NEW HEIGHTS Earth Treks to be nation’s largest climbing gym
FORTY-FIVE FORWARD
ARTS | PG 11
FLAIR | PG 16
Local author brings figurines to life
CORRIDOR | PG 9
S O U T H
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY
M E T R O
Longstanding Kempe Foundation a ‘world leader’ in fighting child abuse
VOLUME 35 • NUMBER 25 • MAY 11, 2017
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What happens on Littleton’s Ladies Only Sample Tour doesn’t always stay there. From left, Greg Reinke of Reinke Bros., Villager Managing Editor Becky Osterwald, and former Chippendales dancer Joe Lanier.
Courtesy of Reinke Bros.
Ambassadors from Littleton’s Reinke Bros. costume store strike back in their best Star Wars getup on a stop at the Angel Concept gift shop during last week’s Main Street Littleton Ladies Only Sample Tour, which fell on fandom’s unofficial Star Wars Day. The annual Sample Tour sees women take a walking tour through Historic Downtown Littleton, collecting a universe of free goodies—and drinks—along the way. From left, Zoe Gulliver as Padmé Amidala, Ariel Swallow as Princess Leia, Gabrial Vanharpan as Kylo, and Marianne O’Brien Clark as Mother Talzin
Photo by Becky Osterwald
Democrats vie to take on Coffman in 6th District After stinging losses, a GOP president may be the ticket After several blistering defeats in the redrawn 6th Congressional District, a new slew of lesser-known Democrats is hoping that President Trump may offer their best chance yet for an upset against the district’s five-term incumbent, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman. “This is the first election where we’re going to have a Republican president,” said Aurora attorney David Aarestad, 49, one of three Democrats so far to seek their party’s nomination in 2018. “We’ve had extremely strong candidates in the Democratic Party challenging Mike Coffman, but they have
always run when there was a Democratic president.” Fellow primary candidate Jason Crow, 38, an attorney and Army veteran, stresses the entire political climate has changed since last November when Coffman resoundingly defeated state Sen. Morgan Carroll in the second of two back-to-back losses by highprofile party leaders. “We’re now under a Donald Trump presidency, a Republican-controlled government in Washington, D.C., and people are very concerned about having a representative who’s willing to push back on some things that aren’t really Colorado values,” Crow said. Although the redrawing of the once Republican-safe 6th District was expected to create a more competitive playing field, the 6th seat has remained elusive for Democrats.
In 2014, two years before Coffman’s recent takedown of Carroll by 9 percentage points, Andrew Romanoff, a former state House speaker, was also trounced in a significant loss for Democrats.
Trumping Coffman?
Coffman, who succeeded Republican firebrand Tom Tancredo in the district’s former boundaries, was first seen as vulnerable in 2012, when he defeated the much lesserknown state Rep. Joe Miklosi by a mere 2 percentage points, though Miklosi arguably benefited from the Obama surge and a higher Democratic turnout in a presidential election year. Last November, after Carroll suffered the most stinging defeat since “purple” Continued on page 10