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Tribune
March 16, 2016 | 7 5 ¢
Volume 51 • Issue 11 • pikespeaknewspapers.com • trilakestribune.com
the
TRI-LAKES REGION, MONUMENT, PALMER LAKE, WOODMOOR, GLENEAGLE, BLACK FOREST and NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY
‘Power goes to the People’ Ex-heroin addict Fenley the heroine of methadone fight By Bill Vogrin billvogrin@yourpeaknews.com
There will be no methadone treatment facility moving into this building at 192 Front St. in downtown Monument. The Board of Trustees agreed March 11 to settle a lawsuit brought by Colonial Management Group of Orlando, Fla., over use of the building, which was a pediatric clinic and a post office in the past. /Photo by Bill Vogrin / The Tribune
Settlement ends threat of methadone facility downtown By Bill Vogrin billvogrin@yourpeaknews.com
It took a brief three minutes for the Monument Board of Trustees to end a 10-month community battle over a proposed methadone clinic/dispensary in downtown Monument. Four members of the board met Friday, March 11, in a hastily called spe-
cial session to announce and approve the settlement of an $800,000 lawsuit filed by Colonial Management Group of Orlando, Fla., over its plan to open a methadone facility at 192 Front St., in a residential neighborhood across from Limbach Park. There was applause from the 30 or so people in Town Hall who witnessed See Methadone on Page 6
Monument resident Jamie Fenley thought she was having a good week after losing seven pounds on her diet. But her pride over her diet success was blown away by the emotions that swept over Jamie Fenley her Friday when she learned the Board of Trustees had agreed to a lawsuit settlement that will prevent a methadone clinic/dispensary from opening in downtown, across from Limbach Park. “I’ve had an awesome day,” Fenley said after the late-day announcement that the town settled with Colonial Management Group of Orlando, Fla. “I’m completely ecstatic. I’m so relieved this is finally over with and I don’t have to worry about something negative right across the street.”
All around, people were praising her as the town hero who rallied opposition to Colonial and its methadone facility in the face of Monument staff and elected officials who insisted nothing could be done to prevent it. Fenley, 31, knew from her experience as a heroin addict and methadone user that the dispensary would be a disaster in a residential neighborhood, across from the park and near schools and churches. So she went public with her own story, telling it on the front page of The Tribune, even allowing the use of her police mug shot from arrests related to her drug use when she would lie and steal to get drugs. “I’m a former heroin addict and I struggled for seven years,” Fenley told The Tribune last July. She described how she dropped out of Lewis-Palmer High School due to her drug use and how it led to several arrests and prison sentences. “I was in and out of rehab and on and off methadone,” she said. “I know See Fenley on Page 7
Slate attacks leadership on Board of Trustees Vows to roll back water rate increases By Bill Vogrin billvogrin@yourpeaknews.com
Four candidates seeking election as a slate for the Monument Board of Trustees vowed to take control of the seven-member panel and immediately roll back recent water rate increases if they are elected April 5. The promise came during a sparsely attended candidate forum March 9 hosted by the Tri-Lakes Chamber of Commerce. Only about 35 people attended. But they got to see the distinct choices facing voters when the mail ballot election begins this week. The slate – incumbent Trustee Jeff Bornstein, No Methadone leader Greg Coopman, Board of Adjustment member Shea Medlicott and Don Wilson – repeatedly attacked the leadership of the current board and vowed to shake up the Town Hall paid staff, whom they characterized as holding too much power over Monument. The other four candidates – incum-
About 35 people attended a town forum featuring eight candidates for the Monument Board of Trustees. Hosted by the Tri-Lakes Chamber of Commerce, the forum featured four candidates running as a slate and vowing to roll back recent water rate increases if elected. /Photo by Bill Vogrin / The Tribune
bent Trustees John Howe and Becki Tooley, as well as Kevin Sorenson and Tim Allen – did not show the anger of their counterparts and mainly described their own qualifications for four-year terms on the board. The steep new water rates, adopted POSTAL ADDRESS
TRI-LAKES TRIBUNE (USPS 418-960)
Monday by the Board of Trustees after months of debate, were a primary focus of the slate members. And the topic produced the real spark of the night when Rosie’s Diner owner A.B. Tellez challenged the integrity of Tooley for voting in favor of the increase. Wed 16
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At Monday’s meeting, Tooley prefaced her vote by saying she was unclear about the numbers and recognized the town’s need for an increase because rates hadn’t been adjusted in 20 years. Tellez asked the candidates what they would do if they saw a fellow trustee “damage their integrity” on a similar vote. He did not identify Tooley but she grabbed the microphone, recognizing she was under attack. Tooley said she had read all the material related to the water rates and understood exactly what the staff was asking for in its proposal. When she said she was unclear on the numbers Monday, Tooley said she was referring to Tellez’s presentation to the board in which he used a wipe board to propose his own rate structure and quickly ran through a list of his own numbers. “You were going through it so fast the numbers just didn’t add up,” she said. “I understood the numbers we were talking about from staff. And I believe the increase is what we needed to do so I voted yes.” See Trustees on Page 10
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