLER, P16

To advertise your place of worship in this section, Serving the southeast Denver area

Castle Rock/Franktown

Greenwood Village

call Erin at 303-566-4074 or email eaddenbrooke@ColoradoCommunityMedia.com Parker

Advertise Here!

Advertise Here!

Advertise Your Place of Worship

Advertise Your Place of Worship

HERE

HERE

WORLD MISSION CHURCH (KOREAN CHURCH)

7249 E. Park Dr. Franktown, CO TIME: 10:30 PM PHONE: 303-688-1004 ENGLISH TRANSLATION

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

Congregation Beth Shalom Serving the Southeast Denver area

Call or check our website for information on services and social events! www.cbsdenver.org

303-505-9236

Please check our Website for details about Sunday Services. www.CSLParker.org

16 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

C R O S S W O R D SAMPLER P U Z Z L E FROM PAGE 15

beekeeping January to April; or “Start Your Garden From Seed” (online) Jan. 27, which is about when the resident gardener starts to get really antsy ... Or a gift card for O’Toole’s or Tagawa, or a specialized catalogue ... or a bookstore gift certificate ... or dinner at a favorite restaurant when they can open ... And then, there are museum memberships, gym memberships, garden memberships that last all year long and will grow new interests and perhaps new skills. In another direction: art classes and a gift card at Guiry’s or Michaels or Arapahoe Community College? Adopting a shelter animal is a gift all around — to the family and that furry friend. (I recently found a lovely little black cat at the Dumb Friends League, thanks to a friend who volunteers there.)

Parker Arts

“Shoshana Bean — Sing Your Hallelujah,” is an online streaming performance by the Broadway and television star in a show that sold out at Harlem’s famous Apollo Theatre in 2018/2019. Contact Parker box office: PACEtickets@parkeronline.org. Must watch within 24 hours of purchase. 303-805-6800, parkerarts.org.

Denver Art Museum

Frida Kahlo tickets are selling in blocks 10 days in advance of the date you want to visit. Reserve a specific time and date in advance. Masks required. 720-865-5000, denverartmuseum.org.

Colorado Book Awards

Reminder to authors, publishers: Submissions to Colorado Humanities for the Colorado Book Awards are due by Jan. 8. At least 10 categories: anthology/collection; biography; children’s literature; fiction, creative non-fiction; history; and more ... Information at coloradohumanities.org. Also, volunteers are needed to select and judge books.

Mark your calendars

Virtual Littleton Public Schools Student Art Show will be online, running from Jan. 19 to May 31, in conjunction with Arapahoe Community College. (Will run prize winning images in January.) Look for more information later.

Own an Original

Littleton’s annual Own an Original art exhibit is installed at the Littleton Museum, which had to close about 15 minutes after the exhibit opened. It’s available online. Keep an eye on the news for any changes in availability. 303-795-3950. Go online to www.littletongov.org/cityservices/city-departments/museum and click on “Liberating Humor” and then on “Digital Exhibit.”

Weekly Carrier Routes Available Castle Rock Area • Part-time hours • Adaptable route sizes • No suit & tie required!

Previous carrier experience encouraged; reliable vehicle and email access, required. no telephone inquiries - but

email us at:

snevins@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Answers

THANKS for

PLAYING!

© 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.

Solution

The Independent 17

0December 24, 2020

www.ColoradoCommunityCareers.com

To Advertise call Karen 303.566.4091

kearhart@coloradocommunitymedia.com

TO ADVERTISE CALL 303-566-4100

Career Training

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(M-F 8am-6pm ET)

LEGITIMATE WORK AT HOME No Sales, no Investment, No Risk, Free training, Free website. Contact Susan at 303-646-4171 or fill out form at www.wisechoice4u.com

COMPUTER & IT TRAINING PROGRAM! Train to become Computer & Help Desk Professional!

Grants & Scholarships for qualified applicants on certain programs. 888-449-1713 (M-F 8-6 ET)

Part - Time - Help Needed on 35 acres. One or two days a week. Mow around the house. Must be able to drive tractor, fix fences etc. Must have driver’s license and transportation. Call Gary 303-901-3692

Help Wanted Business Manager Ave Maria Catholic Parish and School

Responsibilities include, but not limited to, financial management and reporting, accounting, contract administration, office management, facilities management and human resources. If interested, please send cover letter and resume to Linda Litzsinger at llitzsinger@avemariacatholicparish.org

Water Conservation & Efficiency Coordinator Castle Pines Metropolitan District is seeking an experienced Water Conservation & Efficiency Coordinator.

Under the general supervision of the District Manager, this position will develop, recommend and implement policies and strategies to meet the goals of the District’s water conservation and efficiency program and the unaccountable water program, including creating and presenting alternative activities and programs, preparing educational information, coordinating with District staff, outside agencies, customer groups, providing technical support to the water conservation effort, and providing data analysis and recommendations to reduce water loss in the District’s systems. Will participate in supporting and answering questions from citizens and District’s Water Committee.

Education and/or Experience Bachelor’s degree with major course work in engineering, water resources, horticulture, natural resources, or related fields.

A minimum of two-years in related areas of work. Training, presentations, education, and water conservation program development experience is desirable.

A minimum of two-years in tracking and remediation of loss in water systems.

Qualifications: Possess or have the ability to obtain a Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor (CLIA) certification from the Irrigation Association. Must hold and maintain a valid Colorado Driver’s License and an acceptable Motor Vehicle Record.

Full-time position. Salary Range $72,000-$75,000. Offering extraordinary benefits. Email your resume to cfrainier@castlepinesmetro.com.

CAREGIVERS Looking for caring individuals to care for Seniors as they age in home.

Involves building relationships, light housekeeping, and personal care. $14-18/hour. Full-time, part-time, overnights. Email resumes to nathanmiller@comfortkeepers.com

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18 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

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To Advertise call Karen 303.566.4091 kearhart@coloradocommunitymedia.com TO ADVERTISE CALL 303-566-4100 Handyman

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Most Major Brands of Blinds, Shades, & Shutters Call Joseph For Mobile Repair

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Carpet/Flooring

Concrete/Paving

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UTDOOR

ESIGNS, INC

“Specializing in Composite Redwood and Cedar Construction for Over 30 Years”

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We do driveways, garage floors, walkways, front porches, steps, back patios, and always provide free estimates. Fully insured, local and perform quality work.

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Drywall

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TLLC Concrete Ty Barrett

303-646-2355 Specialize in barn floors, Driveways, Remove and replacement Any job over 400 SF give us a call!

Deck/Patio

Cowboy Fencing is a full service fence & gate company installing fences in Colorado for 23 6 years.

Residential/Commercial/ Farm & Ranch Fencing

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Hardwood Floors

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS THAT WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS.

Carpet BEST PRICES Solutions •Re-StRetching • Pet Damage • RePaiR

n: Call Ke

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Hauling Service

Cut Rate Hauling Trash / Rubbish / Debris and Junk Removal Professional and Reliable Year Round Service Rubin (720)434-8042 technology Kerwin (720) 519-5559

The Independent 19

0December 24, 2020 Roofing/Gutters

Insurance

Attention Medigap Plan F enrollees!

Learn how the Colorado Supplement Special Election Period can reduce your premiums WITHOUT underwriting!

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- Call Dave Vaughn 720-427-7422 - davegoldenspikeroofing@gmail.com

Karl Bruns-Kyler (303) 416-6304 www.theBig65.com

*Karl Bruns-Kyler is a Private Insurance Broker, a Certified Senior Advisor, CSA, with no affiliation to Medicare, CMS or any governmental organization.

Lawn/Garden Services

Colorado Lawn Care Fall & Winter

Landscaping, Fall Aeration, Overseed, Fertilizer, Gutter Cleaning, Lawn/Leaf Cleanup, Fence & Deck Install/Repair, Tree & Shrub Trimming/Removal, Snow Removal Residential/Commercial

scottcindy4242@gmail.com 720-202-9975 Licensed/Insured

PROFESSIONAL OUTDOOR SERVICES TREES/ SHRUBS TRIMMED Planted, Trimmed & Removal • Sod Work • Rock & Block Walls • Sprinklers • Aeration • Stumps Ground • Mulch

Licensed / Insured

DICK 303-783-9000 Alpine Landscape Management Weekly Mowing, Aerate, Fertilize, Fall Clean Up, Small Trees, Trim Bushes & Snow Removal, Senior Discounts

Painting

Residential Experts

CALL Anytime 720-308-6696

We paint over 800 Homes Per Year No Deposit Ever Satisfaction Guaranteed 5 year, 7 year and 9 year Exterior Warranties 2 Yr. Interior Warranty Licensed & Insured up to $2 Million Locally Owned and Operated In business for 29 years Free Color Consulting & Samples

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DANIEL’S PAINTING exterior • interior residential repaints Re-caulk all home complete prime all caulked areas / replace any damaged boards/ popcorn removal drywall and texture repair/fences and decks/insured and bonded

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Plumb-Crazy, LLC.

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Call Joseph

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Free Instant Phone Quote Repair or Replace: Faucets, Sprinklers, Toilets, Sinks, Disposals, Water Heaters, Gas Lines, Broken Pipes, Spigots/ Hosebibs, Water Pressure Regulator, Ice Maker, Drain Cleaning, Dishwasher Instl., for coupons go to vertecservices.com CALL Vertec 303-371-3828

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Lighting

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For all your indoor & outdoor lighting needs, plus…

• Internet/TV Cable & Outlets •Ceiling Fans •Thermostats •Wall-Mounted TV’s • And many more services Free Estimates All Work Guaranteed

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Plumbing

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Windows

TOP WINDOW CLEANING #1 in Customer Satisfactions

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Roofing/Gutters

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www.1wayroofer.com In business in Colorado 25 Years We Accept All Major Credit Cards

Please Recycle this Publication when Finished

To advertise your business, call us at 303-566-4100

20 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

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.

WANTED Cash for Mineral Rights Free, no-risk, cash offer. Contact us with the details: Call: 720-988-5617 Write: Minerals, PO BOX 3668, Littleton, CO 80161 Email: opportunity@ecmresourcesinc.com

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Classifieds

Health & Beauty

Misc. Notices

VIAGRA and CIALIS USERS! 50 Generic Pills SPECIAL $99.00 FREE Shipping! 100% guaranteed.

24/7 CALL NOW! 888-445-5928 Hablamos Espanol

WIDOWED MEN AND WOMEN OF AMERICA. A social club offering many exciting activities and life long friendships.

Social hours for all areas of Metro Denver.

Visit Widowedamerica.org for details In your area!

CASH FOR CARS: We Buy Any Condition Vehicle, 2002 and Newer.

Nationwide Free Pick Up! Call Now: 1-800-864-5960.

Merchandise Firewood

Split & Delivered $300 a cord Stacking available extra $50 Call 303-647-2475 or 720-323-2173

Please Recycle this Publication when Finished

Medical Attention oxygen therapy users! Inogen One G4 is capable of full 24/7 oxygen delivery. Only 2.8 pounds.

Free info kit. Call 877-929-9587

Miscellaneous DENTAL INSURANCE - Physicians Mutual Insurance Company.

Covers for 350 procedures. Real insurance - not a discount plan. Get your free dental info kit!

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Scrap Metal, Batteries, Appliances, Wiring, Scrap Plumbing/Heating, Cars/Parts, Clean out Garages/Yards, Rake, Yard work done w/chainsaw, Certified Auto Mechanical / Body Work & paint available Also can do inside or outside cleaning 303-647-2475 / 720-323-2173

2495

GENERAC generators. Weather is increasingly unpredictable. Be prepared for power outages. FREE 7-yr ext warranty ($695 value!) Schedule FREE in-home assessment 1-844334-8353 Special financing if qualified.

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by ADT. Starting at $27.99/mo. Get free equipment bundle including keypad, motion sensor, wireless door & windows sensors.

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The Generac PWRcell solar plus battery storage system. Save money, reduce reliance on grid, prepare for outages & power your home. Full installation services. $0 down financing option. Request free no obligation quote. 1-855-270-3785

TO ADVERTISE CALL 303-566-4100

Transportation Wanted CARS/TRUCKS WANTED!!! 2002 and Newer! Any Condition. Running or Not. Competitive Offer! Free Towing! We’re Nationwide! Call Now: 1-888-416-2330.

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$

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*Commissions subject to change

Real Estate

kearhart@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Home for Sale HOME FOR SALE 3 Bed, 3Bath plus home office in Highlands Ranch. Upgraded and updated home For Sale by Owner.

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Go to: 698huntingtonpl.com for virtual tour.

Call owner for a private showing: Jim at 303 507-6980

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Office Rent/Lease VARIOUS OFFICES

100-2,311 sq.ft. Rents from $200-$1750/month.

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405-409 S Wilcox Castle Rock Wasson Properties

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Please Recycle this Publication when Finished

The Independent 21

0December 24, 2020

www.ColoradoCommunityMedia.com/Notices

PUBLIC NOTICES

Public Notices call Sheree 303.566.4088 Legals Public Trustees COMBINED NOTICE - PUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103 FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0193-2020 To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust: On September 18, 2020, the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s) ARTHUR C WEBER III AND EVONA S BOWEN Original Beneficiary(ies) U.S BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION ND Current Holder of Evidence of Debt Citizens Bank, N.A., formerly known as RBS Citizens, N.A. successor by merger to Charter One Bank, N.A. Date of Deed of Trust February 23, 2005 County of Recording Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust March 08, 2005 Recording Information (Reception No. and/or Book/Page No.) B5033051 Original Principal Amount $38,000.00 Outstanding Principal Balance $24,680.32 Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. THE EASTERLY 48.50 FEET OF THE WESTERLY 156.00 FEET OF LOTS 1 & 2, BLOCK 15, BOULEVARD GARDENS, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO. Also known by street and number as: 2676 W DARTMOUTH AVE, ENGLEWOOD, CO 80110.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST. NOTICE OF SALE The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 01/20/2021, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)' heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys' fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication: 11/26/2020 Last Publication: 12/24/2020 Name of Publication: Littleton Independent IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED; DATE: 09/18/2020 Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado By: Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is: Anna Johnston #51978 Randall Chin #31149 Joseph D. DeGiorgio #45557 Ryan Bourgeois #51088 Barrett, Frappier & Weisserman, LLP 1391 Speer Boulevard, Suite 700, Denver, CO 80204 (303) 350-3711 Attorney File # 00000008964934 The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose. ©Public Trustees' Association of Colorado Revised 1/2015 Legal Notice NO. 0193-2020 First Publication: 11/26/2020 Last Publication: 12/24/2020 Name of Publication: Littleton Independent

Bids and Settlements

legals@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Littleton, CO 80127 Phone Number: (303) 863-1870 Case Number:2020CV032060

Public Notice

SUMMONS

NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF COLORADO TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to § 3826-107, C.R.S., that on December 30, 2020 final settlement with Diaz Construction Group LLC. will be made by Platte Canyon Water & Sanitation District for the “2020 Capital Improvement Water Main Replacements” project subject to satisfactory final inspection and acceptance of said facilities 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 Platte Canyon 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 Platte Canyon Water & Sanitation District Legal Notice No. 524782 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 24, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT Notice is hereby given pursuant to Section 38-26-107, Colorado Revised Statutes, that on August 21, 2019 a final settlement will be made by the Arapahoe County School District No. 1 (Englewood Schools) on account of a contract between the Contractor and the District for the following project: School: Englewood High School (TEC) Item Description: Contractor Construction: Taylor Kohrs Any person, co-partnership, entity, association, or corporation who has an unpaid claim against the Contractor for or on account of the furnishing of labor, materials, team hire, sustenance, provisions, provender or other supplies used or consumed by such Contractor or any of his subcontractors in or about the performance of such work, may, at any time up to and including the time of such final settlement on said date, file a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim with Englewood Schools (Attention: Mary Cooper) at 4101 S Bannock St, Englewood, CO 80110. Failure on the part of the claimant to file such statement prior to such final settlement will relieve the District from any and all liability for such claimant’s claim.

ARAPAHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO 1 By: Mary Cooper Legal Notice No. 524764 First Publication: December 10, 2020 Second Publication: December 17, 2020 Third Publication: December 24, 2020 Fourth Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Summons and Sheriff Sale Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO Court Address: 7325 S. Potomac Street #100 Centennial, Colorado 80112 Plaintiff: SUZANNE P. WOODARD Defendants: MARIA MARILLEY BONISTEEL LIVING TRUST DATED NOVEMBER 20, 2019; JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.; BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.; AMY M. MANLEY; COMPASS BANK; ZB, N.A., dba VECTRA BANK COLORADO; MARK D. BOULDING 2014 TRUST; PATRICIA ALEXANDER BOULDING 2014 TRUST; MERRIL LYNCH CREDIT CORPORATION; THE INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU TRUST; THE GRAVES FAMILY TRUST DATED DECEMBER 14, 2016; BANK OF ENGLAND; PREMIER MEMBERS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION; DANIEL P. ROHAN; JENNIFER C. ROHAN; BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.; SUE SANDSTROM IN HER CAPACITY AS THE ARAPAHOE COUNTY PUBLIC TRUSTEE; UNKNOWN TENANT(S) IN POSSESSION; ALL UNKNOWN PERSONS WHO CLAIM ANY INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS ACTION. Attorneys for Plaintiff: WINZENBURG, LEFF, PURVIS & PAYNE, LLP Brianna L. Schaefer, #34078 Mark K. Payne, #12467 Address: 8020 Shaffer Parkway, Suite 300

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED and required to file with the Clerk of this Court an answer or other response to the attached Complaint. If service of the Summons and Complaint was made upon you within the State of Colorado, you are required to file your answer or other response within 21 days after such service upon you. If service of the Summons and Complaint was made upon you outside of the State of Colorado, you are required to file your answer or other response within 35 days after such service upon you. Your answer or counterclaim must be accompanied with the applicable filing fee.

If you fail to file your answer or other response to the Complaint in writing within the applicable time period, the Court may enter judgment by default against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint without further notice.

This is an action affecting the property described in the Complaint and is a proceeding in rem as well as in personam proceeding.

The following documents are also served herewith: District Court Civil (CV) Case Cover Sheet Complaint, Exhibits A & B, Summons Lis Pendens Dated: October 22, 2020.

WINZENBURG, LEFF, PURVIS & PAYNE, LLP By: Brianna L. Schaefer Plaintiff’s Address: c/o Winzenburg, Leff, Purvis & Payne, LLP 8020 Shaffer Parkway, Suite 300 Littleton, CO 80127 THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. Legal Notice No. 524794 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 21, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, COLORADO 7325 S Potomac St #100, Centennial, CO 80112 Plaintiff: ERNEST DAMOAH v.

Defendant: AKUA YEBOAH Attorney for Plaintiff: Jerome. R Geraghty, #34092 Geraghty Law Office, LLC 2420 17th St, 3rd Floor Denver, CO 80202 Phone No. (303) 385-7622 Fax No. (303) 374-7873 E-mail: jerome@geraghtylawoffice.com Case No.: 2020-CV-31764 Division: 21 SUMMONS BY PUBLICATION THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF COLORADO TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANT: Akua Yeboah YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED and required to appear and defend against the claims of the complaint [petition] 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 in Rem regarding adjudication of the rights of all parties in real property situated in Arapahoe County, Colorado.

Respectfully submitted this 19th day of November, 2020.

GERAGHTY LAW OFFICE, LLC Original signature on file at the office of Geraghty Law Office, LLC /s/ Jerome R. Geraghty Jerome R. Geraghty, Reg. No. 34092 Geraghty Law Office, LLC 2420 17th St, 3rd Floor Denver, CO 80202 Phone No. (303) 385-7622 Fax No. (303) 374-7873 E-mail: jerome@geraghtylawoffice.com Attorney for Plaintiff Ernest Damoah Legal Notice No. 524734 First Publication: November 26, 2020

Plaintiff: DESIGN 45 HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., a Colorado nonprofit corporation v.

Defendants: JESSE L. DAWSON; GARY KENNEDY; WESTERRA CREDIT UNION; THE OFFICE OF THE A R A PA H O E C O U N T Y P U B L I C T R U S TEE

Last Publication: December 24, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO Court Address: 7325 S Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112 Plaintiff: PEACHWOOD HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., a Colorado non-profit corporation, Defendants: REDA KULBYTE; ALL WESTERN MORTGAGE, INC.; MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC.; SUSAN RYDEN AS PUBLIC TRUSTEE FOR ARAPAHOE COUNTY; SUE SANDSTROM AS TREASURER FOR ARAPAHOE COUNTY; UNKNOWN TENANT(S) IN POSSESSION. Attorneys for Plaintiff: WINZENBURG, LEFF, PURVIS & PAYNE, LLP Wendy E. Weigler #28419 Address: 8020 Shaffer Parkway, Suite 300 Littleton, CO 80127 Phone Number: (303) 863-1870 Case No: 2019CV0329831 SHERIFF’S NOTICE OF SALE Under an Order Granting Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment in rem in Favor of Plaintiff and Against Defendant Reda Kulbyte and For an Order and Decree for Judicial Foreclosure entered on August 27, 2020 in the above- captioned action, I am ordered to sell certain real property as follows: Original Lienee: Reda Kulbyte Original Lienor: Peachwood Homeowners Association, Inc. Current Holder of the evidence of debt: Peachwood Homeowners Association, Inc. Date of Lien being foreclosed: May 29, 2019 Date of Recording of Lien being foreclosed: May 30, 2019 County of Recording: Arapahoe Recording Information: D9050225 Original Principal Balance of the secured indebtedness: $1,801.96 Outstanding Principal Balance of the secured indebtedness as of the date hereof: $12,303.06 Amount of Judgment entered August 27, 2020: $11,154.98 Description of property to be foreclosed: Lot 196, Block 1, Peachwood Subdivision, Filing No. 2, County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado.

Also known as: 12044 E. Ford Circle, Aurora, CO 80012 THE PROPERTY TO BE FORECLOSED AND DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN. THE LIEN BEING FORECLOSED 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.

NOTICE OF SALE THEREFORE, NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that I will, at 10 o'clock A.M., on January 28th, 2021, in front of the flagpole of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, located at 13101 East Broncos Parkway, Centennial, CO 80112, phone number 720-874-3845, 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. DATED at Centennial, Colorado this 27th day of October, 2020.

Tyler S. Brown, Sheriff Arapahoe County, Colorado

The name, address and telephone number of each of the attorneys representing the holder of the evidence of the debt is as follows:

Legal Notice No.: 524260 First Publication: December 3, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Name of Publication: Littleton Independent 750 W Hampden Ave, Suite 225 Englewood, CO 80110 Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO Arapahoe County District Court 7325 S Potomac St Centennial, CO 80112 303-649-6355 Case No.: 2020CV032093 Division: 402

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 Aurora, Colorado more particularly described as Unit No. A, 15035 East Louisiana Drive, Aurora, Colorado Nevin Village Green Subdivision, Filing Number Five, Phase II, Part 1 according to the Condominium Map thereof filed in Book 41 at Page 12 and according to and subject to the Condominium Declaration recorded in Book 2268 at Page 700; Amendment thereto recorded in Book 2600 at Page 750 and Supplement thereto recorded September 7, 1979 in Book 3070 at Page 450, County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado.

Dated: December 1, 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. 524757 First Publication: December 10, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO Arapahoe County District Court 7325 S Potomac St Centennial, CO 80112 303-649-6355 Case No.: 2020CV032300 Division: 15

Plaintiff: ANTELOPE HILLS HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION, a Colorado nonprofit corporation v.

Defendants: DALE S GOODMAN; BIPIN PATEL 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 #1524.0063 SUMMONS [BY PUBLICATION] THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF COLORADO TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS:

By: Sgt. Trent Steffa, Deputy Sheriff

Wendy E. Weigler, Esq. Winzenburg, Leff, Purvis & Payne, LLP 8020 Shaffer Parkway, Suite 300 Littleton, CO 80127 303-863-1870

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 #1701.0005

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 Bennett, Colorado more particularly described as Lot 154 Antelope Hills 1st Flg Ex M/MR's.

Dated: December 14, 2020.

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

Littleton Legals 12.24.20 * 1

22 The Independent

December 24, 2020D

Public Notices Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure.

Legal Notice No. 524798 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 21, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice SUMMONS 1)Name of Person Filing: Lucas Carrillo Mailing Address: 22401 N 102nd Ln City, State, Zip Code: Peoria, AZ 85383 Daytime/Evening Phone Number: 602-513-1316 2) Lucas Carrillo, Plaintiff 3) Case Number: CV-2020-07064 AND 4) Marian & Marquertte Drobniewski Defendant(s) AND Mohave County Treasurer SUPERIOR COURT OF ARIZONA MOHAVE COUNTY FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA TO: Marian & Marquertte Drobniewski AND Mohave County Treasurer 1. A lawsuit has been filed against you. A copy of the lawsuit and other court papers are served on you with this Summons.

2. If you do not want a judgment or order taken against you without your input, you must file an “Answer” or a “Response” in writing with the Court, and pay the filing fee. If you do not file an “Answer” or “Response” the other party may be given the relief requested in his or her Petition or Complaint. To file your “Answer” or Response” take, or send, the “Answer” or “Response” to the Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court, 401 East Spring Street, Kingman, AZ 86401 (P.O. Box 7000, Kingman, AZ 86402-7000) or the Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court, 2225 Trane Road, Bullhead City, AZ 86442, or Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court, 2001 College Drive, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86404. Mail a copy of your “Answer” or “Response” to the other party at the address listed on the top of this Summons.

3. If you were served within the State of Arizona, your “Response” or “Answer” must be filed within TWENTY (20) CALENDAR DAYS, starting the day after you were served. If you were served outside the State of Arizona, your “Response” must be filed within THIRTY (30) CALENDAR DAYS, starting the day after you were served. Service by Publication is complete (30) days after the date of the first publication.

4. Requests for reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities must be made to the office of the judge or commissioner assigned to the case, at least (3) three days before your scheduled court date.

SIGNED AND SEALED this date: August 27th, 2020 VIRLYNN TINNELL, Clerk of the Superior Court By: Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524755 First Publication: December 10, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Notice to Creditors Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO Court Address: 7325 South Potomac Street Centennial, CO 80112 IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF COLE WESTON TOMSICK, aka COLE W. TOMSICK, aka COLE TOMSICK, DECEASED. Attorney for Creditor: Jordan J. Warner, #46192 On behalf of Sawaya, Rose, McClure & Wilhite, P.C., d/b/a The Sawaya Law Firm 1600 Ogden Street Denver, CO 80218 Phone Number: 303-836-1650 E-Mail: jwarner@sawayalaw.com Case Number: 2020PR31226 Division: 12 NOTICE OF HEARING BY PUBLICATION PURSUANT TO §15-10-401, C.R.S. To: Rebecca Lynn Tomsick Last Known Address, if any: 18159 East Crestline Circle, C entennial, CO 80015 A hearing without appearance on the Petition for Formal Appointment of Special Administrator will be held at the following time and location or at a later date to which the hearing may be continued: Date: January 5, 2021 Time: 8:00 a.m.

Address: 7325 South Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112 Legal Notice No. 524753 First Publication: December 10, 2020 Last Publication: December 24, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of JOHN ELLIOTT METCALF, aka John E. Metcalf, aka John Metcalf, Deceased Case Number: 20PR30870 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 April 17, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Charlene Metcalf, Personal Representative

c/o Pearman Law Firm 4195 Wadsworth Blvd Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 Legal Notice No. 524774 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of BESSIE SEGOBIANO, aka Amparo Segobiano, Deceased Case Number 2020PR31146 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 April 17, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Linda Stupke, Personal Representative c/o Pearman Law Firm 4195 Wadsworth Blvd Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 Legal Notice No. 524779 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Joseph Francis McClure, A/K/A Joseph F. McClure, A/K/A Joseph McClure, A/K/A Joe. F. McClure, A/K/A Joe McClure, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR31218 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 or on or before April 12, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Meghan O’Meara Personal Representative 8595 East Mineral Circle Centennial, Colorado 80112 Legal Notice No. 524754 First Publication: December 10, 2020 Last Publication: December 24, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Nathan Joseph Jones, Jr., Deceased Case Number: 2020PR332 All persons having claims against the abovenamed Estate are required to present them to the Special Co-Administrators or to the Arapahoe County District Court on or before April 19, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Aaron L. Evans, Esq. Alexander M. Urban, Esq. 1660 South Albion Street, Suite 1100 Denver, CO 80222 Legal Notice No. 524776 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Darth Daryle Hurlburt, A/K/A Darth D. Hurlburt, A/K/A Darth Hurlburt, Deceased Case Number: PR202031244 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 April 19, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Ruth Hurlburt, Personal Representative 7569 South Rosemary Circle Centennial, Colorado 80012 Legal Notice No. 524720 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Vicki Tosher, Deceased Case Number 2020PR031160 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 April 19, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Perry Magee Keen, III Personal Representative 4170 S. Acoma St. Englewood, CO 80110-4625 Legal Notice No. 524783 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Margaret Moore, Deceased Case Number: 20PR31075 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 April 26, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Lovona J. Long, Deceased Case Number: 20 PR 416

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of GERTRUDE M. WHITE, Deceased Case Number: 20PR31186

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 April 30th, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Co-Personal Representatives or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado, on or before April 17, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

William F. Long Personal Representative P.O. Box 603 Moorcroft, Wyoming 82721

Karl Viktor White Co-Personal Representative 9147 East 4th Place Denver, CO 80230

Public notice is given on December 11, 2020, that a Petition for a Change of Name of an adult has been filed with the Arapahoe - Littleton County Court.

Legal Notice No: 524795 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Julie Marie Godsey Co-Personal Representative 7382 S. Monroe Court Centennial, CO 80122

The petition requests that the name of Sheryl Anne Garcia be changed to Sheryl Anne Cremeens Case No.: 20 C 100546

Legal Notice No. 524775 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk

Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Maria Allen, a/k/a Maria Elizabeth Allen, a/k/a Mary Betty Allen, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR31169 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 April 17, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Walter Allen, c/o Groves Law LLC Personal Representative 281 S. Pearl St. Denver, CO 80209 Legal Notice No. 524786 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Janice Jakes Putnam, Deceased Case Number: 20 PR 156 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 April 26, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Donna J. Agee, Personal Representative 8751 E. Mineral Circle Centennial, Colorado 80112 Legal Notice No: 524791 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of George Leonard Couch, a/k/a George L. Couch, a/k/a George Couch, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR31191 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 April 12, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Susan Kristine Johnson Personal Representative Patrick R. Thiessen (40185) FRIE, ARNDT, DANBORN & THIESSEN P.C. 7400 Wadsworth Blvd, Ste. 201 Arvada, CO 80003 Phone Number: 303-420-1234 Attorney for Susan Kristine Johnson Personal Representative Legal Notice No. 524766 First Publication: December 10, 2020 Last Publication: December 24, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Doris V. Schmidt, aka Doris Virginia Schmidt, Deceased Case Number: 2020 PR 31205 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 April 26, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Gail Kloppel Personal Representative 6262 S. Netherland Way Centennial, Colorado 80016 Legal Notice No: 524788 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of PATRICIA ANN GILL, a.k.a. PATRICIA A. GILL, a.k.a. PATRICIA GILL, Deceased Case Number 2020PR31247, Division CLX All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Arapahoe County District Court, Centennial, Colorado, on or before April 30, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Barbara Jean Blunt Personal Representative 21316 East 53rd Place Denver, Colorado 80249

MARK ANTHONY DeNUNZIO and TROY MITCHELL DeNUNZIO Co-Personal Representatives 7511 S. Logan Drive Littleton, Colorado 80122 Telephone: 303-668-2495

Legal Notice No. 524792 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Legal Notice No. 524785 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Case No.: 20 C 100457 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524719 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

Legal Notice No. 524790 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Shirley Ann Kerezsi, Deceased Case Number: 2020PR031235

Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

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 May 3rd, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

S. Blake Harris, Esq. #45942 Attorney to the Personal Representative 1660 17th Street, Suite 120 Denver, Colorado 80202

Public notice is given on December 7, 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 Joaquim De Oliveira be changed to Jack De Oliveira Case No.: 20 C 100488 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524803 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Legal Notice No: 524793 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent Public Notice

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of John Simovich, Deceased Case Number 2020 PR 31176

Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

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 April 12, 2021, or the claims may be forever barred.

Angeline Crowder, Personal Representative 253 Huntley Court Castle Pines, CO 80108 Legal Notice No. 524752 First Publication: December 10, 2020 Last Publication: December 24, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

Public notice is given on December 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 Briley Elizabeth Marie Nicholson be changed to Briley Elizabeth Marie Williams Case No.: 2020 C 100554 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524799 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE

Name Changes

Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

PUBLIC NOTICE

Public notice is given on December 1, 2020, that a Petition for a Change of Name of an adult has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name Public notice is given on November 16, 2020, that a Petition for a Change of Name of an adult has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

“TrustUs!”

By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk

The petition requests that the name of Paul Ricco Schacht be changed to Paul Ricco Schainz Case No.: 20 C 100523

Legal Notice No. 524778 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

By: Kathleen Jaushi Magistrate

###

Legal Notice No. 524756 First Publication: December 10, 2020 Last Publication: December 24, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name Public notice is given on December 7, 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 Kayley Amanda Carney be changed to Kayley Liuzzo Carney Case No.: 20C100548 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524789 First Publication: December 24, 2020 Last Publication: January 7, 2021 Publisher: Littleton Independent PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name Public notice is given on December 7, 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 Madeline Carole Arrowood be changed to Madeline Dahlia Arrowood Case No.: 20 C 100530 By: Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. 524781 First Publication: December 17, 2020 Last Publication: December 31, 2020 Publisher: Littleton Independent

PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name Public notice is given on October 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 Khaliun Bayarmagnai be changed to Khaliuna Natalia Bay

The petition requests that the name of Joanne Marie O'Callaghan be changed to Jody Cross Case No.: 20CV205

Without public notices, the government wouldn’t have to say anything else.

Public notices are a community’s window into the government. From zoning regulations to local budgets, governments have used local newspapers to inform citizens of its actions as an essential part of your right to know.You know where to look, when to look and what to look for to be involved as a citizen. Local newspapers provide you with the information you need to get involved.

Noticesaremeanttobenoticed.

Readyourpublicnoticesandgetinvolved!

Littleton Legals 12.24.20 * 2

December 24, 2020

The Independent 23

LOCAL

SPORTS

For some, the more sports the merrier With many turning to specialization, multi-sport athletes are becoming less common

BY JIM BENTON JBENTON@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Multi-sport competitors used to be prominent in Colorado high school athletics, but their ranks have been decreasing in recent years.

More young athletes are specializing in one sport, often because of the pressure to earn a scholarship in their chosen athletic endeavor.

But there are still some athletes who believe in the benefits of playing different sports in different seasons.

Connor Mantelli — a kicker and basketball player at Douglas County High who was a standout performer at the 2020 Kicking World National Showcase in Austin, Texas — says specialized athletes miss out on the experience of being on different teams in different sports.

“I definitely stay in shape year around and the skills are always in use with me,” said Mantelli. “The biggest disadvantage of not being a multi-sport athletes is you don’t get the experience of other sports.

Doing a sport year around, you don’t get a break.”

Those who participate in multiple sports develop different muscle groups and different skills, while overuse injuries are reduced and concerns about burnout are lessened, many coaches and athletes say.

Athletes who compete in multiple sports are needed to keep programs in operation at the state’s smaller schools. For instance, athletic director Mike Hawkes of Single A Shining Mountain Waldorf in Boulder says the school has four athletes who have a chance to participate in the four sports (cross country, girls

Arapahoe’s Katie Edwards is on the softball, basketball and track and field teams.

Cherry Creek quarterback Julian Hammond plays football and basketball for the Bruins.

PHOTOS BY JIM BENTON

volleyball, basketball, and track and field) offered at the school.

In the south metro area, even some of the largest high schools have multi-sport athletes.

Julian Hammond was the quarterback on this season’s state championship football team at Cherry Creek, and he is also an outstanding basketball player who has agreed to play next season at the University of Colorado. Hammond was one of six Bruins’ basketball players who were on the football squad.

“Getting in basketball shape isn’t a problem,” said Hammond.

“It’s just different running up and down the court over and over again, where football is a five-second play.

Public Notices

Adopt Me Shadow is a big 5-year-old lab and German Shepherd mix.

He has been lonely since his best friend crossed the Rainbow Bridge due to medical reasons. Shadow has a history of being around other dogs, and he loves kids. He does not like to be alone and loves company of any kind.

Learn how you can meet Shadow at ddfl.org. His ID# is A0836643.

Rex is a 5-year-old tabby with a one in a million face. This adorable guy has a mysterious background since he was found on the streets. He is very loving and cooperative when he feels safe. Rex is unsure of his surroundings, but give him some scratches, and he will be okay. Learn how you can meet Rex at ddfl.org. His ID# is A0835611.

Football wears more on your body than basketball, where you have to be in a lot better running shape.”

Arapahoe’s Hussein Safieddine, a football player, wrestler and member of the track team, agrees with Mantelli.

“Some of the advantages of being a multi-sport athlete include you get the experience of different coaching,” said Safieddine. “My wrestling coach and football coach are really different people. I learn like two different sets of lessons from them.”

Katie Edwards is on the track and field team, was the leading hitter on the Arapahoe softball team last fall and was the leading scorer on the girls basketball team last season

with a 12.2 scoring average.

She says time management is a key to being a multi-sport athlete.

“You are doing so many sports you have to watch how to manage your time really well ,” she said.

“There are relationships you build being in different sports. You meet tons of different types of people.

Sports are so different that I think they help you rather than focusing on one the whole year.”

Jim Keller, president of the Colorado Athletic Trainers Association and owner of Next Level Sports Performance, said too often parents pick a sport for a youth to specialize in.

“There’s just a select few children that can take (sport specialization) early and make it happen,” Keller, of Golden, said. “But I think the majority take it early and get burned out or get hurt. It’s too much year round. It’s too much time on the field, it’s too many camps, it’s too many scholarships and a lot of pressure.”

BE Informed!

Read the Legal Notices!

Littleton Legals 12.24.20 * 3

24 The Independent

December 24, 2020

C Mo #1 olora rtg Rev do ag ers ’s eB e rok er

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