FINAL WORD
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
HOORAY FOR BOLLYWOOD
State Supreme Court closes book on Douglas County vouchers
Broncos super fans team up for youth in need
Beaux Arts Ball goes Hindi
SCHOOLS | PG 3
COMMUNITY | PG 10
FLAIR | PG 14
S O U T H
M E T R O
VOLUME 36 • NUMBER 11 • FEBRUARY 1, 2018
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Littleton photographer captures ‘Magic and Wonder of Colorado’ Littleton photographer Andy Marquez’s sixth captures The Magic and Wonder of Colorado.
Photo by Peter Jones
horned owl gives photographer Andy Marquez the eye on Colorado’s eastern plains: “He left me
Marquez’s latest book puts focus on Rocky Mountain beauty Getting the right light is half the battle in taking photos of nature, according to Littleton-based photographer Andy Marquez. “Getting that moment when it’s at its best—90 percent of the time, it’s in the morning or toward sun-
set,” he said. Take Marquez’s end-of-the-day shot on Colorado’s Mount Evans. “When you get up there, your view of the sunset is blocked at that point,” he said. “The sun was starting to set. We had seconds to get back to the switchback and take that shot, but boy did it come out good.” The photo taken near Evergreen is one of about 80 that comprise the photographer’s eighth book, aptly titled The Magic and Wonder of Colorado. In pictures snapped
everywhere from Littleton to Mesa Verde, the New York-born Marquez ventures to capture the allure of his adopted home state through
images representing the cycle of a year. Longs Peak, Red Rocks, the Continued on page 18
Arapahoe Libraries eliminates late fines District strives to ensure all librarygoers feel welcome
Like parking tickets and credit-card interest, fines for late library books have been a fact of consumer life for as long as most of us can remember. But now, the scourge of late charges may be going the
way of the Dewey Decimal System, at least at Arapahoe Libraries. The tax-supported district of eight south metro facilities has discontinued fines for overdue materials and will waive all existing fees for late books and other media. Jessica Sidener, Arapahoe’s marketing and human-relations director, says the new policy reinforces the idea that libraries should be welcoming resources for everyone.
“It comes down to the fact that we wanted patrons to have access to all of our materials without the feelings of guilt, shame and embarrassment that sometimes fines can cause. In some cases, these feelings are enough for people not to use our resources,” Sidener said. Those harboring late books, DVDs or other items have been invited to return them to any Arapahoe library—free of disgrace or fines—no matter how delinquent they might be. “Gut feeling says that most people are not intentionally hoarding their library books.
They’re most likely in a trunk or under a bed or in a nightstand—and really, we’re just giving patrons a little bit of wiggle room and grace in getting those materials back to us,” Sidener said. Although the punitive fines are going away, the libraries will continue to charge replacement costs for items not returned 30 days after the due date. Such materials are assumed to be either lost or destroyed. “This is not about letting our materials out on a freefall. There’s still accountability,” Sidener said. “We will overcommunicate with patrons on when those due dates are arriving.” The district uses a collection agency to recover replacement costs. Arapahoe’s revenue
from late fines was substantial—$139,000 last year—but generally constituted less than 1 percent of the district’s annual budget. “It’s important to incorporate the staff time that it took to administer those fines,” Sidener said. The district does not expect the new policy to encourage scofflaws, but the human-relations director says Arapahoe will be keeping an eye out for any unintended consequences. “Like any decision or change, we’re going to be monitoring and if we have to pivot moving forward, we will,” she said. “This is really about giving some grace, forgiveness and flexibility to our patrons and being a little bit progressive and recognize times are changing and we must evolve too. People are crazy busy.”