May 8, 2014
50 cents Jefferson County, Colorado | Volume 30, Issue 45 A publication of
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Council puts hold on retail pot By Hugh Johnson Wheat Ridge City Council enacted a 90day emergency moratorium on the issuance of licenses for retail marijuana manufacturers. The moratorium will allow city staff time to consider spatial guidelines for manufacturers, not previously included in city restrictions. The move comes as the marijuana industry continues to grow and more questions arise about how to regulate the products. City Attorney Gerald Dahl proposed the moratorium restricting the issuance of pending and future licenses to marijuana testing facilities and manufacturers. Currently, retail and medical marijuana centers must be three-fourths of a mile away from one another and 1,000 feet away from schools, universities, child-care facilities and alcohol and drug treatment centers. However, those restrictions do not apply to testing and manufacturing facilities. Many business owners, most of whom resided outside the city, complained about the moratorium’s implementation. While
some of those in attendance said the hiatus would stifle businesses in Wheat Ridge, many mentioned that these businesses aren’t open to the public, and they are not designed to attract attention. Mark Barnes, a Golden resident, said that testing facilities are heavily regulated laboratories that are evaluating the safety of marijuana infused products such as oils and edibles. “A college kid can’t come in off the street and say ‘I want to open a testing facility,’ you have to have a PH.D in one of the natural sciences and you have to have years of experience actually running a lab,” he said. Councilman Jerry DiTullio made a motion to amend the moratorium to exclude current applications and testing facilities. Council passed both amendments. DiTullio’s fellow District One Councilman William Starker voted in favor of the moratorium but declared his wish for a quick process. “I’m really voting for this with a directive to staff to bring this back to us as soon as possible,” Starker said. “I feel that we’ve
somewhat let our citizens down in the business community in that we’ve allowed marijuana businesses in our community, and we maybe didn’t have quite the totality of the ordinance in place.” Council passed the moratorium on a six-to-one vote with Councilman Tim Fitzgerald dissenting and Councilwoman Kristi Davis absent. One issue that lead to the moratorium’s proposal and passing is the introduction of marijuana infused products to the state. News headlines about minors selling marijuana in northern Colorado and a recent accidental death linked to marijuana consumables have some people concerned about the effects of marijuana products on the community. Jennifer Shepherd, a parent and health care professional, is grateful that Wheat Ridge is taking time to rethink how these products are implemented. “I hope that time gives them the opportunity to continue to discuss the impact of these MIPs (marijuana infused products) on our community,” Shepherd said.
Breakfast honors those who serve others By Amy Woodward
awoodward@colorado communitymedia.com It was an early start to a positive morning at the 24th annual Good News Breakfast at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, April 29. This year’s theme, “Service Projects Strengthen Our Community,” awarded local volunteers, clubs and organizations that have created impressive services which have made an impact within the communities they serve. “When you’re working in service, you’re working alongside some truly amazing people,” said Teo Nicolais, keynote speaker and president-elect of the Kiwanis Club of Alameda West; a global organization separated into local entities which perform various community service projects. “Through service we strengthen others, our personal communities and of course we also strengthen ourselves,” Nicolais said. A total of 12 service projects scattered throughout Jeffco received awards including Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth’s Santa House which provides holiday gifts for students from 16 Arvada and Wheat Ridge elementary schools; The Neighborhood Rehab Project a volunteered based home improvement program which helps residents in Golden with everyday home repair and garden work; The Senior Resource Center’s Holiday Food Baskets which have become a tradition with seniors creating 130 decorated boxes filled with food and gifts. These boxes are delivered to the elderly and persons with disabilities during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Former Jeffco public schools superintendent, Cindy Stevenson, was this year’s Golden News Coalition’s Hall of Fame recipient. After 41 years, Stevenson announced her abrupt resignation in February, ahead of her scheduled departure in June. “Dr. Stevenson, you are my mentor, my
An emotional former superintendent Cindy Stevenson, who recently left Jefferson County Public Schools after 41 years, listens to students from the Lakewood High School choir who showered her with flowers and songs of appreciation and goodbyes during the 24th annual Good News Breakfast on Tuesday, April 29. Photo by Amy Woodward friend, you have always made one thing apparently clear — that students are first and foremost in your heart,” said Ron Castagna, principal of Lakewood High School. “You deserve much, much more, you led
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all of our schools, you were a mentor to many of us as educators and I will always call myself teacher because of you.” Students from the Lakewood High School Choir joined the stage to serenade an emotional Stevenson as they sang their appreciations and goodbyes with “To Sir with Love” by classical music singer Lulu. “We create a great district for our children and we create a great district for our teachers and now it’s your job,” Stevenson said to the audience. “I miss you every day, thank you for a great career and thank you for this incredible honor.” Next year will be the 25th Anniversary of the Good News Breakfast which will be on April 21. To register visit www.goodnewsjeffco.org.
Traffic cameras not going away Measure hits brick wall upon reaching House By Vic Vela
vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com After a bill cruised through the Senate, the House last week put the brakes on the measure, which sought to ban red-light cameras and photo radar systems in Colorado. The legislation officially met its demise during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on April 30, but the bill’s sponsor, House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, DDenver, had pretty much Report accepted its defeat before it even got there. Senate Bill 14 would have prohibited local governments from using photo-radar technology to capture drivers who speed or run red lights. It was gutted by the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, which passed a stripped-down version of the bill on April 28. The gutted version only would have allowed for a state study of the technology’s public-safety effectiveness, something that Ferrandino didn’t think was necessary. “I think we have enough studies to show that it’s not effective,” Ferrandino told the Appropriations Committee. Ferrandino and other bill supporters argued that photo-radar technology is a cash cow used by local governments to rack up revenue, courtesy of lead-foot drivers. The House speaker also said the technology does little to prevent accidents. “They give a sense of public safety, but don’t actually increase public safety,” Ferrandino said. But several law-enforcement representatives testified otherwise during the committee process. Supporters of the technology asserted that the devices serve as a blessing for understaffed police agencies and that the presence of the cameras curbs bad habits on the part of drivers. “If you just look at the money side and ignore the public-safety side, to me the public-safety side triumphs,” said Rep. Jeanne Labuda, D-Denver. The bill’s gutted version called for an effectiveness study that would have been undertaken by the Colorado Department of Transportation. But House Appropriations Committee member Max Tyler, D-Lakewood, wasn’t willing to fund the legislation at the possible expense of other CDOT projects. “I’m wondering what bridge is not going to be built, what road is not going to be protected,” Tyler said. “Where are they going to get the money for this, Mr. Speaker?” The bill’s last chance for survival would have allowed it to go to a vote in the full House, where it could have been amended to its original form. But the committee rejected that motion. Ferrandino knew there wasn’t much hope for the bill, acknowledging as much to reporters the day before the hearing. Having accepted defeat during the hearing, the House speaker — who is not accustomed to being on the losing end of a piece of legislation — drew laughter when he joked about his colleagues’ lack of support. “When did I become part of the minority?” quipped Ferrandino.
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