September 4, 2014 VOLU M E 31 | I SS UE 1 0 | 5 0 ¢
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Hosch sentenced to six years Judge places defendant in community corrections By Amy Woodward
awoodward@colorado communitymedia.com In a packed courtroom on Friday, Aug. 29, Kenneth Hosch, 83, of Golden, was sentenced to six years in community corrections for the death of sergeant David Baldwin after a devastating impact on Highway 93 earlier this year. Family and friends of Baldwin included many officers from the sheriff’s office as well as from neighboring police departments such as Lakewood and Arvada. Attorney’s at the Jeffco District Attorney’s Office requested for a six-year sentence to be carried out in the department of corrections but district court judge Margie Enquist placed Hosch in community corrections in order for him to continue sharing his story while discussing safe senior driving.
Kenneth Hosch, 83, sits quietly while his attorney Greg Garland makes a plea with the judge during sentencing on Friday, Aug. 29. Photo by Amy Woodward According to Hosch’s attorney Greg Garland, this is what Hosch has been doing since the tragic accident which killed Baldwin on January 26. Hosch has maintained that he does not know what happened that morning while he was driving to church but stated his age was a factor. “There are so many little warning signs that things are not as smooth as they used to be — but we ignore them,” Hosch said while addressing the judge. “I should
‘I can only hope and pray that they (Baldwin’s family) will forgive me and that is all I can ask for at this time.’ Kenneth Hosch have sought out more information to make a rational evaluation of my own skills and abilities,” he said. “I can only hope and pray that they (Baldwin’s family) will forgive me and that is all I can ask for at this time.”
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PLE ASE RECYCLE T HIS C OPY
“His passion was not without purpose,” Mink said. “It was always about safety of the community.” Baldwin’s brother, Bob Baldwin, echoed similar sentiments about his sibling.
Fact finding document rejected Witt pitches pay model
WHEAT RIDGE TRANSCRIPT
Among the officer’s present during the sentencing was Jeffco Sheriff Ted Mink, who spoke about Baldwin’s passion for road safety and his dedication to his work that was “unmatched” and irreplaceable.
“Dave epitomized the giving of oneself for his brothers,” Baldwin said. “He always committed himself 100 percent to the people around him.” On Jan. 26, at 10:05 a.m., Baldwin was traveling in the left northbound lane on his Harley-Davidson patrol motorcycle, entering a sweeping curve. According to police officials, a 2004 Saturn Vue SUV driven by Hosch was traveling southbound through the curve when it crossed a doubleyellow line, traveling into the northbound lanes and passing at least one vehicle. The Saturn collided head-on with the Harley-Davidson. Hosch is alleged to have failed to return to his lane and continued driving southbound on the wrong side of the road for approximately 1,500 feet, the district attorney’s office reported. Witnesses of the crash estimate that Hosch was traveling 70 to 79 mph just before the collision with Sgt. Baldwin, according to court records. Investigators from the Jeffco Sheriff’s Office reported that Hosch was going 79 mph, which is 24 miles over the posted speed limit. The investigators added that if Hosch had been going the correct speed at 55 mph, both he and Baldwin would have had enough time to react and avoid the collision.
Performance means everything. At least, in terms of teacher compensation for the Jefferson County Board of Education. During the Aug. 28 board of education meeting, the board voted (3-2) to reject the fact-finding recommendations regarding negotiations with the district’s teachers association, the Jefferson County Educators Association (JCEA), proposing new compensation scale. “Focus on the goal,” said Board President Ken Witt during the meeting. “The goal is to have an effective teacher in every classroom, to align the evaluation system and align compensation. Teachers should be rewarded for being effective and not ineffective.” Following a month of hearings with both sides, the fact finder found the district’s evaluation system was flawed, and recommended (www.jeffcopublicschools.org/human_resources/negotiations/Jeffco_fact_finding_report.pdf ) teachers rated as “partially effective” should receive an increase in the 2014-2015 school year, but not receive the increases available to effective or highly effective teachers in the following school year, as long as an improvements are made to the current evaluation in place. “Given the lack of reliability of the current evaluation system, however, it cannot be said that teachers who are rated as ‘partially effective’ are, in fact, not effective,” the report read. “A more rigorous and valid evaluation process is required before it can be concluded that
granting a step increase to teachers rated as partially effective equates with placing ineffective teachers in classrooms or rewarding ineffective teachers.” This was not accepted by the board majority, who remained firm on having compensation for only effective and highly effective-rated teachers. While consensus was felt among the board to adhere to its goal of having an effective teacher in every classroom, the majority felt the fact finder’s recommendations did not adequately reward those for performance. Following the vote, Witt proposed a new compensation model which supports the board’s goal and rewards effectively-rated teachers for performance. Witt’s model (www.boarddocs.com) would raise the base pay for full time teachers to $38,000 to be more competitive with other districts; give bonuses in lieu of salary increases to “effective teachers” with higher base salaries; and provide a 50 percent higher compensation increase for highly effective teachers than
those of effectively-rated teachers. “It’s very important as a district and an organization that performance means something,” Witt said. “It is fair we move forward with a comp system that rewards all of our teachers and puts performance as a key component of that system, that’s critically important to me.” With the rejection of the fact-finding agreement, the board now has full power to resolve the issues at hand, according to the current contract with the association. According to Lorie Gillis, the district’s chief financial officer, the proposed compensation changes, is not something they could do as a “turn of a key” and would take months to figure out. “This is not something we could do for even an October paycheck ... pay needs to be accurate,” she said. Moving forward, the district’s financial and human resources departments will work on calculating the numbers for the proposed pay scale and will present them at a later meeting.
Inmates escape from Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center On Sunday, Aug. 31 four inmates escaped the Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center in Golden after assaulting and injuring a staff member. The Golden Police Department deployed officers including Jeffco deputies as well as Jeffco Combined SWAT and air support provided by the Denver Police Department. Seven hours later, officers from the Wheat Ridge Police Department arrested the four inmates who were seen walking through a park near the police department. Charges against the juveniles aged 14-17 have not been released.