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October 15, 2015 VOLUM E 70 | IS S UE 49 | 50 ¢
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A DA M S C OU N T Y & J E F F E R S ON COU N T Y, COLOR A D O
SALUTE OUR VETERANS Colorado Community Media wants to share with readers the stories of local residents’ service in the U.S. military in a special section that will publish in the papers of Nov. 12 and 13 saluting and honoring veterans. Servicemen and women — or members of their families — interested in submitting the history of their service to America may send information by email to newsdesk@ coloradocommunitymedia.com Submissions must include the veteran’s full name, city or town of residence, dates of service in the U.S. military, branch of service, military rank, medals and commendations, and a quote about why the individual served or the most meaningful aspect of his or her service. Contact information of the person submitting the information must also be included in case there are questions. For more information, email newsdesk@ coloradocommunitymedia.com or call Pat Smith at 303-566-4100. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. Oct. 30.
WestminsterWindow.com
Safe Street is prized project for chief Trick-or-treat event is lawman’s labor of love By Corrie Sahling csahling@colorado communitymedia.com
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Joy is evident in Northglenn Police Chief Jim May’s eyes as he describes his artwork — he creates realistic, life-sized props mostly from scratch. “People I went to high school with don’t believe I’m an artist,” May said with a laugh. The creations May sculpts in his basement “prop shop” are used for Northglenn’s popular Safe Street Halloween. He creates the majority of the props used for the annual one-night event. “Doing this job, seeing the things I see,” May said about being a police officer after pocketing his phone that holds countless photos of his favorite props. “This is my release. It takes away the ugly part of society.” May was one of the first responders to the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. Coming back from witnessing the tragedy, he wanted to be able to create better relationships with the teens in Northglenn. “What I witnessed at Columbine,” May paused, the happiness momentarily gone from his expression, “it was pretty impactful. In my career, it was the worst.” The first year of Safe Street Halloween, the event was held in the student center of Northglenn High School. May said he and his partner were high-fiving at the line of people that came — but by 7:30 p.m., they were out of candy and all the officers were raiding their pockets for cash to go buy more. Now, 17 years later, more than 5,000 kids and their families come to Safe Street Halloween and about 4,000 pounds of candy are handed out. May
IF YOU GO WHAT: Safe Street Halloween, trick-or-treating, games, cookie decoration, ghostly storytelling and other holiday fun. WHEN: Oct. 24, 5:30-8:30 p.m. WHERE: Northglenn High School, 601 W. 100th Place
said young adults are starting to come up to him, saying they were children who attended the event at the beginning are starting to come back with children of their own. Because he is cheap, May said he has always made the props for the event. His total is nearing 100 homemade props. “For a full-sized prop, they are $300, $400 per piece,” he said. “So I just started making them. Trust me; I’ve had a ton of failures.” When he began, May joked that his props looked great in the dark. Many of the original props have been replaced, but a few remain. “One of my favorites, a Frankenstein head, I still keep that around because I like to see where I’ve come from,” May said. While Northglenn police play a major role in the event, May says it would not be possible without the community. The students and employees of Northglenn High School also play a big part. The students help decorate the 12 to 15 rooms used for the event, and May said they get very creative with their decorations and costumes. May said that for as long as he is chief, the Safe Street Halloween will continue. “It’s a big deal,” May said. “For a one-night event, it does a lot.”
Northglenn Police Chief Jim May spends his free time creating foam props from scratch for the annual Safe Street Halloween. The event began 17 years ago after May witnessed the 1999 Columbine Shooting as a first responder and wanted to connect better with Northglenn’s youth. Courtesy photo
Homeowners disappointed by proposed oil and gas rules WESTMINSTER WINDOW
(ISSN 1072-1576) (USPS 455-250) OFFICE: 8753 Yates Dr., Ste. 200 Westminster, CO 80031 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Adams County and Jefferson County, Colorado, the Westminster Window is published weekly on Thursday by MetroNorth Newspapers, 8753 Yates Dr., Ste. 200, Westminster, CO 80031. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT WESTMINSTER, COLORADO and additional mailing offices.
State commission wants public comment on draft regulations By Corrie Sahling csahling@colorado communitymedia.com A draft of proposed regulations for oil and gas drilling in urban areas disappointed homeowners in the Wadley Farms neighborhood in Adams County, who had hoped for more support against large-
POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 Ridgeline Blvd., Ste. 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Fri. 11 a.m. Legals: Fri. 11 a.m. Classifieds: Mon. 5 p.m.
PL E ASE RECYCLE
The 2015 Colorado Community Media candidate questionnaire election guide is located inside. Turn to PAGE 15 of this edition and pull out information on all the candidates running for your city’s city council race, as well as information on the Adams 12 school board candidates.
scale operations in residential and unincorporated county areas. “We had hoped for protection for the residents of Colorado,” said Jennifer Gamble, a Wadley Farms resident and board member of Adams County Communities for Drilling Accountability NOW (ACCDAN). The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) on Oct. 6 released the first draft of proposed rules implementing the Governor’s Oil and Gas Task Force, which manages oil and gas operations throughout the state and outlines regulations for local governments and industry operators. Todd Hartman, communications director for the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees COGCC, pointed out several opportunities for revisions of the rules, including stakeholder meetings that allow for public discussion. Those meeting were scheduled for Oct. 14, 15 and 16 in Denver. The Oct. 16 meeting is set for 9 a.m. to noon at the COGCC building at 1120 Lincoln St. “In short, the process is still playing out and the COGCC looks forward to hearing specific comments and suggestions on the set of draft rules published last week,” Hartman wrote in an e-mail.
ACCDAN supporters will be attending, Gamble said. “Our folks will be at the stakeholder meetings in strong force to make our voices heard.” A letter from COGCC director Matthew Lepore stated the draft rules are a recommendation and the COGCC staff expects them to continue to evolve during the stakeholder process. The draft rules call for: Measuring the depth of new and existing wells to define a Large Urban Mitigation Area (UMA) Facility, which is an oil and gas site in an urban setting. It also, in turn, would determine capacity of oil and gas produced on this site. Industry operators must notify and offer to consult with the local government where they propose a Large UMA Facility. The local government can choose to waive consultation, and such communication would not be required if a written agreement already exists between the local government and the operator about the type of proposed facility. The operator will have to specify on a later application what happened with this process. Although strong interest has been expressed, local governments with a proposed site near – but not in — their jurisdiction boundaries do not have the
right to comment on the plan. Management practices of Large UMA sites were broken down to better allow for a case-by-case basis. It includes regulations on the development of site plan, practices and procedures as well as a limit of site-specific duration of drilling to try and minimize disruption. This could mean fewer wells on a site as well as a possible “quiet period” break between phases. All operators are required to register and provide information of plans reaching as far as five years out with the local governments where they have sites, or plan to. During outreach meetings before the draft rules release, many questions were raised regarding the exclusion of counties, such as Adams County, from these requirements. Not all of those questions have been answered by the draft rules. However, the rules do invite further discussion what happens when proposed drill sites are outside local government boundaries, on unincorporated county lands. To review the draft rules, visit http://cogcc.state.co.us/ documents/reg/Rules/GtfRulemaking/20151006%20GTF%20 Draft%20Rules%20(clean).pdf