City courts to decide whether controversial apartment chaos caused by immigrant gangsters, mismanagement or city disregard
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Word.
Talking trash takes on a whole new meaning in the time of Trump and his liegemen
IDAVE PERRY Editor
t only stands to reason that in a world turned upside down with upside-down logic, unable to walk the walk, a growing list of folks normally shunned, just talk the talk.
These are people who, in better times, would just be scoffed at or overlooked because they just don’t make any sense. Or their psychological problems are so apparent that their problems draw sympathy and not aggravation.
That was then. This is now.
A perfect example of this touched talk came last week from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who, like President Donald Trump, never met a mistake he admits responsibility for.
During a press conference addressing the tragedy and chaos of the July 4 Kerr County flash floods, Abbott was predictably asked by reporters about what might have been done differently that could have saved dozens of lives lost in the flood, many of them children from Camp Mystic.
It was a question most of America wondered and especially parents whose children were swept away by flood waters in a path federal and state officials had repeatedly identified as vulnerable in a part of the state notorious for flash floods.
“You ask, and I’m going to use your words,” he told the journalist, as reported by the Associated Press, ‘Who is to blame? Know this, that’s the word choice of losers.” Losers? Parents who don’t even know where their children’s bodies are and are reeling from the loss of a child from a flood in a flood-prone river valley? Losers?
Abbott’s word-foolery got even worse then as he started yammering about how Texas loves football. He tried to draw a parallel between football and tragedy. I’ve had the distinct and unenviable privilege of talking to parents whose children have died. I cannot think of a single mom or dad whose child was shot, run over, killed by a drunken driv-
er or lost to suicide who would see how such a tragedy is close to recovering from a fumble or just thinking about the next game.
“Every football team makes mistakes,” Abbott blathered on. “Know this, the losing football teams are the ones who try to point out who is to blame. The championship teams are the ones who say, ‘Don’t worry about it, man, we got this. We’re going to make sure we go score again and win this game.’ The way that winners talk is not to point fingers, they talk about solutions.”
Dead children are not a game, governor.
If Abbott’s goal was to deflect blame, that’s just sick. If his goal was to admonish victims, family of victims and the media for moving “too soon” on sorting out what happened, then he should take his inability to handle sensitive problems with the public and let someone else call the game.
Of course few people can top Trump for saying something that should get him fired several times a day. While Trump may fancy himself the American emperor, he is truly the king of “what is wrong with him” and “how could someone like that be elected president?”
When a CBS reporter asked Trump to respond to queries from family members of those killed in the flood about what might have been done differently or changed in the future, Trump stammered and fumed in classic Trump style.
“Only a bad person would ask a question like that,” he told the reporter. “To be honest with you, I don’t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that. This has been heroism.”
People who ask questions of the government aren’t bad or evil.
The world generally agrees that bad people include pedophiles and sexual abusers, which Colorado’s quotable quicksand has strong feelings about.
Republican Congressperson Lauren Boebert, who makes her expertise on
every matter apparent every time she tweets and talks, has long been a loud voice to expose those accused of sexual deviancy and abuse, just not everyone she knows accused of sexual deviancy and abuse.
Boebert has long been in front of the parade of those demanding that the “Epstein files” and the “Client List” be released to shine a light on, and shame, those who were complicit with Jeffrey Epstein and his sex crimes. Boebert, however, has far less appetite for shining a spotlight on her own controversies linked to rubbing people the right way in the wrong public places.
While she hasn’t joined the rest of Club MAGA in taunting Trump over demanding the Epstein files — over the objections of Trump toady AG Pam Bondi and Trump himself, Boebert had an idea.
While talking with right-wing influencer Benny Johnson on Tuesday, Boebert belted out the oh-no-quote of the week.
“Of course we want answers,” Boebert told Johsonson. “No one is satisfied with what has been received, or lack thereof. No one is satisfied with the rollout of this. I think moving forward, we need a special counsel,” she said. Wait for it.
“That has got to happen,” she said. “There has to be a special investigation into this if we aren’t going to be provided information.”
And who would be qualified to lead such a query, satisfying Club MAGA that there were actually eyes on the prize and keeping His Majesty from going nuclear?
“Matt Gaetz,” Boebert pitched during the show and later on social media.
Yeah, that Matt Gaetz.
From these people, a word is worth a thousand pictures.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., at a Republican primary debate for the 4th Congressional district seat, Jan. 25, 2024, in Fort Lupton, Colo. AP File Photo/David Zalubowski
Aurora dentist accused of poisoning his wife’s protein shakes on trial for murder
CRAIG TRIED TO GET A FELLOW INMATE TO PLANT FRAUDULENT LETTERS AT HIS HOME TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE HIS WIFE WAS SUICIDAL, PROSECUTORS SAID.
BY COLLEEN SLEVIN, Associated Press
Just days before she died after suffering symptoms that mystified her doctors, Angela Craig confronted her husband, James, in their Aurora kitchen over his lack of support.
In that 2023 argument captured on home surveillance video, she accused him of suggesting to hospital staff that she was suicidal, court documents show.
Prosecutors say James Craig caused the ailments that ultimately killed his wife by poisoning her protein shakes and trying to make it look as if she killed herself. His trial on murder and other charges is set to begin Monday with the questioning of potential jurors.
Angela Craig, 43, died in March 2023 during her third trip to the hospital that month. Toxicology tests later determined she died of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient that is found in over-the-counter eye drops.
The couple were married 23 years and had six children.
Craig has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury.
Police say Craig tried to fabricate evidence to make it appear his wife killed herself
The 47-year-old dentist allegedly bought arsenic online around the time his wife began to experience symptoms like dizziness and head-
aches for which doctors could find no cause, prosecutors say.
At the time of his arrest, police said Craig was trying to start a new life amid financial troubles and appeared to be having an affair with a fellow dentist. Prosecutors said he had affairs with two other women, but they have not detailed a motive in his wife’s death.
Craig’s attorneys have argued police were biased against him and claimed testing of his wife’s shake containers did not turn up signs of poison. They’ve questioned the reliability of a jail inmate who said Craig offered him $20,000 to kill the case’s lead investigator, an alleged plot for which Craig is also on trial.
To avoid being held accountable, prosecutors said, Craig tried to fabricate evidence to make it appear his wife killed herself.
He tried to get another fellow inmate to plant fraudulent letters at Craig’s home to make it look like his wife was suicidal, prosecutors said. Then, in the weeks before Craig had been set to stand trial in November, prosecutors said he also sent letters to the ex-wife of the inmate he allegedly tried to get to kill the investigator, offering her $20,000 for each person she could find to falsely testify that his wife planned to die by suicide, they said.
As jury selection was about to begin, his lawyer at the time, Harvey Steinberg, asked to withdraw, citing a rule allowing lawyers to step
down if a client persists in actions considered criminal or that they disagree with.
Another attorney for Craig, Robert Werking, later argued that investigators did not look into whether Craig wrote the letters or check them against his handwriting. Werking also said that the inmate and his ex-wife were prosecuted for forgery for their roles in an alleged fraud ring in 2005, suggesting they could not be trusted.
Werking withdrew from the case himself this month after being charged with arson of his own home, leaving his wife and law partner, Lisa Fine Moses, to defend Craig. Werking’s attorney, David Beller, said he was getting mental health treatment and asked the public to show him grace.
Moses did not immediately return telephone and email messages seeking comment.
Over the objections of the defense, prosecutors plan to show the video of the argument in the kitchen to jurors.
“It’s your fault they treated me like I was a suicide risk, like I did it to myself, and like nothing I said could be believed,” Angela Craig told her husband after her first trip to the hospital.
Prosecutors convinced the judge jurors should see the video because they said it disproves potential claims that Angela Craig poisoned herself — possibly while trying to dissuade him from divorcing her — or to frame him and gain an advantage over him if they did divorce.
“Her mental state is anger and frustration, not suicidality or desperation to keep the defendant in the marriage,” Senior Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro wrote in a recent court filing.
One of Angela Craig’s siblings, Mark Pray, said last year that James Craig not only orchestrated the “torment and demise” of his sister but had shown disregard for others, including their children.
Prosecutors say James Craig searched online for answers to questions such as “how to make murder look like a heart attack” and “is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?”
After Craig’s initial attempts to kill his wife failed, prosecutors allege, he ordered a rush shipment of potassium cyanide, supposedly for surgery. The shipment was accidentally discovered by an employee at his dental practice in the Denver suburb of Aurora on March 13, 2023. The employee reported it to the office manager two days later when Angela Craig returned to the hospital for a third and final time.
Craig’s business partner, Ryan Redfearn, told a nurse treating Angela Craig that he was concerned she could have been poisoned with the cyanide. The nurse reported that to police, who began their investigation the same day.
Angela Craig died days later.
James Craig / Sentinel File Photo
AROUND AURORA
Local leaders join hourslong protest against ICE detention center in Aurora Cars lined the street as music filled the air, and hundreds gathered outside the GEO Group’s privately run Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora.
The July 7 event was attended by dozens of community organizations, elected officials, clergy members and musicians, and was a defiant call for justice, unity and the protection of immigrant rights.
“We want to create a space where we can carry it together, where we know we’re not alone because we’re all gonna have to do things we’ve never done before,” Jennifer Piper, an organizer for American Friends Service Committee, said.
The afternoon and evening rally was planned before the recent increases in ICE funding under President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which slashes programs like Medicaid while allocating billions toward immigration enforcement and detention over the next four years.
Event planners estimated that about 600 people attended the event during the six hours it ran.
The timing of the bill and the planned rally was energizing, planners said.
Trump administration officials and local congressional Republicans say the 2024 presidential election was a referendum on immigration round-ups, and voters heartily approve of the ramped up enforcement. Recent national polling paints a much more ambivalent electorate as the execution of the Trump mass-deportation plan has rolled out.
“At this moment, there are over 56,000 immigrants currently detained across our country,” said V Reeves of Housekeys Action Network Denver. “And this administration is looking to more than double that number to 125,000. No more, we say. ICE out of Colorado.”
The day of action brought together a complete and diverse community to oppose what they describe as unjust immigration enforcement and the exploitation of detained immigrants for corporate profit.
As attendees picketed and sang, children painted butterflies to place in detention center windows as a symbol of freedom and transformation. Organizers said their previously-planned project now takes on even greater urgency.
“Hopelessness is the goal,” Reeves told the crowd. “Inaction is the goal. So we must recognize this, reason with it, and fight on.”
Piper and Brandon Gehrke-Quintanilla, co-founder of Aurora Unidos CSO, said the Monday event was only the beginning. They plan to continue organizing and building coalitions to increase pressure on ICE and Colorado lawmakers. Piper warned that the new federal funding could create a powerful immigration force that acts more like a military force, unlike anything the U.S. has seen before, impacting both immigrants and citizens alike.
“I think we have more areas of commonality than we have differences,” Piper said. “We might not all agree on the solution or how to get there, but broadly, Americans are concerned about the rich getting richer and others progressively getting poorer.”
One surprise visit during the event came from a FaceTime call with long-time local immigrant rights leader Jeanette Vizguerra, whose case remains a central concern for the movement. Vizguerra is currently being held in the Aurora ICE facility the group was protesting next to.
“Love has no borders,” Vizguerra told the crowd. “We must keep taking care of each other, protecting each other as a
community. If we come together, we can navigate this. We can work through this.”
Attendees chanted to free Vizguerra, along with demanding the closure of the Aurora GEO facility and adequate food and medical care for all detainees.
Several Democratic lawmakers joined the protest, including state Senators Julie Gonzales, Mike Weissman, and Lisa Cutter, as well as state Representatives Mandy Lindsay and Lorena Garcia. Others, such as Sen. Michael Bennet, Sen. John Hickenlooper, Rep. Gabe Evans and Rep. Diana DeGette, were absent, which activists and fellow legislators pointed out.
“I’m very proud of the work that we’ve already done to ensure that the GEO detention facility is subject to inspections from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment,” Gonzales said.
Weissman said he was happy to see the turnout, calling it a powerful response to “the immoral and hateful anti-immigrant policies of the Trump administration.”
“We know the Trump administration will continue to lie about immigrants and immigration, despite the cost of their policies on families or our economy,” Weissman said. “That’s why my colleagues and I in the state legislature will continue to promote policies that prevent the federal government from commandeering limited state resources.”
Gonzales said she is also frustrated with the way ICE operates and how it makes their legislative jobs more difficult.
“ICE regularly obfuscates facts and twists the truth,” she said.
The event was held in a public park adjacent to the detention center at 3130 Oakland St., a space organizers say belongs to the people, not GEO Group or ICE.
“This is a park,” said Piper, gesturing to the gathering. “This belongs to the people of Aurora. This does not belong to GEO. We should be able to gather in our parks together.”
Organizers hoped the event would serve as a symbol to highlight the importance of building trust and connection, particularly for those who feel abandoned by political systems.
“We have nobody else coming to save us,” said Gehrke-Quintanilla. “We have to fight for our rights as immigrants and as people, as community members in Aurora. We didn’t ask for ICE either, and we don’t need to be paying for GEO. There’s so much we need to push back, change, and transform.”
The day concluded with performances by local artists and bands, including the Flobots, Izcalli, 2MX2, Yuzo Nieto of the Pinkhawks, Mirai Taiko, Laura Goldhamer, Notes of Dissent, Wheelchair Sports Camp, and Gora Gora Orkestar. Throughout the day, flowers were laid in rituals, banners were made and waved in protest and signs lifted in solidarity.
Organizing groups included the American Friends Service Committee, Aurora Unidos, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Defenders Union of Colorado, and Housekeys Action Network.
Their unified message for the day was, “Immigrant rights are human rights, and the community will not stay silent.”
— Cassandra Ballard, Sentinel Staff Writer
20th Anniversary Fields Wolfe Memorial Gala honoring lives lost and future careers
The 20th anniversary Fields Wolfe Memorial Gala is slated for July 25, at the Denver Botanic Gardens, honoring the lives and legacy of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe, two victims of gun violence whose deaths sparked a movement for justice and education.
Held by Arapahoe County Commissioner Rhonda Fields, the mother of Marshall-Fields, the gala will include elected officials, community leaders, families and scholarship recipients in remembrance and celebration.
The public is invited to event.
This year’s event will highlight more than 30 Fields Wolfe Scholars who have received educational financial support through the Fields Wolfe Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund at Colorado State University. Sixteen of those scholars are expected to attend the gala.
Among those singled out this year for honors are former CSU President Dr. Al Yates, who will receive the Distinguished Pathfinder Award, and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, who will be recognized as a Courageous Trailblazer.
The gala is scheduled from 5 p.m. to
8 p.m., with doors opening at 4:30 p.m. All proceeds benefit the scholarship fund, which aims to carry forward the dreams of Marshall-Fields and Wolfe by supporting leadership and academic achievement among Colorado students.
The Fields Wolfe Memorial Fund was founded in response to the 2005 murders of Marshall-Fields and Wolfe, who were shot and killed after Marshall-Fields agreed to testify as a witness in a murder trial. Their deaths prompted statewide reform around witness protection and inspired a lasting legacy of advocacy through education.
The push for justice in murders eventually launched the activist and political career of Rhonda Fields, who has held seats in the state House and Senate, and whom now sits on the Arapahoe County commission
Tickets and more information are available at FieldsWolfe20thAnniversary. eventbrite.com.
— Sentinel Staff
Aurora’s
city
court system cash-handling audit continues generating worries
Aurora’s municipal court administration is under scrutiny after a recent internal audit revealed what officials said were significant technology weaknesses and poor cash handling practices.
The internal city audit conducted in March for court cash handling identified a high risk of fraud, but it remains un-
See METRO, 6
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
clear how all of those issues are being addressed.
“When the city auditor says, ‘I can’t say if something’s wrong,’ that’s what concerns me almost as much as her saying something is wrong,” Councilmember Curtis Gardener said during a Management and Finance Committee meeting in April.
The March audit uncovered multiple concerns about financial management and internal controls, according to the city auditor, Michelle Crawford.
Crawford said she found that the court processed approximately $1 million in cash and checks annually, with no adequate internal controls existing to safeguard cash records and receipts.
“While the system appears to capture some receipt information, it is only availablee within the system and cannot be exported,” the audit said. “The only option to document it outside the system is to take screenshots.”
The audit also found that detention staff employees were cashing checks from jail inmates and vendors, and vending machine proceeds were not being properly documented and overseen.
“Policies and procedures for cash handling did not exist for detention when the audit started,” the 2024 audit stated.
The audit proposed deadlines for changes to be implemented, ranging from April 30, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2025.
At the most recent city council Management and Finance Policy Committee meeting, July 3, the City Court Administration’s technology and cash handling practices were still a significant concern for the auditor and council members, Gardner, Alison Coombs and Francoise Bergan. Crawford reported continued issues with outdated systems and some
unresolved recommendations.
One of the main deadlines was for the court administration to create a system for receipts that could produce reports by June 30.
During the meeting, Crawford said the court’s administration was still waiting on the new financial system to determine what reports can be created and that there was no definitive timeline for implementing comprehensive reporting.
It was revealed during the meeting that the court is still using manual, hand-written receipt books for cash bonds, and an internally developed IT system with limited access and reporting capabilities.
Gardner said the city council previously allocated $400,000 to implement a more robust, off-the-shelf court management system and was curious about the status of that funding.
By the end of the meeting, it was still unclear how that money was spent and whether city council approved it.
Candace Atkinson, the court administrator, said that integrating a new system would be complex and potentially more costly, involving multiple departments, including police records, prosecution and warrant systems.
“That sounds to me like a system that is set up to fail, that has integrations that are created that are kind of workarounds, instead of the more fluid integrations that are part of these different systems in their off-the-shelf capacities,” Coombs said. “If it was just a matter of cost at that time, why wasn’t it brought back to council?”
Instead, Atkinson had the court’s internal IT employees create a system without informing council members about the changes she made, to save costs and funding, according to city officials.
The city’s chief information officer, Scott Newman, said that while a new fi-
nancial system called Workday is being implemented, a third-party system called Teller would help address some reporting needs for the city’s record-keeping. He then clarified that the court system integrations are not currently part of the immediate implementation plan. Newman also said that Atkinson had a meeting with him and the previous City Manager, Jim Twombly. Atkinson told them that the systems did not need to be connected.
“When Jim Twombly was still here, we did have a meeting,” Newman said. “We specifically made recommendations that we should have a third party do a process analysis so that we could understand the data flow from the police record system, to the Axon system, to judicial, to the courts administration, to prosecution, to defense attorneys, then on to the detention staff. And that was completely shut down.”
He said that he and Twombly were told no. Atkinson said she did not recall the conversation.
“We were told very emphatically across the board that, no, that should not be the case, and that things should be left to the purview of each of those respective divisions to determine what was the most appropriate function for their needs,” Newman said.
By the end of the meeting last week, council members requested more frequent updates on the court administration’s progress, along with progress reports at each meeting leading up to the next budget workshop to ensure these technological and procedural gaps are addressed.
The council members in the committee are also considering the possibility of the city hiring a third-party auditor as requested by the city auditor, even though it would cost them more. It is still unclear how funds meant for the new system
were implemented and whether those changes were presented to city council or the committee before they were reappropriated.
—
Cassandra Ballard, Sentinel Staff Writer
COPS AND COURTS
Aurora man confesses to murdering his wife to avoid homelessness, police say
“An Aurora man who lost his job told police he couldn’t bear the thought of his wife living on the streets and shot her in the head while she slept, but he couldn’t complete his planned murder-suicide by shooting himself, according to a police affidavit.
Phil Jay Atchue, 60, called 911 from a bus stop near his apartment complex at 927 S. Ivory Circle at about 11 p.m. July 6.
“I shot my wife yesterday morning,” Atchue told the police dispatcher just after 11 p.m., according to police.
When officers arrived, they found Atchue waiting at the bus stop wearing a Raiders t-shirt, a hoodie and shorts pants, just as he’d described himself to dispatchers.
Aurora Highlands Market 2 deep banner
Inside his apartment, officers discovered the body of Kay Page, 61, lying in bed under blankets, with a pillow over her head, dead from gunshots. A handgun sat on the kitchen table in the next room.
Paramedics pronounced her dead at 11:21 p.m.
In a detailed confession to Aurora police detectives, Atchue said that he had been fired from his job at a sign and barricade company two months earlier and
had been hiding it from his wife ever since.
“She didn’t know,” Atchue told investigators during an interview. “I’d leave for ‘work’ every day like normal. But the money was gone. Bills weren’t getting paid. The rent check bounced. The next step was gonna be homeless. Wasn’t gonna do that to her, so I put her out of her misery.”
Atchue said he had started making plans for what he expected to be a murder-suicide since May 5, when he lost his job. He said he saw no prospects for getting another job, primarily because he consumed a lot of marijuana and would have to wait at least three months to pass a drug test, Atchue told police.
Kay Page continued working her job at Lowe’s, but Atchue said they couldn’t survive on her income alone. He never told her about his job loss and stopped paying their bills. When the rent was due July 4, he wrote a check knowing there was no money in the bank to cover it.
So he decided to kill her and then himself the next day before she discovered what was happening with the couple’s finances.
“She was still sleeping,” Atchue said. “So I get up, put my shorts on, grabbed my gun, and shot her in the head twice.”
During the interview he made a sound like two gunshots as he described his actions, according to police detectives.
The two had been together for 20 years in what Atchue described as a common-law marriage. He told detectives they rarely argued and that Kay had done nothing to provoke him.
“There was no fight,” he said. “She didn’t deserve it. But I couldn’t let her end up on the street. I did what I did. Not proud of it, but I did it.”
He said Kay was estranged from two
›› See METRO, 19
Home is where the ‘thescelosaurus’ is
A DENVER DINO MUSEUM MAKES A FIND DEEP UNDER OWN PARKING LOT. LIKE ‘A HOLE IN ONE FROM THE MOON.’
BY MEAD
The Denver museum known for its dinosaur displays has made a fossil bone discovery closer to home than anyone ever expected, under its own parking lot.
It came from a hole drilled more than 750 feet deep to study geothermal heating potential for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
The museum is popular with dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages. Full-size dinosaur skeletons amaze kiddos barely knee-high to a parent, much less to a Tyrannosaurus.
This latest find is not so visually impressive. Even so, the odds of finding the hockey-puck-shaped fossil sample were impressively small.
With a bore only a couple of inches (5 centimeters) wide, museum officials struggled to describe just how unlikely it was to hit a dinosaur, even in a region with a fair number of such fossils.
“Finding a dinosaur bone in a core is like hitting a hole in one from the moon. It’s like winning the Willy Wonka factory. It’s incredible, it’s super rare,” said James Hagadorn, the museum’s curator of geology.
Only two similar finds have been noted in bore hole samples anywhere in the world, not to mention on the grounds of a dinosaur museum, according to museum officials.
A vertebra of a smallish, plant-eating di-
nosaur is believed to be the source. It lived in the late Cretaceous period around 67.5 million years ago. An asteroid impact brought the long era of dinosaurs to an end around 66 million years ago, according to scientists.
Fossilized vegetation also was found in the bore hole near the bone.
“This animal was living in what was probably a swampy environment that would have been heavily vegetated at the time,” said Patrick O’Connor, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Dinosaur discoveries in the area over the years include portions of Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops-type fossils. This one is Denver’s deepest and oldest yet, O’Connor said.
Other experts in the field vouched for the find’s legitimacy but with mixed reactions.
“It’s a surprise, I guess. Scientifically it’s not that exciting,” said Thomas Williamson, curator of paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque.
There was no way to tell exactly what species of dinosaur it was, Williamson noted.
The find is “absolutely legit and VERY COOL!” Erin LaCount, director of education programs at the Dinosaur Ridge track site just west of Denver, said by email.
The fossil’s shape suggests it was a duckbilled dinosaur or thescelosaurus, a small-
er but somewhat similar species, LaCount noted.
The bore-hole fossil is now on display in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, of course, but there are no plans to look for more under the parking lot.
“I would love to dig a 763-foot (233-meter) hole in the parking lot to excavate that dinosaur, the rest of it. But I don’t think that’s going to fly because we really need parking,” Hagadorn said.
Geologist James Hagadorn closes boxes of core rock samples at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science on July 9, 2025.
AP Photo/Thomas Peipert
This undated photograph provided by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science shows Ornithopod vertebra from the Denver Formation, from 763’ of depth from the City Park core drilling in the parking lot at Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Richard M Wicker/ Denver Museum of Nature and Science via AP
GRUVER AND THOMAS PEIPERT, Associated Press
S. Mission Parkway
Music: The Man Cubs
Movie: Captain America: Brave New World, rated PG-13
scene & herd
Music at the Movies in Aurora — Mission Viejo Park
Music at the Movies offers free concerts followed by family-friendly movies under the summer stars. Produced by Aurora’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space and the Aurora Public Library, the program offers musical and cinema entertainment across the summer.
IF YOU GO
When: July 23 concert starts at 5 p.m. and the movie starts at 6 p.m.
Where: Mission Viejo Park, 3999
• Great Burgers
Details: Feel free to bring chairs, blankets and treats to enjoy a fun flick under the stars. Rules: bags are subject to inspection. No animals are allowed with the exception of service animals. No glass bottles. No unlawful devices. No illegal substances. No open carry of firearms. No outside alcohol. No unauthorized sound amplification devices.
Art in the Park food and market series at the Aurora Highlands
A fusion of art, shopping, food and community are slated for July 19 at Winged Melody Park as part of a free market in the park series.
Participants are invited to explore other pieces in the huge, open-air gallery of large-art installations across the park, including “Broken but Together” by Michael Benisty and “The Only Way Out is Through” by Snyder and Olivia Steele.
“Pack your blankets, lawn chairs, and coolers,” organizers say. “Everyone is welcome to bring their own food and drinks, or get treats from nearby food trucks.” This week’s vendors include: The Progressive Pantry, Hooked
by Shan, Korf Kreations, Mamas Money My Treats, La Bloom, Corf Coffee Mobile, StephanieH TupperAdvantage, Snowy Leopard Art, Natural Cottage Pantry, Blizzful Beech, Jordan Crafts Co, Mouna’s Boutique.
IF YOU GO
Date: July 19, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m..
Place: Winged Melody Park at Highlands Creek, 24495 E 35th Drive in the Aurora Highlands Tickets: Free
Details: theaurorahighlands.com
Renaissance Fest in Larkspur
Step beyond the castle gates and into a world of kings and queens, knights and jousts, jesters, witches and wandering minstrels as the Colorado Renaissance Festival returns to Larkspur for its 48th season.
Nestled within towering castle walls, this beloved summer tradition transforms a forested hillside into a bustling village, where the clang of swords, the scent of roasted turkey legs and the melodies of lute music fill the air.
This year’s event promises both beloved traditions and exciting new additions. Kristy Ekiss, operations manager and performer, said among the headliners is Adam Crack, a Guinness World Record-holding whip artist, who will perform during the festival’s first three weekends.
IF YOU GO
Where: 650 Perry Park Ave in Larkspur
When: Weekends only through Aug. 3
Tickets and Details: $14-$32 at coloradorenaissance.com or call 303-688-6010
Check
it out —
Aurora library books farmer’s markets for the summer
Residents near the Hoffman Heights Library are getting a farmer’s market all summer.
“Libraries are more than just books—they’re hubs for healthy, thriving neighborhoods and this collaboration is a perfect example of how we’re re-imagining library grounds into a space for connection while serving our community,” said Ginger White Brunetti, director of Library and Cultural Services, in a statement.
Aurora Public Library is partnering with the mission-driven organization Rebel Marketplace to bring a monthly farmers market to Hoffman Heights Library through September, according to a statement from the city.
“The farmers market at Hoffman Library was created to be an authentic neighborhood marketplace run and operated by surrounding community businesses, with the library as the hub,” the statement said.
City Park Jazz returns with free concerts on Sundays through August
City Park Jazz will launch its 39th annual summer concert series June 1, bringing 10 weeks of free Sunday evening performances to the City Park Pavilion through Aug. 3.
The 2025 lineup celebrates the diversity of jazz and features an all-local roster, including returning favorites Chris Daniels and The Kings with Freddy Gowdy, ATOMGA, Dzirae Gold, and Buckner Funken Jazz. The series will also showcase internationally recognized Zimbabwean percussionist Blessing Bled Chimanga and a tribute to late Denver jazz pianist Neil Bridge featuring The Bridge 12 and his wife, Karen. This year’s season finale on Aug. 3 will start at 5:30 p.m. and feature a three-hour “Brass Band Extravaganza” with performances by Colorado Youth Bands Brass Band, Rowdy Brass Band, Tivoli Club Brass Band and Guerilla Fanfare.
Concerts run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays and attract crowds of up to 12,000 people. The family-friendly events include a curated selection of vendors and food trucks. Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs, and refillable containers for filtered water, while adhering to Denver park rules prohibiting glass.
• GreatBurgers
• GreatBurgers
• GreatCheesesteaks
• Great Philly Cheesesteaks
• GreatCheesesteaks
• 20 TV’s
• 20 TV’s
• 20 TVs
• Open St age EveryThursday
• Open St age EveryThursday
• Watch All NFL & MLB Games
• Open Stage
• Saturdays:11:30AM-3PM FreeDomesticBeeror
• Saturdays:11:30AM-3PM FreeDomesticBeeror
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New artists will also join the bustling artisan marketplace, including a stained glass creator, a permanent jewelry booth and talented graphic artists.
“I think people enjoy getting away from digital entertainment and stepping into a 360 theatrical experience,” Ekiss said.
Additionally, she said the Colorado Renaissance Festival is known for its fully immersive environment, where every visitor becomes part of the show. The cast is a highlight for many, renowned for being one of the most interactive festivals around.
“We are known for having one of the friendliest and most interactive casts in the country. Look for them throughout the day in the lanes and enjoy the small one-on-one interactions just as much as the big, impressive stage shows,” Ekiss said.
Rebel Marketplace is a local group of urban farmers in Aurora who started growing produce in their backyards and aims to build a “food sovereign neighborhood.” The Johnson family’s story of starting the Rebel Market was reported on last year by the Sentinel.
“The Rebel Marketplace believes that there is enough talent and businesses in a six-mile radius to fully supply and stand up a neighborhood marketplace,” the Rebel Marketplace website said. “By creating a singular, locally run access point for goods and services, we envision a vibrant, cooperative and healthy community.”
Each farmers market will host multiple programming events as well.
“We’re thrilled to launch this unique partnership with Rebel Marketplace to bring fresh, local food and community connections right to the doorstep of Hoffman Heights Library,” Brunetti said in the statement.
IF YOU GO
Where: Hoffman Heights Library, 1298 Peoria St.
When: Dates vary below. The library will also stay open late on those nights for its programs and additional services. The Hoffman Heights Library will also host storytimes at 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., a kids’ play area at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., and a teen game space from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The lineup:
• Block-printed totes, customize your own tote, 6 p.m., Aug. 6
• Intro to pickling, by learning to make pickle brine with ingredients provided, 6 p.m., Sept. 10
IF YOU GO
July 20, Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra; July 27, Dzirae Gold; Aug. 3: Brass Band Extravaganza Featuring:
Colorado Youth Bands Brass Band, Rowdy Brass Band Tivoli Club Brass Band and. Guerilla Fanfare Time: 6 p.m.
Where: Denver City Park Pavillion: 2001 Steele St, Details: CityParkJazz.org
Really, Really Rembrandt arrives at the Denver Art Museum: Masterpieces from National Gallery
Metro residents a rare opportunity to experience the work of one of history’s greatest painters up close. As part of a nationwide initiative marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, the Denver Art Museum is holding two Rembrandt-related masterpieces on loan from the National Gallery of Art. The featured works — “A Woman Holding a Pink” and “Portrait of Rembrandt,” likely painted by his workshop —w ill be on display in the museum’s European Art Before 1800 galleries through Feb. 6, 2027. The exhibit is part of the National Gallery’s “Across the Nation” program, which brings significant pieces from the national collection to museums across the U.S.
“We are honored to be among the first museums in the country to participate in this initiative,” said Christoph Heinrich, DAM’s director. “It is an incredible moment to carry the talents of Rembrandt at the DAM and offer our visitors the opportunity to interact with his brilliance.”
The exhibition places the Dutch master’s portraits alongside works by Mary Beale, Peter Lely, and Anthony van Dyck, highlighting Rembrandt’s lasting influence on European art.
IF YOU GO When: Through 2025
Tickets: General admission includes access to the exhibit, and youth under 18 can visit for free.
Details: www.denverartmuseum. org or call 720-865-5000. Place: Denver Art Museum, 100
Right: Senior Isaiah Watson (2) poses for a photo at the Vista PEAK Prep football team’s media day event July 11 at Vista PEAK Prep.
(Photo by Courtney Oakes/ Aurora Sentinel)
Middle: Former Regis Jesuit baseball star Dallas Macias
— who spent the past three seasons at Oregon State — became the 457th overall selection in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft July 14. The converted outfielder was taken by the Atlanta Braves in the 15th round. (Photo by Matthew Hinton/Associated Press)
Bottom: Leilani Caamal, center, demonstrates a tackling technique during her Camp Showtime event for youth football players July 13 at Five-Star Stadium. (Photo courtesy Kim Jamison)
Friday Night Lights still won’t come for awhile, but Vista PEAK Prep had the next best thing July 11.
NEWS & NOTES
Six weeks to the day before the Bison will take the field at Aurora Public Schools Stadium under new head coach Kyle Reese to face Grandview, the full coaching staff was introduced to parents and the community at a media day style event at the school.
MLB teams have until 5 p.m. ET July 28 to agree to terms with players drafted out of college or high school.
Sienna Betts, USA U19 team off to big start at FIBA World Cup in Czechia
Recent Grandview High School graduate Sienna Betts helped the USA Women’s U19 National Team get off to a flying start in Group A play at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Brno, Czechia.
Around town
Reese coached at Overland for four seasons before he stepped down in 2023 and he is back in a head role with Vista PEAK Prep, which hired him in February after the program finished a 3-7 2024 season with Jalin McKinnon as interim coach.
BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor
Before the team hits practice officially sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activities Association on Aug. 4, Vista PEAK Prep players got to take pictures for social media, roster and game day purposes and record videos detailing their goals and motivations for the upcoming season.
Betts — who helped Grandview in three state championships and also won Colorado’s Gatorade Player of the Year award three times — has started USA wons over South Korea and Hungary in which its average margin of victory is 55.5 points.
The 6-foot-4 UCLA recruit shot a stunning 11-of-12 on her way to a team-high 25 points in the USA’s 134-53 win over South Korea, while she added another 13 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots July 13 in a 79-49 win over Hungary.
For more on these stories, visit sentinelcolorado. com/preps
Vista PEAK Prep — which will again play in the Front Range South League — will be in search of its first postseason appearance since 2021.
Regis Jesuit grad Dallas Macias taken in 15th round of MLB Draft by Atlanta Braves
Former Regis Jesuit High School baseball star Dallas Macias was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 15th round in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft July 14.
Macias went with the No. 457 overall pick as an outfielder, after he played a stellar shortstop at Regis Jesuit, where he was the Gatorade Colorado Player of the Year in 2022, the same year he also won the prestigious Fred Steinmark Award.
With Oregon State, Macias appeared in 133 games over three seasons and posted a .253 batting average with 10 home runs and 63 RBI. Prior to the draft, Macias entered the transfer portal and had decided on Texas Christian University.
Team USA concludes pool play against Israel July 15.
Leilani Caamal holds successful camp for boys and girls youth football players
The only downside to Leilani Caamal’s Camp Showtime July 13 was the temperature.
On a very hot day at Five-Star Stadium in Thornton, the former Vista PEAK Prep multisport standout and current member of the Mile High Blaze of the Women’s Football Alliance, put a number of experienced and inexperienced boys and girls youth football players through their paces.
With the help of a number of coaches, current and former teammates and others that she came into contact with during her football career, Caamal (who played flag football in college) taught the game she loves with great results.
“I got a lot of positive feedback from parents/ coaches and athletes,” she told the Sentinel. “I even had a few campers that have never played football before that said they now want to join their local tackle leagues! My goal was to inspire at least one of the campers and I surpassed that goal by far!” Caamal plans to hold the camp again next year.
COURTROOM CONUNDRUM
City courts gearing up to sort through apartment controversies mired in allegations of gangster takeovers, total mismanagement and anti-semitic city officials
BY CASSANDRA BALLARD, Sentinel Staff Writer
CBZ Management in a web of court cases after crying ‘Tren de Aragua takeover’ in Aurora
CBZ Management, the property management company that gained notoriety by alleging last summer that three of their Aurora properties were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, is the subject of two ongoing court cases, a civil and a criminal case involving Zev Baumgarten as the representative for CBZ.
The civil case for Baumgarten was supposed to take place this week, but it was postponed to allow more trial days for the long list of witnesses CBZ plans to call to the stand. The new dates are scheduled for five days in November, instead of the three days of trial scheduled this week to allow more time for those witnesses. The case is scheduled to be heard in Aurora Municipal Court.
“Forcing Five Dallas to defend itself in the three days allotted would result in significant prejudice to Five Dallas as it would have insufficient time to adequately present its defense to the claims at issue,” a motion from CBZ’s attorney, Stan Garnett, said.
The civil case was used by the city to evict everyone and shutter the buildings at the Edge at Lowry property on Dallas Street in February 2025 after months of controversy. The city claimed that it accrued $800,000 in costs from maintaining some of the properties’ responsibilities, including trash collection and relocating residents who had the required documents to lease a new apartment, after CBZ management abandoned all of their Aurora properties.
Aurora City Attorney Pete Schulte previously told the Sentinel that the city worked for months to get the property managers into court to first take care of the buildings, and then, as they deteriorated, to close the complex.
The controversy has played out in both the local and national media, eventually drawing the attention of the
Trump campaign last fall.
It’s unclear when management allegedly abandoned each property, according to city and court records. CBZ’s previous attorney, Bud Slatkin, emailed the city a formal letter in July saying the management was forced off all three of their properties because of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, and would not be returning.
For months, the city and local police have maintained that a long list of public health and safety problems at the building were caused by mismanagement, which led to documented reports of a wide variety of crimes and criminal activity inside the buildings.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman publicly called CBZ officials “slumlords.”
With the three properties left without any management, the public nuisance issues quickly began to rise, including complaints of a lack of electricity and trash disposal, flooding, along with significant spikes in criminal activities on and around the properties.
CBZ officials have for months insisted that the properties were overrun with gangsters — linked to the notorious Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, also called TdA — and that police and local officials disregarded pleas for help from managers and some tenants.
The three properties were the Aspen Grove apartments on Nome Street, which were forcefully closed by the city in August 2024, and the other two were the Edge at Lowry on Dallas Street and the Whispering Pines on Helena Street. All of the properties were owned by or directly linked to CBZ principles.
The two current court cases mainly involve the Edge at Lowry, with one of the summonses sent to Zev Baumgarten, including the Whispering Pines.
“A documented history of neglect by CBZ and its
various LLCs has left the complex in a state of disrepair that alone presents a risk to public well-being,” a city statement said in January upon the closure of the buildings. “More recently, CBZ’s absentee ownership has allowed a criminal element to victimize residents, including Venezuelan migrants seeking refuge from social strife in their home country. The safety risks at the complex have resulted in multiple high-profile criminal incidents, mostly recently culminating in the kidnapping and assault of two residents on Dec. 17.”
The one that was supposed to be a three-day trial this week was the criminal nuisance civil lawsuit against Five Dallas Partners LLC, for the closure of the Edge of Lowry. This is the case where the city is alleging $800,000 in accrued damages.
In the most recent motions for the civil criminal nuissance case against Five Dallas Partners LLC, there was one notable motion that the city agreed to add as a “stipulated fact” that Garnett said was a big win for the defense.
“In or around June 2024, TdA had assumed control of the property,” the motion said. “TdA and its associates were extorting tenants to pay their rent to TdA instead of Five Dallas and threatening Five Dallas and its property manager with physical violence if they attempted to access the Property.”
That was an about-turn from previous statements from the city and police. Although police have long stipulated that Venezuelan gang activity was occurring at the three apartments, they have repeatedly denied allegations that the buildings were “overrun” by gang members or any criminals, as building owners and some city lawmakers have claimed.
The city has had nearly the same issues with all three locations, with the owners of CBZ Management
and their LLCs. Lawyers for the CBZ have maintained that owners should not be held responsible for gang members forcing them out.
Slatkin and CBZ Management have alleged that the city, the Aurora Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation knew about the gang members and did nothing to help the property management company, claims that the city has repeatedly denied.
The City of Aurora also filed seven criminal cases against CBZ’s principals (individuals associated with the company) for unresolved habitability problems, code violations and neglect of properties like the Edge at Lowry and Whispering Pines.
The reason Zev Baumgarten was named the representative for CBZ and many of its corporations in Aurora, including Five Dallas Partners, was because he was a “consultant” for the properties, according to the court documents, and he was also listed on the Secretary of State paperwork in previous years.
Zev is also related to Shmary Baumgarten, the “managing member of Five Dallas and one of two members of CBZ Management, LLC,” according to court documents.
When the city began to have problems with the different CBZ-affiliated properties in Aurora for public nuisance problems, like criminal activity, they began serving the different corporations with code violations for the neglect of their properties.
After attempting to send the summonses to different registered agents on the Secretary of State, which were third-party companies and one of CBZ’s attorneys, Slatkin, they sent them to Zev.
Schulte told the Sentinel that the city pursues the person in charge of the property when it comes to issuing a summons. He said that Baumgarten told the city he was the “person in charge of the upkeep of the property.” Baumgarten was also listed as the registered agent on the Secretary of State for five of the Dallas
buildings from 2020 to 2022.
Zev has not appeared at either of the last two court dates for his criminal case, and the judge gave him an arrest warrant for seven counts of contempt of court for each building, including all six Edge at Lowry buildings and the Whispering Pines complex.
Garnett also added surprising motions to the first hearing of Zev’s criminal case by alleging that the city told Zev they were pinpointing him because he is Jewish. When Zev did not appear at his most recent court case, Judge Brian Whitney said he was unable to make a ruling in court and was forced to issue a written ruling instead.
“During a phone call with Breezy Maynes, the Supervisor of the Aurora Code Enforcement Officers for the City, (Zev) Baumgarten pointedly asked Ms. Maynes to explain why she was being so hard on him,” lawyers for the defendant, Baumgarten, said in a court motion filed Friday. “Ms. Maynes retorted, ‘because you are an Orthodox Jew,’ an alarming and disturbing statement. Other City officials echoed these antisemitic sentiments.”
Lawyers for Baumgarten indicated they were seeking to prove the date of the phone conversation, but they did not indicate the conversation was recorded.
“We are asking the court to order all communications within the city regarding this prosecution and enforcement action based on the evidence that was cited of anti-semitic bias,” Stan Garnett, attorney for Baumgarten, said in an email to the Sentinel.
City officials denied the allegations and said the evidence against CBZ is compelling.
“The city has compiled extensive documentation over the last several years to validate the numerous problems at the properties connected to CBZ Management and its principals, including Mr. Baumgarten,” Ryan Luby, Aurora spokesperson, said previously in a statement. “We have shared those records publicly. The
city only learned of Mr. Baumgarten’s latest accusations against the city in the last 18 hours. Despite many interactions with Mr. Baumgarten and his teams of attorneys over the years, this is the first time the city has heard these new claims. We have no indication that any of them hold any merit.”
Whitney later ruled against the selective enforcement discovery motion and said there was no evidence of the antisemitic claims.
The court date for Baumgarten’s next appearance has not been scheduled yet.
OPPOSITE PAGE LEFT: For rent sign is posted on a fence by an apartment building at the center of an immigration controversy Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Aurora, Colo.
OPPOSITE PAGE RIGHT: Todd Chamberlain, chief of the police department in Aurora, Colo., is shown in one of the buildings of an apartment complex called The Edge at Lowry during a news conference to outline that the five housing structures have been closed by the city Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Aurora, Colo.
ABOVE LEFT: A worker uses a sheet of plywood to seal off a unit in one of the buildings of an apartment complex called The Edge at Lowry after a news conference to outline that the five housing structures have been closed by the city Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Aurora, Colo.
ABOVE RIGHT: Condemnation signs are taped on the sheets of plywood used to seal off units in one of the buildings of an apartment complex called The Edge at Lowry during a news conference to outline that the five housing structures have been closed by the city Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Aurora, Colo. AP Photos/David Zalubowski
CDBG, $10,000,000 Private Activity Bonds (PAB), and $41,000,000 in state and private funding sources. The two parcels that make up the project’s location are15961 E. Colfax Ave. and 15978 E. 16th Ave.
FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT
The city of Aurora has determined that the project will have no significant impact on the human environment. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is not required. Additional project information is contained in the Environmental Review Record (ERR) on file at city of Aurora, Aurora Municipal Center, Housing and Community Development Division, located at 15151 East Alameda Parkway, Aurora, CO 80012 and may be examined or copied on weekdays 8 A.M to 4 P.M.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Any individual, group, or agency may submit written comments on the ERR to Sarah Pulliam, Manager of Community Development, city of Aurora, Housing and Community Development Division, 15151 East Alameda Parkway, Aurora, CO 80012, and by email to sacarrol@auroragov.org. All comments received by August 1, 2025, will be considered by the city of Aurora prior to authorizing submission of a request for release of funds. Comments should specify which Notice they are addressing.
ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION
The city of Aurora certifies to HUD that Sarah Pulliam in her capacity as Manager of Community Development consents to accept the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts if an action is brought to enforce responsibilities in relation to the environmental review process and that these responsibilities have been satisfied. HUD’s approval of the certification satisfies its responsibilities under NEPA and related laws and authorities and allows Mercy Housing Mountain Plains to use Program funds.
OBJECTIONS TO RELEASE OF FUNDS
HUD will accept objections to its release of fund and the city of Aurora certification for a period of fifteen days following the anticipated submission date or its actual receipt of the request (whichever is later) only if they are on one of the following bases: (a) the certification was not executed by the Certifying Officer of the city of Aurora; (b) the city of Aurora has omitted a step or failed to make a decision or finding required by HUD regulations at 24 CFR part 58; (c) the grant recipient or other participants in the development process have committed funds, incurred costs or undertaken activities not authorized by 24 CFR Part 58 before approval of a release of funds by HUD; or (d) another Federal agency acting pursuant to 40 CFR Part 1504 has submitted a written finding that the project is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of environmental quality. Objections must be prepared and submitted in accordance with the required procedures (24 CFR Part 58, Sec. 58.76) and shall be addressed to Noemi Ghirghi, CPD Region VIII Director at CPDRROFDEN@hud.gov. Potential objectors should contact HUD to verify the actual last day of the objection period.
Sarah Pulliam, Manager of Community Development
Publication: July 17, 2025 Sentinel
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Development Application: DA-2402-00
Case Number: 1984-6067-03
Applicant: King Auto Application Name: King Auto
You are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Aurora, Colorado. This meeting will be a virtual meeting, please go to the city website (auroragov.org) for instructions on participation. The hearing will consider a request for approval of a Conditional Use to convert an existing restaurant into a car dealership (Automobile and Light Truck Sales), in MU-C (Mixed Use-Corridor) zone district.
Site Location: Northwest corner of S Havana Street and E Warren Avenue (2180 S Havana Street) Site Size: 0.93 acres
At said meeting any person in interest may appear and be heard on the requested approval.
/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk
Publication: July 17, 2025 Sentinel
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Development Application: DA-2413-00
Case Number: 2025-2002-00
Applicant: Airport Logistics LLC
Case Name: Sandy Point
You are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Aurora, Colorado. This meeting will be a virtual meeting, please go to the city website (auroragov.org) for instructions on participation. The hearing will consider a request for approval of a Zoning Map Amendment to initially zone approximately 242.0 acres to AD (Airport District) zone district.
Site Location: Northwest corner of E 56th Avenue and N Hayesmount Road alignment Site Size: 242.0 acres
At said meeting any person in interest may appear and be heard on the requested approval.
/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk
Publication: July 17, 2025 Sentinel
DISTRICT COURT, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO NOTICE OF HEARING BY PUBLICATION INTERESTED PERSONS AND OWNERS BY DESCENT OR SUCCESSION
PURSUANT TO § 15-12-1303, C.R.S. Case No.2023PR31322
In the Matter of the Estate of: MARK ALLEN EMOND, a/k/a MARK A. EMOND; Deceased.
To all interested persons and owners by descent or succession: Greg Emond.
A Petition for Determination of Heirs has been filed alleging that the above Decedent died leaving the following property:
Titled Ownership: Estate of Mark Allen Emond
Description of Property:
100% of Decedent Estate of Mark Allen Emond
Location of Property
Arapahoe County District Court probate case 2023PR31322
The hearing on the petition will be held at the following time and location or at a later date to which the hearing may be continued:
Date: September 4, 2025
Time: 8:00 a.m.
Address: 7325 S. Potomac St, Centennial, CO 80112 Courtroom or Division: 12
This is a hearing without appearance; attendance is not required or expected.
Note: You must answer the petition on or before the hearing date and time specified above.
Within the time required for answering the petition, all objections to the petition must be in writing, filed with the court and served on the petitioner and any required filing fee must be paid.
The hearing shall be limited to the petition, the objections timely filed and the parties answering the petition in a timely manner.
If the petition is not answered and no objections are filed, the court may enter a decree without a hearing
Personal Representative: Marco D. Chayet, #29815, 18th Judicial District Public Administrator
Jennifer R. Oviatt, 18th Judicial District Deputy Public Administrator Chayet & Danzo, LLC
PURSUANT to Section 32-1-808(2)(a)(I), C.R.S., notice is hereby given that a vacancy exists on the Board of Directors of Eastern Adams County Metropolitan District. Any eligible elector of the District who is interested in appointment to the Board may contact the District’s attorney, Ronald L. Fano, via e-mail: rfano@spencerfane. com.
The Board of the District may fill said vacancy 10 days after the date hereof.
By: Ronald L. Fano, Counsel
Publication: July 17, 2025 Sentinel
for the District
Stanley 98 Public Hearing Public Notice
The Housing Authority of the City of Aurora (AHA) will submit an application to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) for the development of Stanley 98, a new construction development what will include 75 rental apartments for families located at 2520 N. Jamaica St. Aurora, CO 80010. The estimated total cost for the project is approximately $38 million. The estimated total yearly amount of allocation being requested is $1,800,000 and the total allocation of State Affordable Housing Tax Credits over the 6 years is $10,800,000. This result would be approximately $10,800,000 in state equity investment with a present value of the State Credit Allocation of approximately $8,100,000.
The request of state tax credits from CHFA is to benefit persons with low to no incomes by increasing the availability of affordable housing in Aurora, Colorado. It is not the intent to cause displacement from any existing housing; however, if persons are displaced from their existing housing, reasonable housing alternatives shall be offered. All interested parties are encouraged to contact AHA and/or attend a virtual public hearing for further information. AHA shall post notice of meeting (SEE BELOW) to ensure other members of the public are aware of the meeting. If reasonable accommodations are needed for persons attending the public meeting, please contact AHA. The virtual public meeting will be held via Zoom conference on Tuesday, July 22, 2025 beginning promptly at 10:00am MST.
+17207072699,,81092012465# US (Denver) +17193594580,,81092012465# US
Dial by your location • +1 720 707 2699 US (Denver) • +1 719 359 4580 US Meeting ID: 810 9201 2465
Instructions on how to join and participate in the virtual public hearing can be found on our website - https://www.aurorahousing.org/public-notices
Publication: July 17, 2025 Sentinel
VEHICLES FOR SALE
1995 Fleetwood Enterprises pace arrow multicolor AO1282
2000 Toyota tundra white 081252
2004 Lincoln aviator white J52395
1991 Jeep grand Wagoneer brown 801445 Garlitos Towing 720-404-4583
Publication: July 17, 2025 Sentinel
NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION
PURSUANT §15-12-801, C.R.S. Case No. 2025PR290
In the Matter of the Estate of MARVELLA MAE EMERICK, Deceased.
All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before November 17, 2025, or the claims may be forever barred.
Cheryl M Emerick
Personal Representative 1652 S Vaughn Street Aurora, CO 80012
First Publication: July 17, 2025
Final Publication: July 31, 2025 Sentinel
NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION
PURSUANT TO §15-12-801 C.R.S. Case No. 2025PR30628
Estate of SANTIAGO REYES TALAMANTES aka SANTIAGO R. TALAMANTES aka SANTIAGO TALAMANTES, Deceased. All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado, on or before November 3, 2025, or the claims may be forever barred.
Michael Talamantes
Personal Representative 344 Basilwood Way Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
Attorney for Personal Representative Abby C. Boyd
Atty Reg #: 47699
Kingsbery, Johnson & Love LLP 2672 North Park Drive Ste. 100 Lafayette, CO 80026
Phone: 303-443-4694
First Publication: July 3, 2025
Final Publication: July 17, 2025 Sentinel
NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION
PURSUANT TO §15-12-801, C.R.S. Case No. 2025PR238
Estate of Kendalyn Hansen, Deceased.
All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado, on or before November 1, 2025, or the claims may be forever barred. Debra Boutwell
Personal Representative 33 Pelican Roost 3 Brule, NE 69127
First Publication: July 3, 2025
Final Publication: July 17, 2025 Sentinel
NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION
PURSUANT TO §15-12-801, C.R.S. Case No. 2025PR277
Estate of Chad Earl Howeth aka Chad E. Howeth aka Chad Howeth, Deceased.
All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado, on or before November 1, 2025, or the claims may be forever barred.
Kathleen Mi Young
Personal Representative 6667 S. Jackson Ct. Centennial, CO 80121
First Publication: July 3, 2025
Final Publication: July 17, 2025
Sentinel
NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION
PURSUANT TO §15-12-801, C.R.S. Case No. 2025PR282
Estate of Ryan Dee Sherwood, Deceased.
All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado, on or before October 10, 2025, or the claims may be forever barred. David Rigot
Personal Representative 6927 Totara Pl. Niwot, CO 80503
First Publication: July 10, 2025
Final Publication: July 24, 2025
Sentinel
NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION
PURSUANT TO §15-12-801, C.R.S. Case No. 2025PR30309
Estate of Jeffrey Allen Krieger aka Jeffrey A. Krieger aka Jeffrey Krieger, Deceased.
All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado, on or before November 8, 2025, or the claims may be forever barred.
Janet P. Payne
Personal Representative 6025 S. Lima St. Englewood, CO 80111
First Publication: July 17, 2025
Final Publication: July 31, 2025 Sentinel
NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION
PURSUANT TO §15-12-801, C.R.S. Case No. 2025PR30332
Estate of Jerome Edward Veen, Deceased.
All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Adams County, Colorado, on or before November 17, 2025, or the claims may be forever barred.
Julie A. Cook 29726 Shenandoh Lane Canyon County, CA 91387
First Publication: July 17, 2025
Final Publication: July 31, 2025 Sentinel
NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION
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13 years after the Aurora Theater shooting, the nation has done virtually nothing to make us safer
James Holmes changed everything in Aurora, yet his unfathomable act of mass murder 13 years ago has changed little else outside of the city.
Since July 20, 2012, when Holmes sneaked into a packed Aurora theater just after midnight and started shooting, a staggering 1,694 Americans have been murdered during another 493 mass shootings, and another 2,358 have been wounded during mass shooting gunfire, according to a recent catalogue of shootings compiled by the Rockefeller Institute of Government Reports.
Editorials Sentinel
That pales in comparison to the far more than 1 million Americans dead or injured from gun violence outside of mass shootings since the Aurora theater massacre.
Gun rights extremists point to a need to lock down schools, or lock up mentally ill people, or just suck it up. Mental health treatment is a complicated and pervasive problem in the United States, as it is in other modern democracies, which don’t have epidemic gun violence. Only the United States has an undeniable crisis with shooting deaths.
The nation’s unwillingness to even slow, let alone end, epidemic gun violence is among America’s most shameful failures.
It isn’t that the United States is incapable of ending not just rampant mass murders, but the leading cause of childhood death among Americans: gun violence. We have refused to limit the power and abundance of American firearms. We permit virtually anyone older than 18, not yet old enough to drink beer, to obtain weapons designed for use in war or policing, engineered to efficiently and rapidly kill other human beings.
Right now, Republicans in Congress are working to undermine laws that seek to make so-called “ghost guns” accountable to the same laws every other gun is subject to. Police agencies across the nation pleaded for anti-ghost-gun laws for years, saying they are little more than an end-run around gun regulations for people who otherwise would be unable to legally buy a gun.
One of the most popular firearms in the nation right now is faux-assault rifles, designed as military weapons. They’re among the most popular weapons, too, among gangs and other criminals across the United States.
“For generations, Americans have hunted and defended their homes with regular firearms,” Aurora Congressperson Jason Crow said about Washington’s refusal to pass meaningful gun control laws, including an assault-weapon ban. “Gun manufacturers want us to think we need weapons of war. Don’t be fooled. It’s time to get assault weapons off our streets”.
In what can only be described as dark, cruel comedy, gun aficionados say these assault weapons make great hunting rifles. In the shadow of the horror of the repeated school massacre, former Colorado Congressperson Ken Buck recently said assault rifles are needed because they are regularly used by farmers across the state to kill raccoons.
Congress and state governments have refused to require gun owners to prove their ability to safely wield and store a weapon so deadly it can kill dozens or even hundreds of people in minutes, yet we require extensive licenses to drive a car and even cut hair.
We refuse to limit how many semi-automatic firearms a gunman can own, yet we limit cats to five per household.
Few states are like Colorado, which at least limits firearm magazines to 15 rounds, more than enough to create a massacre without ever changing a clip. Most other states allow highly efficient semi-automatic weapons loaded with massive magazines to operate as virtual machine guns, allowing gunmen to take out dozens of people in a store, a school or even at a parade, all within seconds.
Because of inaction by Congress, Colorado continues to try and bridge the gap between common-sense gun legislation and the virtual free-for-all peddled by the U.S. gun industry and its toady members of Congress.
This year, Colorado passed laws ensuring that ghost guns come into compliance with firearm serial number laws, ensuring gun purchases are made by adults, not juveniles, and ensuring that some detachable magazine guns require a permit to carry.
But these laws do little to address the flood of weapons brought to Colorado from other states.
Across the nation, we allow virtually anyone a loophole to bypass background checks to buy a gun, even several of them, without regard for their criminal pasts or their current mental illness.
As of July 1, as many as 58% of all Americans want stricter gun
control laws, including meaningful universal background checks, according to the Pew Research Center. A stunning 93% of all Americans believe all gun owners should be subject to universal background checks.
And almost 60% of Americans say the need for reducing gun violence by implementing gun controls outweighs the need to ensure gun rights, the same polls show.
With so much overwhelming need and desire to control guns and gun deaths, it’s appalling that 13 years have passed since the Aurora theater shooting and so little meaningful progress has been made.
Guns are an approximate $20 billion-a-year industry, several sources estimate. Gun-rights groups outspend gun-control groups 6 to 1 in lobbying members of Congress and state lawmakers. It’s not just money. Gun rights play heavily into partisan primary races. For Republicans, that means that the most conservative voters often call the shots in primary races, ensuring gun-rights interests are backed by acquiescent winning candidates.
In efforts to stay elected in swing congressional and legislative districts, many Democrats shy away from gun-control issues to keep their positions.
Democratic state Rep. Tom Sullivan, whose son Alex Sullivan was killed in the Aurora theater shooting, has long been a champion for common-sense gun control in the state. He has on more than one occasion lamented Democrats’ cold feet for meaningful gun control bills.
Despite the consistent and growing desire for gun control, elected leaders won’t deliver it, and voters won’t make them.
More than a quarter-century has passed since the Columbine massacre, 13 years beyond the Aurora theater shooting and the Sandy Hook elementary school cataclysm.
That epoch has been long enough to prove, without a doubt, mass shootings and rampant gun violence will continue for the next 25 years, unless voters choose legislative and congressional candidates who will make gun control happen instead of rationalizing why it won’t.
No other democratic, Western nation lives like this. We don’t have to either.
Open letter from 6 Colorado mayors admonishing Polis on local control
There is a story behind every neighborhood that you love. Informed by vision and built with precision by the generations that came before, our cities are the products of decades of thoughtful planning and intentional effort. This was made possible by the power of “Home Rule” — a principle that firmly establishes the right for local decisions to be made at the local level.
Born from Denver’s infamous ‘City Hall War’ of 1894, which nearly saw shots fired and physical blows exchanged between city leaders and the governor, more than a century ago our state voted decisively – two to one – to enshrine Home Rule in the Colorado State Constitution. This powerful legacy was gifted to us by our forefathers because they believed fiercely in the right of communities to self-determine their own futures.
Today, more than 100 local Colorado governments are charged with the powers to determine where and how neighborhoods are built, the types of housing that fit best, where grocery stores and gas stations should go, what parks and recreation amenities should be provided, and – oh, yeah – what infrastructure will be required to serve it all. Local zoning and comprehensive planning issues are among the most deeply studied and carefully considered topics you will find on any city or town council agenda, and rightfully so. Without rigorous, deliberate planning, the unintended consequences to communities can be severe.
Challenged many times over its history, Colorado’s courts have repeatedly upheld Home Rule and the rights of cities to be the decision-makers in matters of local concern, not the state. Unfortunately, this right is once again under attack, and we, the mayors of six unique, diverse Colorado cities, find that it is now our turn to stand up and defend it.
Contrary to some criticisms, the current fight is not based on party politics. Indeed, the offices we hold are nonpartisan. As individuals, we include members of both major political parties, and we hold a wide range of political perspectives. But where we align is in our passion for our communities and in our belief that preserving the rights of every Coloradan is fundamentally non-negotiable. Our residents deserve to have a voice about land use in their own communities and neighborhoods.
This fight is not against housing either, as some other critics contend. We wholeheartedly and unabashedly agree that all Colorado communities desperately need more housing, including more diverse and affordable options. We are allies with the state on the need to do this work, and for years our respective efforts have been finding success. However, the devil is – as they say – in the details. We may be allies on the goal, but we cannot support the path the state has chosen to try and pursue it.
In the 2024 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly passed two bills championed by Gov. Jared Polis: House Bill 24-1313: Housing in Transit-Oriented Communities and House Bill 24-1304: Minimum Parking Requirements. However well-intentioned, these bills directly threaten our communities’ right to Home Rule.
While the bills broadly speak to the critical issues of housing and affordability, ultimately, they force new, state-developed land use requirements on our communities. These one-size-fits-all mandates do not consider the fiscal resources, broader infrastructure, geographies or characters of our communities when prescribing solutions that we must follow. Even worse, the bills strip
constituents of their right to be a part of the deliberative process and to have their appeals heard — constitutional rights guaranteed by Home Rule.
House Bill 24-1313, as signed into law, forces cities to approve dense zoning in areas around transit stations based on a formula generated by the state without local input. It also forbids future input from residents local to these areas and retrospectively invalidates any existing local development agreements and covenants.
House Bill 24-1304, as signed into law, prohibits cities from imposing minimum parking requirements in any dense new development or redevelopment, and it retrospectively bars enforcement of parking requirements in existing land use approvals and development agreements. Yes, parking is expensive to build. It is also necessary, especially in a state where a vehicle with all-wheel drive is practically a residency requirement.
This is why our six communities have filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court against the state in opposition to HB24-1313 and HB24-1304. We encourage you to read it. All of it.
Why now? Because on May 16, Polis signed an executive order that threatens to withhold funding from any city that refuses to comply with the state’s unconstitutional overreach as a form of punishment. Retaliation is a bully’s tactic, and it is our duty to stop it.
Ironically, when Polis was a United States congressman, he himself made one of the best arguments in support of home rule authority and local control in a 2015 amicus brief to the Colorado Supreme Court.
“Not only is local governments’ robust land use authority supported legally, it also makes sense from a policy perspective. A local government is elected to represent its community members and is ultimately responsible for preserving the character of the community. Local governments are best suited to meet the unique land use needs of their community through transparent public processes. Local planning involves widespread citizen input and broad stakeholder involvement.”
See Amicus Curiae Brief of then-Congressman Polis in The City of Fort Collins v. Colorado Oil and Gas Association, No. 15SC668, Colorado Supreme Court (Aug. 17, 2015). (Emphasis added)
Time and again, Colorado’s courts have recognized that to create the cities and neighborhoods that people love, land use and zoning must remain core matters of local concern, not state concern.
We expect the same outcome in court this time, too.
MayorLaurenSimpson,Arvada
MayorMikeCoffman,Aurora
MayorMikeDunafon,Glendale
MayorGeorgeLantz,GreenwoodVillage
MayorJDMangat,Lafayette
MayorNancyMcNally,Westminster
Puzzles
children, and in 20 years together, he’s never met any of her family. After the shooting, Atchue said he put two pillows over her head and stayed inside the apartment the entire day, contemplating suicide.
“I racked the slide to shoot myself, but a live round popped out,” he said. “I just sat there. Couldn’t do it.”
He said he did not use anything to muffle the sound of the gunshots and was surprised that neighbors did not report the gunfire, because it was so loud.
Investigators found a live round on a small plastic dresser next to the bed and two shell casings. One round was on the bed and another round was on the floor.
Page had been lying on her right side when she was shot in the left side of her head, according to the affidavit. Police said they saw no signs of a struggle.
Atchue told detectives he showered after the shooting and had no blood on his body other than a shaving cut behind his ear.
Detectives said that Atchue was calm and cooperative during the interview.
Police said he waived his right to an attorney and agreed to provide a DNA sample and access to his phone.
“I didn’t want the neighbors to see me get hauled out in cuffs,” he said regarding why he walked to a nearby bus stop to wait for police.
When asked why he just didn’t tell Kay the truth or ask for help, Atchue said, “Maybe we could’ve worked through it. Maybe. But I couldn’t face it.”
Police said Atchue had unusually few encounters with police, according to police records. He had one prior arrest in 2004 for a failure to appear warrant.
Police asked Atchue if Kay would have agreed with his plan, and he said, no.
“She might not agree with that, but it’s the way I seen it,” he said, according to police detectives.“I did what I did. Not proud of it, but I did it. I couldn’t leave her homeless and on the streets because of my f-ups.”
—Sentinel Staff
Aurora woman calls police after daughter arrives home with gunshot wound
An Aurora woman called police late July 11 to say her daughter had just come home suffering a gunshot wound and needed help, according to Aurora police.
Dispatchers said the woman called just before midnight saying her adult daughter had just arrived at home at a residence in the 1900 block of Espana Way with a “non-life-threatening” gunshot wound.
“The victim, 24, immediately left and self-transported to the hospital,” police said in a statement. “Officers responded to the hospital and the Espana address, and located a shooting scene nearby at the intersection of East 17th Avenue and Biscay Street.”
Police interviewed the injured woman at a nearby hospital, who told officers the shooting occurred during some kind of dispute among the shooting victim and four other people.
“There are no suspect descriptions at this time and no arrests have been made,” police said.
—Sentinel Staff
Aurora man charged with murder in stabbing deaths of two homeless men
A 38-year-old Aurora man accused of fatally stabbing two homeless Aurora men within hours of each other has been charged with murder in their deaths.
Ricky Roybal-Smith was charged July 11 with two counts of first-degree murder, and his next court appearance will be July 14. He was arrested by Aurora police while being held in a Denver jail on an unrelated case.
Police were called to 1535 Moline St. at about 1:45 a.m. June 29, after receiving reports of an unresponsive man on a sidewalk there.
“When officers arrived at the scene, they located a man suffering from apparent stab wounds,” police said in a statement. “Officers performed lifesaving actions, but the man died at the scene.”
At about 6:30 a.m. police were called to a bus stop on Peoria Street just north of East Colfax Avenue after reports of another unresponsive man.
“Upon arrival, officers located a man with apparent stab wounds,” police said in a statement. “He was pronounced deceased on scene.”
Neither man’s identities were released. Preliminary investigation indicates that both victims were experiencing homelessness, Aurora police spokesper-
Year-long probe leads to charges against 16 suspected ‘prolific’ violent metro gang members
Aurora and area police arrested 16 people, including nine juveniles or former minors, following a yearlong investigation into violent gang activity in the metro area, Aurora police said last week.
“Many of the suspects involved were identified as some of the most prolific violent firearm offenders in the region at the time,” Aurora police spokesperson Joe Moylan said in a statement.
The arrests stem from what police said was an exhaustive probe by the Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement Network, dubbed RAVEN, which linked members of two alleged criminal street gangs to at least 16 violent incidents and multiple gun-related offenses, according to Aurora police.
“RAVEN and its local, state and federal partners are committed to reducing violent gun crime in the Denver metro area,” Aurora Police Lt. D.J. Tisdale, who leads the task force, said in a statement. “This case should serve as an example that our dedicated investigators will not stop pursuing those who use firearms to victimize our community.”
The investigation began in June 2024 after firearm evidence from the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, a federal imaging tool, connected sev-
eral suspects to gang-related shootings across the metro region. Police say many of those arrested were responsible for a wide range of violent and gun-related crimes.
Lead investigators from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office and Aurora Police Department working with prosecutors from the Denver District Attorney’s Office to document the organizations’ alleged activities.
Coordinated operations among the area police and district attorney investigators led to the arrests on June 18 and July 8.
All 16 suspects have been charged with a wide range of crimes in a Denver district court.
Charges filed against the suspects range from attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, to illegal firearm possession and organized crime violations under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, similar to the federal RICO Act.
RAVEN is a multi-agency task force led by the Aurora Police Department, with partners from local police departments, county sheriff’s offices, state and federal prosecutors, and agencies including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security.
Police did not release the names of the juvenile suspects because of their age.
