Volume 31 • Number 28 • June 6, 2013
What’s Inside
Page 6
Fire Rescue agency wins for losing
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Cherry Creek Dam Race
honors late Don Morrison First time run/ walk/cycling event is June 15
Page 12
Unique cakes, costumes part of Mad Hatter Tea Party fun
Page 15
Creek grad named top graduate at Air Force Academy
Don’t Miss:
on track: RTD updates • FasTracks DTC Chamber Page 2 s sentence is within • DA‘rangesaysofdriver’ justice’ Page 2 Stahlman seek • Beckman, re-election to Littleton City Council Page 10
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n Saturday, June 15, The Cherry Creek Dam Race to benefit Project C.U.R.E. will honor former Greenwood Village resident Don Morrison by awarding the top male and oped this event, I refemale finishers in the ally wanted to honor cycling and running him for his commitevents with the “Don ment and dedication Morrison Achieveto this community,” ment Awards.” Crowley said. Morrison was a forMorrison’s wife mer Greenwood VilJean remains active lage city councilman, in the community and real estate developer, will be present for the and respected member ceremonies at the conof the Greenwood VilThe late Don Morrison will be honored at the clusion of the event. lage community until “We are delighted Cherry Creek Dam Race, June 15. his untimely death in File photo to have Jean be part October 2010 due to of this. She always around Cherry Creek Resera motorcycle accident. dives right in and works hard to Race Director Mark Crow- voir. Participants are raising make these events a success,” ley said this is the first year funds to help Project C.U.R.E. Crowley said. for The Cherry Creek Dam ship medical equipment and For registration and inforRace and said he plans many supplies around the world. mation about the event, visit “Don was an inspiration www.CherryCreekDamRace. more. The 5K and 10K walk/ and a major support to me dur- com. For information about run crosses the Cherry Creek ing my years at the Greenwood Project C.U.R.E., visit www. Dam Road, while the 12-and 24-mile cycling event loops Village Chamber. As we devel- projectcure.org.
Index
Page 5..............................................Opinion Pages 11-15....................................Fleurish Pages 16-17 ....................................School Pages 22-25.........................................digs Pages 28-32......................................Legals
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Main Street Block Party goes under the big top June 8
By Peter Jones Leave it to Greg Reinke to transform Littleton’s annual Main Street Block Party into the Greatest Show on Earth. “We thought, why don’t we do a theme through the whole thing,” Reinke said of this year’s circus concept. “We’re going to
have clowns, a contortionist, fire eaters and jugglers. I was trying to get an elephant, but I couldn’t get one.” In the behemoth’s stead, a tightrope walker will delicately ply his trade on the top of one of Downtown Littleton’s historic buildings.
Littleton’s Main Street Block Party takes place this Saturday, June 8, 6-11 p.m. The event will include two fireworks displays at 9:45 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. Live music, buskers and circus acts will also be a part of this year’s event. File photo
“I wanted him to go across Main Street, but we determined it wasn’t safe because there’s a power line that runs the entire length,” Reinke said. “It’s just not worth it.” Caution has not always been Continued on page 4
DA joins coalition to enhance gun sentences U.S. Attorney coordinating with police and prosecutors
By Peter Jones The 18th District Attorney’s Office is among the 10 prosecutorial and law enforcement agencies that have joined forces in a new coalition created to enhance firearm-violation sentences and prevent gun violence this summer in metro Denver. Colorado’s U.S. Attorney John Walsh formed the Metro Denver Firearm Initiative last month to help federal, state and local officials work together when illegalfirearm possession cases are discovered anywhere in the metro area. “We have assembled a strong team to investigate and prosecute firearm violations,” Walsh said in a statement. “It is our goal to reduce gun crime by focusing on the worst of the worst in metro Denver who possess or use firearms.” Plans are for the agencies to collectively review such investigations to determine which venue – federal or state court – would have the most severe prison sentence in a given case. Charges would be filed in the venue that had the toughest penalties. In addition to the 18th District Attorney Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the initiative’s partners include the other metro Denver district attorneys, several police departments and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Eighteenth District Attorney George Brauchler, whose office prosecutes crimes in Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, sees the initiative as a way to directly address one of the more recurring arguments in the ongoing gun debate. “One of the great pushbacks you get from people who said we don’t need new gun laws was, ‘Look, we just need to start enforcing the gun laws we already have on the books.’Well, I think this is a fair and reasonable attempt to do that,” Brauchler said. Those who cannot legally possess firearms include felons, the subjects of restraining orders, persons convicted of domestic violence, illegal aliens, drug addicts and those adjudicated as mentally ill. The prosecution of such individuals is expected to benefit from the initiative’s coordinated efforts and strategic courtvenue decisions. The project may also aid prosecutions of gun activity related to other crimes. For example, while the use of a firearm in a drug distribution can result in five years in federal prison, the same crime can bring as much as 48 years in Colorado’s state courts. “We’re definitely trying to be as aggressive as is reasonably possible in making sure that people who ought not have firearms don’t have them,” Brauchler said. At press time, no county sheriffs were listed as initiative partners, though Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said he supports such efforts and planned to talk with Walsh about possibly participating in the initiative. Last month, all but 10 of Colorado’s 64 sheriffs, including Robinson, signed onto a federal civil-rights lawsuit that challenged state gun restrictions passed this year.