2-9-17 Villager E Edition

Page 1

AT YOUR SERVICE

FAILING GRADE

YOUNG GUNS

OPINION | PG 5

NEWS | PG 14

FLAIR | PG 18

Local reps weigh in with new column

S O U T H

Trice’s Justin Klomp is a gem

Englewood charter school nixed

M E T R O

VOLUME 35 • NUMBER 12 • FEBRUARY 9, 2017

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TheVillagerNewspaper

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Can’t keep a good man down Meet Sean Swarner: One lung—seven summits

If passersby to Littleton’s Jackass Hill Park ever see some guy hauling a heavy bundle of old SUV tires through the neighborhood, he is not the original jackass in question. “Most people slow down and just kind of stare at me. I just wave at them,” said Sean Swarner, who raised as many eyebrows at Big O Tires one day when he came in and asked for some discarded product. “Now, I’m the crazy guy walking around dragging tires behind me. It’s to simulate the sled we’re going to be using at the North Pole.” Oh, is that all? If this rubber-made trip to the Pole were not unusual enough, add to it Swarner’s 15-minute jaunt last week up the 1,576 stairs of the Empire State Building. And his life-threatening ascents up the highest peak on each continent. Did we mention he has only one functioning lung? “The body adapts incredibly well,” the 42-year-old adventurer ventured to explain. “I don’t want to say I’m a starfish where you can cut off a leg and it’ll grow back. But it definitely adapts. One of the greatest things about the human condition is the mind. For 90 percent of the humans out there, their mind gives up before their body does.” Continued on page 8

Littleton’s Sean Swarner has not let the lack of one functioning lung or two unrelated forms of cancer keep him down. Here, he stands on Mount Vinson, which boasts the highest summit in Antarctica. Photo courtesy of Atrium PR

Should voters decide the fate of the controversial Subarea? Greenwood Council debates who should OK proposed changes to Comp Plan BY BECKY OSTERWALD MANAGING EDITOR

The final decision on whether to let Greenwood Village voters decide whether to change the city’s Comprehensive Plan and potentially allow a controversial mixed-use development will be made by the City Council on Feb. 27. Amid threats of a mayoral veto, councilmembers disagree on whether to put the question before the voters. During the Feb. 6 work session, Councilmember Steve Moran argued that the council should vote first on the issue so

residents would know where Councilmember Dave Bullelected officials stand on what ock disagreed, saying there had has become known as the Or- been no public petition or outcry chard Station Subarea and a for a ballot question. With four much-debatcouncilmemed proposal bers and the by Alberta mayor opDevelopment posed to the Partners. referendum, “Given Bullock reawhat has desoned, there veloped over would be little the last few point in spendweeks with ing taxpayers’ the district money on an meetings and election. the mayor’s “I have - Greenwood Village position strong perCouncilmember [to veto an sonal belief Dave Bullock amendment that people in to change this city have a the Comp Plan], I think there right to know how City Council are some [citizens] who won- members stand on extraordinary der why we are going to spend key issues,” he said, arguing it $36,000 to do this,” Moran said. would be more expedient for the

People in this city have a right to know how City Council members stand on extraordinary key issues.

council to make the call as the city’s elected body. “In the view of many, this is one of the biggest projects to come before the city in the last several decades.” Councilmember T.J. Gordon disagreed that the decision should be council’s alone, saying he has heard overwhelmingly support for a public vote on the “polarizing” issue during recent city-sponsored district meetings on the subject. “I hate to see a ‘for’ or ‘against’ vote,” he said. “But people are asking, ‘The Alberta proposal, are you for it or against it?’ That is the only way they are interpreting it,” Gordon said. “… There are a lot of people that want to see something nice put there and are asking why can’t you move Continued on page 10


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