Firefall founder Jock Bartley was so inspired by a suicide prevention bene t concert he performed Feb. 13 in Evergreen that he plans to do more of them. Once a national spokesperson for suicide prevention, Bartley did his rst concert for the cause in more than 20 years at Evergreen’s Center Stage.
“I’m going to do many more of these,” Bartley said partway through the concert. Funds from ticket sales bene tted Resilience 1220, the Wooden
BY JANE REUTER
Je erson County plans more forest mitigation work in several of its parks in the next two years, work outlined under a2022 Jefferson County Open Space Forest Health Plan designed to protect the areas and nearby communities from wild re. is year, the county plans to
mitigate 86 acres in Conifer’s Beaver Ranch Park and begin similar work on 72 at Lookout Mountain Preserve. e Preserve is at the top of Lookout Mountain near the Nature Center and Boettcher Mansion. In coming years, the county will do more work at Conifer’s Meyer Ranch and Flying J parks, where some work has already been done. It will also return to
multiple other parks where it’s done work to remove seedlings that have since grown in areas where projects rst began 10 to 15 years ago.
While the scale of work at each site varies, it often includes cutting large swaths of trees to help slow the spread of wild re. e county’s report says removing stands of live trees also returns the areas to a more natural state.
RIVALRY ENDS IN A ROUT P17 LEADERSHIP BLOOMS IN SCOUT TROOP P4
A century of re suppression has made the forests unnaturally dense and unhealthy, according to the report.
“If we can keep those res burning low to the ground because there’s greater spacing among trees, that’s healthier for our forest,” Je erson County Commissioner Lesley
BY CHRIS KOEBERL CKOEBERL@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Clear Creek County Commissioners say too many commercial drivers traveling the I-70 corridor through the county aren’t respecting current chain laws, putting lives at stake and costing millions of dollars.
An open letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was unanimously approved by commissioners during their regular meeting Feb. 18.
“Our rst responders are placed in harm’s way under adverse conditions, and every incident diverts resources needed for other emergencies in the county,” reads part of the letter signed by County Commissioner Rebecca Lloyd.
e commission noted that the current maximum ne for blocking a roadway without adequate equipment is $1,150, which it considers “exceedingly low”.
Moreover, the $1,150 maximum ne for blocking a roadway is exceedingly low, especially when the state’s own analysis indicates an economic cost of nearly $2 million for every hour that I-70 is closed.
“ e state’s own analysis indicates an economic cost of nearly $2 million for every hour that I-70 is closed. In 2024 alone, according to CDOT data, there were 99 full closures totaling 161 hours, with an estimated cumulative economic impact exceeding $300 million.” the letter reads.
e letter goes on to illustrate several other impacts as a result of I-70 being blocked in Clear Creek County:
• Blocked ambulance routes for critical medical services,
• Safety concerns for motorists stranded in extreme weather,
• Environmental impacts from hazardous materials spills,
• Severe disruptions to residents, workforce and visitors who cannot reach their destinations, and
• Negative experiences for Front Range and destination guests who contribute signi cantly to Colorado’s economy.
“We simply can’t keep spending all of our public safety resources dealing with truckers who won’t chain up,” Lloyd said during the commission meeting.
e Colorado Legislature recently updated the “Must Carry Chain” law, requiring commercial motor vehicles over 16,000 pounds to have chains on or in the vehicle, by passing Senate Bill 24-100 last year.
e law now requires chains on all commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) starting Sept. 1 extending through the end of May from Mile Marker 259 near
I-70 near Dumont.
Troopers inspected 268 CMVs and found 18 drivers did not have chains in the vehicle, according to Colorado State Patrol Capt. John Hahn.
“It’s critically important,” Hahn said. “Conditions (in the mountains) change on a dime.”
CSP troopers typically write approximately 1000 citations a year to commercial drivers without chains, according Hahn.
On Feb. 4, Town of Vail Mayor Travis Coggin, sent Polis an almost identical letter lamenting the repercussions of closures and accidents on Vail Pass due to CMVs not respecting chain laws.
Senate bill looks to better inform drivers on traction laws
BY JESSE PAUL
COLORADO SUN
Colorado is poised to begin allowing private companies to station crews at designated areas along Interstate 70 and other mountain highways who can o er to sell, install and remove tire chains and other tire-traction devices on tractor trailers and passenger vehicles for a fee.
e program would be created through Senate Bill 69, a bipartisan measure that represents the Colorado legislature’s latest e ort to prevent panic-attack-inducing winter travel hangups in the high country.
e legislation is modeled after a similar initiative in Washington that has been in operation for roughly 20 years. Oregon and California also allow similar thirdparty vendors to help motorists install and remove chains.
“We know one of the biggest reasons why commercial truckers, especially ones that aren’t from Colorado, don’t put their chains on is they don’t know how or they
need help,” state Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Frisco Democrat and one of the lead sponsors of Senate Bill 69, said during a committee hearing last week. “I’ve heard from police chiefs in my district that (these truckers) get out of their truck in the middle of a snowstorm in shorts and ip- ops.”
All commercial vehicles traveling through Colorado’s high country are required to carry chains from Sept. 1 to May 31. ey must use those chains when the state’s chain law is in e ect.
Two-wheel drive passenger vehicles traveling through the high country must carry chains or other tire-traction devices, like snow socks, for two or more drive tires from Sept. 1 through May 31. e chains or traction devices must be used when the passenger vehicle traction law is in e ect.
If passenger vehicles don’t have chains or traction devices, they must have tires with a tread depth of at least 3/16-inch and which are rated for either “all weather” or “mud and snow.”
Violators face steep nes, especially if they cause a crash.
Senate Bill 69 would leave it up to the vendors to determine how much to
charge, but in Washington state, chain installation for passenger vehicles costs approximately $25 while removal costs $10.
e vendors charge $25 per tire for chain installation on large trucks and $5 per tire for removal.
In Washington, there are ve small businesses that o er chain installation and removal services along stretches of mountain roads.
e Colorado Department of Transportation would be responsible for licensing the vendors and preventing a monopoly. Motorists would not be required to use the chain installation and removal services. It would simply be an option for those needing help.
e Colorado Department of Transportation, as well as Colorado Ski Country USA, the Colorado Motor Carriers Association and the I-70 Coalition, support the measure.
“ is is one more piece in the puzzle,” Greg Fulton, who leads the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, told the legislature last week.
Finally, Senate Bill 69 would also require rental car companies to notify their customers of Colorado’s traction laws. It would clarify as well that all-wheel drive
vehicles must have winter or all-season tires to comply with the passenger-vehicle traction law.
e other main sponsors of Senate Bill 69 are Sen. Marc Catlin, a Montrose Republican, and Democratic Reps. Meghan Lukens of Steamboat Springs and Elizabeth Velasco of Glenwood Springs.
e bill passed the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee last week with unanimous support. It now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Last year the legislature passed Senate Bill 100, which prohibits vehicles from traveling in the left lane on treacherous sections of Interstate 70 through Colorado’s high country, including Floyd Hill, Georgetown Hill, near the EisenhowerJohnson Memorial Tunnels, Vail Pass, Dowd Junction and Glenwood Canyon. Additionally, the bill increased nes for commercial vehicles that speed through Glenwood Canyon and added a list of mountain routes to the areas where commercial vehicle drivers must carry chains between Sept. 1 and May 31.
is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonpro t based in Denver that covers the state.
Two weeks ago, this column was about Colorado’s new law requiring jurisdictions to facilitate the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on parcels zoned single-family.
houses in a factory seemed impractical. However, with our patented shipping technology, merging housing with assembly line mass production could be a game changer.”
portant factor is solving our housing shortage.
Toward the end of that column I promoted two companies, Verdant Living and Boxabl, which sell ADUs which are factorybuilt and assembled onsite.
This week’s topic was inspired by the following statement contained in an email last week from Boxabl: “Did you know that car factories, like Ford, can output one car per minute? Why hasn’t anyone done that in the housing industry?
“It’s shocking to hear that homelessness in the U.S. reached an all-time high last year. At Boxabl, we’re committed to making a difference. We’re working hard to solve the problems that have stopped factory-built housing from gaining market share.
“Before Boxabl, the concept of building
In earlier columns I have written about modular and manufactured homes by other companies, including my Oct. 12, 2023, column featuring Dvele (Norwegian for “dwell”) whose website (www.Dvele.com) boasts that it has already delivered nearly 300 “modules” of “precision engineered sustainable homes.”
Dvele defines the problem thus: “We’re facing multiple crises in housing, availability and affordability, energy, security, health issues, and a changing weather system. With Dvele, we sit at the intersection with our mass produced, high performance, health centric homes. And they’re improving the future for everyone.”
Dvele claims that by manufacturing homes in a factory and assembling them onsite, they reduce construction time by 80% — an im-
On May 18, 2023, I wrote about another company, Liv-Connected, which specializes in small homes that are “ready to ship and install within 12 weeks. These are small homes, although they offer versions up to 2,500 square feet, including a 2-story model. Homes can be delivered on standard flat-bed trailers and can be installed onsite in as little as a day, once site preparation (foundation, etc.) is complete. Like Boxabl, they also sell a model that is on wheels built to RV standards. Their website is www.Liv-Connected.com
With prices as low as $165,000 for a 500square-foot home, Liv-Connected’s singlefamily Conexus model (pictured at left) has been selected by Hawaii and Texas for disaster response initiatives, according to the website.
I look forward to hearing more about manufactured housing in the future, especially as it relates to homelessness.
Modern, mechanized tillage had become an ecological disaster, killing all that was alive in the soil while worsening erosion and runoff. But this is all changing, primarily because farmers recognize the economic benefits — less fertilizer and diesel fuel to buy, lower labor costs, higher crop yields and profits — that can come with no-till farming or reduced tillage…
The shift has been gradual, but sweeping over time. In 1973, 82.2 percent of U.S. cropland was managed by conventional tillage, according to the Agriculture Department, and only 2 percent was managed by “no-till” methods, with the remaining 15.8 percent using reduced tillage. Half a century later, only 27 percent of U.S. cropland uses conventional tillage, with 38 percent now using no-till and 35 percent using reduced tillage, according to the USDA’s 2022 agricultural census, released last year. The acreage under conventional tillage dropped by 8 percent between 2017 and 2022 alone.
—Dana
Millbank, Washington Post
It should be clear by now that “not much has changed” regarding sellers compensating the buyer’s broker in most real estate transactions. What has changed is that buyer agents must use other means than the MLS (e.g., calling the listing agent) to find out what compensation is offered for each listing.
First, let me outline the important services that are required in any transaction. Let’s start with all transactions, whether or not the buyer is taking out a mortgage loan.
Although the purchase contract can move some of these expenses to the seller’s side, that is rare, because it will make the purchase offer less attractive, with the buyer losing out:
For All Home Purchases:
Recording the deed with the county
Tax certificate
State document fee
Half of the closing services fee
Appraisal (if ordered)
HOA fees (if applicable, per contract)
Water & sewer adjustments
Additional Costs with a Mortgage:
Mortgage title policy & endorsements
Mortgage closing fee
Recording the deed of trust with county
Tax service (if charged by lender)
First year’s insurance premium
2 to 3 months’ insurance reserve (escrow)
1 to 2 months’ property tax reserve
Loan origination and discount fee
Survey (if required by lender)
Credit report
Interest on loan (based on closing date)
Mortgage insurance (if over 80% LTV)
Flood certificate & insurance if required
How much do these closing costs add up to for the buyer? In the cash scenario, they are not that much, and just over 20% of closings
are for cash nowadays. For closings that involve mortgage financing, however, those costs can really add up. My buyer who closed on a $630,000 purchase two months ago paid $7,144 in closing costs, which computes to 11.3%. If she had to pay my commission that would have been 14.1% The seller’s closing costs on the same transaction came to $2,834, which computes to 4.5% of the purchase price. Paying my commission raised the seller’s cost to 7.3%, still far lower than the 11.3% paid by the buyer without paying me anything for my services representing her.
From a purely cash standpoint, it should be remembered that the seller is the only one walking away with cash from the transaction. In the above case, not counting the deduction for property taxes and mortgage payoff, the seller netted $591,444.74, or about 94% of the purchase price, even after paying both agents’ compensation.
Buyers’ agents perform a variety of important services, which someone has to pay for, but the seller is the only party coming away with money, and the buyer is already stretched by those other expenses detailed at left.
The services provided by a buyer’s agent are important and significant, but the plaintiffs in the class action suit a year ago asserted that compensating the buyer’s agent should be added to the buyer’s other significant closing costs. The 2024 survey of buyers and sellers by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) asked what services buyers most appreciated from their agents:
Helped them understand the process (61%)
Pointed out unnoticed features/faults with the property (58%)
Negotiated better contract terms (46%)
Provided a list of good service providers, such as inspectors (46%)
Improved buyers’ knowledge of search areas (45%)
Negotiated a better purchase price (33%)
Shortened their home search (23%)
Expanded their search area (21%)
I contend that it is appropriate that sellers compensate the buyer’s agent, and that this is common in other industries besides real estate. Look at Amazon. When you purchase a product through that website, Amazon is your agent for the vendor, which pays Amazon 8% to 45% as a “referral fee.” When you purchase something through an app on your
iPhone, you pay the same price as on the vendor’s website, but Apple keeps 30% of the purchase price as a commission. If Amazon or an app were to charge you a fee on top of the list price… well, it simply wouldn’t work. If you hire an auto broker (as I did in 2012 for a hard-to-find car), the dealership, not you, pays the auto broker a commission. Likewise, virtually every new home builder offers a 3 percent commission, typically, to the agents who represent buyers. To offer less puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Why should it be different in the resale market?
Busy co-ed group includes 13 girls and four Eagle Scouts
BY JANE REUTER JREUTER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When Kyla Lewis rst joined Scout Troop 888, she was quiet and reserved. But after four years with the co-ed group of outdoor adventurers, Lewis said she has blossomed.
“I’ve been more able to talk publicly during school presentations,” she said, her breath pluming in the chilly February night air as she stood outside the troop’s weekly meeting site at Lutheran Church of the Cross. “It was a little intimidating at rst, but the girls were welcoming and kind. You create real bonds and learn really good skills, and it’s been fun.”
“Fun” is a word troop members and their scoutmasters use often when talking about Troop 888. e Evergreen group has 38 active Scouts, including 13 girls. Four of the current members have earned the rank of Eagle Scout — the organization’s highest level of achievement. About 6% of all scouts earn the distinction.
“ e troop is a great center of community as well as a great center of learning,” said Kyle Leswing, 17, one of the group’s Eagle Scouts.
Kyle’s father, Keith, assistant scoutmaster for the troop, puts it a little di erently. “ e hidden secret about Scouts is we are an amazing leadership program wrapped in a bunch of fun,” he said. “ e activities are all Scout-led. We’re a free place to fail. We’re going to support you.” at’s the spirit behind the original
scouting organization, which was founded in 1908 in Great Britain with the intent of developing boys into good citizens, with outdoor skills.
Troop 888’s program stays true to the founding mission. Its calendar includes year-round monthly camping trips, including February’s Klondike Derby, an annual winter campout that Leswing calls “the Winter Olympics of Scouting.” Scouts camped and cooked outside, had ski and sled races, and other competitions.
In March, the group will camp on site at Colorado Springs’ Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.
Upcoming weekend camping outings will take the Scouts to Great Sand Dunes National Park, Granby and Montana’s Camp Melita Island — a private island on Flathead Lake geared toward Scouts.
Last year, Leswing backpacked 75 miles through New Mexico with nine of the Scouts.
e group also regularly does service projects throughout the foothills.
“ ere probably isn’t a church or park we haven’t left some impression on,”
Leswing said, noting projects Troop 888 has done at Evergreen Middle School, Evergreen Fire/Rescue’s administration building, Christ the King Catholic Church and Bergen Park, among many others.
While there are other troops in the foothills, Leswing said Troop 888 is the largest. It draws members from Conifer, Genesee, Idaho Springs and other mountain communities.
Ralon Butler, 14, sees clearly the changes Scouting has made in his life.
“I really like the sense of community,
learning how to teach younger people,” said 14-year-old Scout Ralon Butler. “It really helps me keep a stable mind and see the whole picture.”
In his seven years as a troop leader, Keith Leswing said he’s seen similar “huge growth” among the troop’s Scouts — including his daughter, Vivi, also an Eagle Scout.
“I’ve watched kids, including my own, do amazing things,” he said. “You get to see them try and fail, grow into who they are and achieve goals.
“I’ve watched them trying to set up a tent in the rain, and while it’s hard in the moment, it’s always what they remember most. ey later say, ‘I learned how to persevere.’ ings don’t always go your way, but you do it with a team. And we make sure anything they do, they do safely.”
In 2019, Troop 888, along with the rest of the Boy Scouts of America, began accepting girls into the program, which was renamed Scouts BSA.
Vivi Leswing was the rst female to join Troop 888. Until 2019, she had spent years watching her father and brother regularly camp together. She wanted to be part of that but admitted joining the traditionally all-male group was intimidating.
“It was de nitely hard, but I’m really glad I did it,” she said. “I like the sense of camaraderie we all have with each other and the challenge. It’s taught me a lot about tenacity, resistance and going with the ow.”
Vivi said she also shares a unique bond with the other female Scouts.
“We’re like soul sisters,” she said. “It’s unbeatable.”
And while most of Troop 888’s members are teens, they appear remarkably indi erent to technology. Reports fromCommon Sense Media show teenagers in the United States typically spend nearly nine hours a day using screens — more time than they spend sleeping or with their parents.
But at the troop’s February meeting, no smart phones were in sight. Leswing said the devices are discouraged at meetings and not allowed during camping weekends.
“It’s our culture,” he said. “We ask them to put the phones away, and I think that gets carried home as well.”
Kyla Lewis said there’s no time to think about such things. Activities like kayaking through choppy waters o the coast of Washington state, which she did as part of a scouting expedition, don’t allow for distractions.
“It was a little scary but it had a great reward, and that’s what you focus on,” she said. “I just kind of forget I have a phone when we’re on campouts.”
BY CHRIS KOEBERL CKOEBERL@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Parker the Snow Dog was killed in a car crash in Kremmling on Christmas Eve next to his life-long friend and handler, Dustin Schaefer, who was also injured in the crash, according to reports from the Grand County Sheri o ce.
According to the report, provided by the Grand County Sheri , the crash occurred in the area of Mile Marker 175 and Hwy 40 at 11 a.m. on Dec 24.
Parker, a Bernese Mountain dog, was taken to Granby Veterinary Clinic fol-
lowing the crash where he passed away on an exam table, according to the report.
Parker was “elected” as honorary mayor of Georgetown in 2020.
“He ran on a platform of hugs, love and cookies,” according to Schaefer.
Parker also raised thousands of dollars for various groups where he would appear in his traditional red white and blue necktie.
Parker Palooza celebrated Parker’s birthday for several years. e event drew thousands of enthusiasts to the Easter Seals Camp in Empire, many with their own Bernese to celebrate with music, food and drink.
In September 2023 the Parker Palooza raised more than $20,000 according to sponsors toward scholarships to the Easters Seals camp.
In addition to attending many ma-
jor sporting events including Broncos, Rockies and Nuggets games, Schaefer, in an earlier interview, said he and Parker attend numerous charity events each year bringing in approximately $75,000 to send kids to the Easter Seals Camp.
“At home Parker is a pretty easygoing dog that likes cuddling, taking naps and watching movies,” Schaefer told the Courant in an interview Oct. 5, 2023.
Parker was also well-known on the national stage, appearing in People magazine and on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Schaefer said earlier, “He’s also a great ambassador for the city of Georgetown.
Schaefer con rmed the crash but declined to speak with the Courant at this time.
Agency will continue serving 30 agencies in Je co, Clear Creek
BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
e facility at 440 Indiana St. is an unassuming two-story o ce building. It has an outdoor patio area, a covered parking area and views of Green Mountain and the Golden-area foothills.
But inside is the hub for all emergency services in Je erson and Clear Creek counties, as 440 Indiana St. is the new home of Je com 911.
e agency, which was founded in March 2018, serves about 30 police, re and EMS agencies across the two counties. It has been operating from a West Metro Fire building along Lakewood’s South Allison Parkway.
But, by Feb. 26, it will move all its operations and 180-some employees to its new Indiana Street location.
Je com 911 and its partners celebrated the occasion Feb. 20 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house, showcasing their new dispatch center, training rooms, employee gym and other amenities.
“As we cut this ribbon today, we’re not just opening the doors of a new building,” Executive Director Je Streeter said at the ceremony. “We’re opening the doors to a brighter, more uni ed future.”
Streeter described afterward how the agency’s relocation has been in the works for at least two years.
In 2023, he said Je com 911 wanted to nd a location that would be conducive for its employees. So, Streeter and his colleagues gured out that the exact center from everyone’s homes was U.S. Highway 6 and Indiana Street.
“So, two blocks away,” Streeter said, adding that the new location’s easy highway access was another plus.
Je com 911 board members said Streeter sold them on the plan “to give Je com 911 a new home,” and on the Indiana Street building speci cally.
us, the agency bought it for $4.8 million in September 2023. It then started remodeling the structure, which was built in 2005, for its purposes.
e new dispatch center on the second
oor especially needed work, as several walls had to be removed, sta members described. Crews also had to t the building with all the necessary radios and other technology required for Je com 911’s operations.
In total, the remodel was $3 million, but Streeter and other o cials said the price tag was much lower than buying land and constructing its own building. Plus, the project actually came in $85,000 under budget, Streeter added.
Je com 911, which is funded by its 30 member agencies, will have the 24,000-square-foot building all to itself.
e facility on South Allison Parkway was about 10,000 square feet, and Streeter said Je com 911 will retain some of that as a backup center. e remaining space at South Allison Parkway will revert to West Metro Fire.
‘It starts with a phone call’
Along with total square footage, the dispatch center will also be much bigger and better equipped.
Je com 911 will expand from 42 dispatcher consoles at South Allison Parkway to 52 at Indiana Street, Dispatch Supervisor Erica Munroe explained. She and other dispatchers said they
were looking forward to the new equipment, the consoles customized to dispatchers’ needs, the employee gym and other amenities.
ey emphasized how they love serving their communities in Je erson and Clear Creek counties, and welcomed anyone who’s interested to do a “sit-along” in the
new headquarters.
Streeter and Je com 911 board members described how, along with the relocation, the agency will continue improving its technology and expanding its services. In the coming months, Je com 911 will add Red Rocks Community College and a re department in Park County, Streeter said.
Golden Police Chief Joe Harvey, who sits on the Je com 911 board of directors, thanked “the pioneers” who founded the agency in 2018 and all its employees over the last seven years.
Harvey, who started his career in emergency services as a dispatcher, described the stress dispatchers are under “when that very di cult call comes in, and you don’t have anybody to talk to, because you’ve just got to take the next call.”
Harvey described the experience as “an island.”
He continued: “If there’s not somebody there to pick up that phone … we don’t help nobody. It starts with a phone call.” Harvey and Streeter applauded all the Je com 911 employees for their dedication to a very di cult and stressful job, which Harvey often goes underrecognized and underappreciated.
“ ank you for what you do, for what you give back,” Harvey said of the Je com 911 employees. “Because today is about you.”
We’d like to know about events or activities of interest to the community. Visit www.canyoncourier.com/calendar/ and post your event online for free. Email jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com to get items in the newspaper. Items will appear in print on a space-available basis.
UPCOMING
PreSchool Adventures: 9 a.m. Feb. 27, Evergreen Nature Center, 27640 CO74, Evergreen. Bring your little one for nature exploration. Free, no registration required. evergreenaudubon.org
Evergreen High School’s “Legally Blonde the Musical”: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 27 and 28, 1 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. March 1. evergreenhstheatre.org
Morning Birds & Brews: 8:30 a.m. Feb. 28, March 28 and April 25. Evergreen Nature Center, 27640 CO-74, Evergreen. We will spend some time chatting indoors before heading to the meadow to see birds. Free, no registration required. evergreenaudubon.org.
Seniors4Wellness Friday Cafe: 11:30 a.m. Feb. 28, Christ the King Church, 4291 Evergreen Pkwy, Evergreen. seniors4wellness.org.
Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice’s Winter WonderGala: A Frost & Flame Adventure: 5:30 p.m. Feb. 28, Mount Vernon Canyon Club, 24933 Club House Circle, Golden. Dinner, costume contest (frost or ame), live and silent auction, live music and dancing. events@mtevans.org
conservationgreenprint@je co.us
Je erson County Open Space open house on Conservation Greenprint 2026-2030: 5 p.m. March 4, Buchanan Recreation Center, 32002 Ellingwood Trail, Evergreen. For more information, email conservationgreenprint@je co. us
Second Annual Ice Fishing Tournament: 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. March 8, Evergreen Lake, 29612 Upper Bear Creek Road, Evergreen. evergreenrecreation.com
Connections & Cocktails: 4:30 p.m. March 11, Woodcellar Bar & Grill, 1552 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen. evergreenchamber.org
Sacred Spaces: Monthly events honoring Evergreen’s Sesquicentennial: Noon to 2 p.m. March 1, Evergreen Fire/ Rescue, 1602 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen. Spotlighting North Evergreen, the Anderson Family and EFR with hosts Jennee Hancock and Pete Anderson. evergreenchamber.org
Evergreen Chamber Orchestra Prelude to Spring Concert: 3 p.m. March 1, Rockland Community Church, 17 S. Mt. Vernon Country Club Road, Golden. Featuring the Colorado Symphony’s Concertmaster Yumi HwangWilliams. Tickets at evergreenchamberorch.org
Je erson County Open Space open house on Conservation Greenprint 2026-2030: 5 p.m. March 3, West Jefferson Middle School, 9449 Barnes Ave., Conifer. For more information, email
Mountain Mixer @ 5: 5 p.m. March 14, Peak Cowork, 1202 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen. evergreenchamber.org
Father Daughter Dance: 6 p.m. March 28, Evergreen Lake House, 29612 Upper Bear Creek Road, Evergreen. For girls ages 3-12 and their guardians. evergreenrecreation.com
A Night with our Stars: 6 to 9:30 p.m. April 4, Evergreen Lake House. 29612 Upper Bear Creek, Evergreen. Annual Evergreen Chamber business awards. Assigned seating, catered dinner, black tie encouraged. Tickets, $75. evergreenchamber.org.
18th annual Foothills Home, Garden and Lifestyle Show: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 12 and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 13, Evergreen High School, 29300 Bu alo Park Road, Evergreen. Sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Evergreen and Conifer. foothillshomeshow.com
monthly event is at 9 a.m., the last Friday morning of every month through fall. Evergreen Bread and Cocktail Lounge, 1260 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen.
Conifer Chamber of Commerce member meeting: 7:30 a.m. on second ursdays, Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church, 9444 Eagle Cli Road, Conifer. Free for members, $10 for nonmembers.
Evergreen Nature Center Weekly Preschool Adventures Program: 9 a.m. every ursday, 27640 Hwy 74, Evergreen. Free & no registration required. Programs designed for children ages 2-5 years old. All children must have an adult in attendance. Dress to explore the outdoors. evergreenaudubon.org
ONGOING
Evergreen Ice Melt tickets available through March 17: $3 each with discounts for multiple purchases. Purchase tickets or nd local businesses selling tickets at evergreenicemelt.com. Proceeds bene t local organizations and nonpro ts.
Mountain Women Alcoholics Anonymous (AA): 9 a.m. every Saturday in person and on Zoom, Evergreen Lutheran Church, 5980 CR-73, Evergreen. Mountain Women also meet via Zoom on Wednesdays at noon. evergreenaa. com/
Wild Aware is actively recruiting volunteers for their Last Friday Co ee. e
Evergreen Nature Center Monthly Family Program: 11 a.m. every last Saturday, 27640 Hwy 74, Evergreen. December’s program is Hibernation Station. evergreenaudubon.org
e American Legion Evergreen Post 2001: Meets 4 p.m. Feb. 19, then monthly (March - October) on the 4th Tuesday at 7 p.m., Evergreen Church of the Trans guration, Douglas Hall, 27640 Hwy 74, Evergreen. Serving all military Veterans in the foothills. Email evergreenpost2001@gmail.com.
Evergreen Camera Club: Meets every second Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Evergreen Fire/Rescue auditorium, 1802 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen. Club is for people who share a passion for all photography, from beginners to professionals. Attend in person or via ZOOM.
e Bear Creek Cemetery Association board of directors volunteers needed: Members needed to help with operations of the local cemetery on Highway 74, Evergreen. Contact board president, evergreenbearcreekcemetery@gmail.com
Blue Spruce Habitat volunteers needed: Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity is looking for volunteers. A variety of opportunities and exible schedules are available on new construction sites as well as for exterior minor home repairs. No previous construction experience needed. Contact volunteer@ bluesprucehabitat.org for information.
Evergreen Area Republican Club: e Evergreen Area Republican Club meets at 6 p.m. the rst Wednesday of the month at the Evergreen Fire/Rescue Administration Building, 1802 Bergen Parkway. Information at evergreenarearepublicanclub.org
Mountain Area Democrats: Mountain Area Democrats meet at 9 a.m. the fourth Saturday of the month January through April at the United Methodist Church of Evergreen, 3757 Ponderosa Drive, Evergreen. For more information, e-mail mtnareademocrats@gmail. com
Evergreen Nature Center: Evergreen Nature Center is open from 10 a.m.4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays next to Church of the Trans guration. Admission is free. For more information, visit
EChO needs volunteers: e Evergreen Christian Outreach ReSale Store and food pantry need volunteers. Proceeds from the EChO ReSale Store support the food pantry and programs and services provided by EChO. Many volunteer options available. For more information, call Mary at 720-673-4369 or email mary@evergreenchristianoutreach.org.
LGBTQ+ teen book club: Resilience1220 is o ering an LGBTQ+ teen book club that meets from 4-6 p.m. the fourth Monday at the Resilience1220 o ce next to the Buchanan Park Recreation Center. For more information and to register, visit R1220.org.
ESA EverGREEN Re ll Station: EverGREEN Re ll Station (re ll your laundry detergent, lotions, soaps and more. We have many sustainable products available). e Re ll Station is open Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m.5 p.m. and the second Saturday of each month from 1-4 p.m. in the Habitat Restore, 1232 Bergen Parkway.
Support After Suicide Loss: A safe place to share and learn after losing a loved one to suicide. is group meets every fourth Wednesday of the month from 5:30-7:30 p.m. via Zoom or in person at the Resilience1220 o ce. For ages 14 and up. Suggested donation for this group is $15. Register at resilience1220.org/groups.
Sensitive Collection: Resilience1220 strives to inform and support highly sensitive people to live healthy and empowered lives. It meets the third Wednesday of each month from 6-7 p.m. via Zoom. Register at resilience1220.org/groups.
Dahlkemper said. “If we have res that continue to crown and throw embers, and create a heat that damages the landscape for decades, we won’t see that native vegetation come back, or wildlife. We won’t see that forest we love.”
But the work done so far has been jarring to many who use and love the county’s parks and trails. Sections of once-shady trails in Flying J Ranch, Evergreen’s Alderfer/ ree Sisters and Evergreen’s Elk Meadow are now devoid of trees, altering the area’s appearance and the experience of visiting the parks, concerned residents say.
“Over the last year or two, I noticed some pretty hefty clear cutting at Meyer Ranch,” said Taylor Short, a Conifer native and Highlands Ranch resident who runs a naturebased mental health program called Harmonious Return. “I was personally horri ed.
“I think we all want what’s best, but we need to have the public’s involvement in this,” he continued “We just need to have a temporary moratorium on what’s happening to consider what other options we could be looking at. How can we come together to nd a better way for everyone?”
Short has attended meetings coordinated by the grassroots environmental group, EcoIntegrity Alliance. e group says on its website that “aggressive logging (is) decimating Je erson County Open Space Parks.” County leaders say that’s not true.
Je co Open Space includes about 25,300 acres of forest. Since 2020, the county has done forest mitigation on about 927 acres — just over 3.5% of its total acreage.
“I would caution you to think that it’s largescale,” said Matt Robbins, deputy director of Je co Open Space. “If you factor in the upcoming projects, the total increases to 1,526 acres (or 6.03%) by the end of 2029.” e county contracts with forest companies to do the work. But representatives of companies in both Oregon and Colorado say Colorado’s timber is not considered highquality or pro table, and is consequently hard to dispose of.
Je co Parks and Open Space Director Tom Hoby said its Forest Health Plan was created by a team of experts in partnership with the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute who applied “a signi cant amount of science.” And it’s critical in Je erson County, county leaders note, which ranks No. 1 in Colorado for high and extreme wild re risk areas. Within the county, Evergreen and Conifer are among the highest risk areas, according to the Verisk/ISO Stateline Report.
Je erson County Open Space plans a series of meetings on its Conservation Greenprint 2026-2030.
The plan is a framework for the coming five years of projects planned within Je co Open Space work.
Five drop-in open houses are planned at various locations in Je erson County.
5 p.m. March 3, West Je erson Middle School, 9449 Barnes Ave., Conifer
5 p.m. March 4, Buchanan Recreation Center, 32002 Ellingwood Trail, Evergreen
11:30 a.m. March 5, Je erson County Fairgrounds, 15200 W. 6th Ave, G0lden
5 p.m. March 12, Columbine Public Library, 7706 W. Bowles Ave., Littleton 4:30 p.m. March 13, Standley Lake Public Library, 8485 Kipling St., Arvada
More information about the open houses will be posted on the county’s website in early March. For more infor-
“Our focus in Je co is how do we balance the safety of our community in a very highrisk re environment with forest health and the experience of those who enjoy hiking on our Je co Open Space trails?” Dahlkemper said. “We have to think through all of those components.”
Dahlkemper admits the changes made to the landscape can be “surprising,” especially right after the work is done.
“ ere’s no question about it; the rst year is always the most challenging,” she said. “But after a few years, you see native grasses come back, and wildlife return in abundance. We’re conducting good stewardship of the forest.”
Area residents don’t all see it that way. Some decry not only the visual impact, but the wood chips and other forest debris left in the wake of the work. ey’re concerned about the impact to wildlife, and say some studies suggest clearing large areas of trees can make res worse.
“It’s a blunt-force trauma, what they’re doing,” said Evergreen’s Ruthe Hannington, who’s also attended Eco-Integrity Alliance meetings. “ ey’re leaving more fuel on the oors, which makes it much more vulnerable to new re.
“We’re really into re mitigation up here, and we’re into forest health. And we’re also into having our recreational spaces protected and not ripped apart.”
Short and Hannington are among a group of people who want to see more public involvement in the decisions.
Dahlkemper said that’s already happened and will continue to. Based on community
feedback, changes have been made in the mitigation work, she said.
“ ey are leaving more trees along trails to help with additional shading and leaving some stands of trees to assist with that experience hikers love,” she said. “ e community’s feedback is important to us, and it’s also important we listen to that feedback and adapt our mitigation work as we can to those concerns, while at the same time staying true to the strategic focus of thinning forests based on science.
“Je erson County is transparent about the work we do regarding forest mitigation,” she added, pointing to virtual town halls, regular meetings and the postedForest Health Plan as evidence. “Our community has access to all that information.”
She also encouraged residents to email commissioners with questions or concerns at commish@je co.us.
More mitigation will happen in other parks in the future, Robbins said.
“ e work is not done,” he said. “We understand the risk that exists out there, and we want to be responsive and responsible with our 25,000 acres of forest land, so we continue to work on it.”
Robbins said the county plans to publicly release its upcoming mitigation plans as part of its 2026 to 2030 Conservation Greenprint, which details such projects and their funding. e2020 to 2025 Conservation Greenprint is online.
e county also plans several public meetings about the 2026 to 2030 Conservation Greenprint in the next few weeks. e dates and times are not yet set.
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Amendment would allow purchase after safety course completion
BY SARA WILSON COLORADO NEWSLINE
e Colorado Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill that would ban the sale of many semiautomatic rearms with detachable magazines, though the chamber also approved a series of amendments that substantially altered the scope of the bill.
e amended Senate Bill 25-3 would now allow people who have completed a safety and training course to acquire otherwise banned guns. at carve-out is expected to appease Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who has historically been wary of sweeping rearm restrictions.
e chamber passed the bill on second reading after nearly 10 hours of debate.
As introduced, the bill would have outlawed the sale, purchase and transfer of guns that accept detachable magazines in an e ort to enforce Colorado’s existing ban on large-capacity magazines, de ned as magazines with over 15 rounds of ammunition. While not an outright ban on so-called assault weapons, the bill would have stopped the sale of the most common semiautomatic ri es and handguns. Opponents argued that it would decimate the rearm industry in Colorado.
“We spent quite a bit of time these last several weeks trying to get it to a space where we could be inclusive to everyone who was having concerns,” bill sponsor
Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat, said. at includes hunters and sportsmen.
roughout the debate, Sullivan held a photo of the 100-round magazine that a gunmen used during a 2012 mass shooting in Aurora to kill 12 people, including Sullivan’s son Alex.
“What we’re trying to do is save lives,” Sullivan said. “We are all hoping that those 550 million rearms that are out there are in the hands of law abiding, responsible gun owners and we don’t have to worry about them taking any action in our communities. What we are worried about is the new (owners) who all of sudden just walk down the street, and … after we pass this, and starting in September, the only assault style weapons they can get are going to have attached magazines to it.”
e new carve-out, however, creates a pathway for Coloradans to obtain the type of guns targeted in the bill. First, a purchaser would need to be vetted by their county sheri in a process that would be similar to that required when a person seeks a concealed carry permit. en, if they already completed a hunter safety course from Colorado Parks and Wildlife — which people must do to get a hunting license in the state — they would need to take an additional four-hour basic rearm safety course. If a person did not already have their hunter safety certication, they would need to complete an extended course of 12 hours of in-person training over two days.
e course would need to include safe handling and storage, child safety, information about gun deaths associated with mental illness and Colorado’s red ag
State Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat, listens to witness testimony on Jan. 28 during a Colorado Senate committee hearing on his bill that would ban
law. A person would then need to score at least a 90% on an exam after the course in order to qualify for the exemption. at exemption would be valid for ve years, and a person would need to take a refresher course at that point if they wanted to buy additional rearms with detachable magazines.
“I want to acknowledge the extent to which we’ve heard concerns … from our governor and from Coloradans. We’ve worked to address them,” bill sponsor Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat, said before explaining the amendment. Republicans remained opposed to the
bill and carve-out amendment. Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican, said the policy would transform the right to own a gun as outlined in the Constitution into a privilege.
“Sure, it’s a small thing to get a little bit of education to get a rearm, but it’s a big thing to turn your back on your rights as a citizen,” he said.
Ten states require purchasers to have safety training before buying certain rearms, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. Washington, for example, has required training to purchase any semiautomatic ri e since July 2019.
Republicans also argued that the amendment changed the bill too much and it should be sent back to committee for consideration. e bill passed the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee in January on a 3-2 vote, with the two Republican members voting against it. roughout the debate, they offered amendments to exempt certain demographics from the bill, such as domestic violence survivors and veterans. ose amendments all failed.
Another successful amendment on the bill exempts about 40 of the most common semiautomatic ri es used for hunting and some relic rearms. e bill is set for a nal recorded vote early next week, when it needs 18 votes to get through. ere are 23 Democrats in the chamber. If it passes, it will then move to the House for consideration. Democrats have strong majorities in both chambers. is story is from Colorado Newsline. Used by permission. For more, and to support the news organization, visit coloradonewsline.com.
BY SUZIE GLASSMAN SGLASSMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Last tax season, a woman walked into a Je erson County tax assistance site, hesitant and unsure, recounted Mary Margaret Bishop-Fouse, a maternal child and family health systems supervisor with Je co Public Health.
She had never led taxes before, and because her income was below the ling threshold, she didn’t think she needed to.
But after sitting down with a volunteer tax preparer, she learned she was eligible for thousands of dollars in credits.
“She was literally dancing and jumping for joy after hearing the thousands of dollars that she and her family would be getting back,” Bishop-Fouse said.
Yet, Bishop-Fouse said that thousands of families in Colorado miss out on tax credits they qualify for every year simply because they don’t know about them, assume they’re ineligible or nd the ling process too complicated.
Money left on the table
According to Bishop-Fouse, many families, especially those earning very low incomes, don’t realize that ling a tax return can unlock signi cant refunds.
“I think a lot of times it’s access to information and knowing that if you le, chances are you’re not going to owe anything because your income is so low,” she said. “But just knowing that they have access to these nancial resources can really help.”
Bishop-Fouse added that a lack of awareness is a major barrier.
According to the Economic Security Project, 5 to 10 million Americans missed
out on Economic Impact Payments by not ling their taxes.
Many people also avoid ling because they fear they’ll owe money or nd the process overwhelming.
“Taxes can be a complicated system, and we are certainly working as best we can to address some of those hurdles and barriers that families oftentimes face,”
Bishop-Fouse said.
She emphasized that breaking down these barriers through free tax assistance programs is key to ensuring families claim the refunds they deserve.
Who is most a ected in Je co?
Bishop-Fouse said certain groups are more likely to miss out on these tax credits. New parents often don’t realize they need to le to claim credits for their newborns, and non-traditional caregivers, such as grandparents or other relatives raising children, may also be unaware they qualify.
Immigrant families sometimes avoid ling due to language barriers or concerns about eligibility. Additionally, federal bene t recipients, such as those receiving Medicaid or SNAP, may mistakenly assume they don’t need to le taxes at all, causing them to miss out on critical nancial support.
How tax credits lift families out of poverty and support basic needs
Bishop-Fouse said that the Colorado Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit provide crucial nancial support to low- and moderate-income families, often amounting to thousands of dollars in refunds. is year, Colorado introduced the
Family A ordability Tax Credit, o ering up to $3,200 per child younger than 6 and up to $2,400 for children between 6 and 16 years old, even for families with little or no income.
“ ese credits can be substantial,” Bishop-Fouse said. “We’re talking about thousands of dollars going back into the hands of families through refundable tax credits.
“ ese credits are meant to address economic inequity,” she continued. “ ey’re structured so that families with the lowest incomes receive the most help, because they’re the ones who need it most.”
Data from when the federal government temporarily expanded the CTC during the pandemic found that families overwhelmingly used refunds for essentials. About 47% of recipients spent their refunds on food and groceries, 28% on rent and utilities, 16% on childcare and
education and 9% on medical bills and healthcare.
Free resources available in Je co e great news is several free resources and assistance options are available to help families, especially low-income households, le their taxes and claim the available tax credits.
• Get Ahead Colorado: A statewide program providing online tools, in-person tax ling assistance, and multilingual support.
• Volunteer Income Tax Assistance: Jefferson County has several IRS-trained volunteers who o er free tax preparation for those earning $67,000 or less. ese preparers have a 90% accuracy rate, higher than many paid tax preparers.
• MyFreeTaxes.com: An easy-to-use online platform that allows individuals to le their taxes at no cost.
Regret is an interesting concept. We generally use it when thinking about stupid decisions we made, harmful acts we performed, or positive acts we should’ve done but didn’t.
JERRY FABYANIC
We also use it trivially, like being invited to a gathering and the invitation says, “Regrets only.” at usage, however, could be problematic for recipients if they didn’t want to attend the soiree in the rst place. Should they lie and say they regret not being able to make it? Such is the quandary we humans can nd ourselves in.
Columnist
For some reason, I consider regret to be a cousin of regression. Etymology wise, that’s apparently not the case since the roots of the two words are distinct from one another.
But they both imply a negative. Regression certainly does that, and while regret sometimes is used in a future reference such as not being able to do something or go somewhere, it’s usually expressed within a backward looking context.
Feeling regret could be directed at not having lived your life as fully as possible, having given so much attention to others that it interfered with you moving forward and doing good things for yourself, or having chosen to follow a professional or life path where your heart wasn’t.
You might then feel stuck with no way out. If so, and you fail to extricate yourself from it, when old age arrives, which invariably does if you stick around long enough, you’ll understand in
SEE FABYANIC, P11
What does Evergreen, Colorado, mean to you? Maybe this quote touches your spiritual being of why you live in this mountain community away from unpleasant realities of Denver.
“Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forests to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases; if we drive the few remaining members of the wild species into zoos or to extinction; if we pollute the last clear air and dirty the last clean streams and push our paved roads through the last of the silence …” -Wallace Stegner, e Sound of Mountain Water
In the early 1970s, I took a job as a math-science teacher in Brighton, Colorado. District 27-J paid me $5,400 a year. In order to save myself from poverty, in the summers, I drove an 18-wheeler with a 48-foot trailer for United Van Lines. Hard work, long hours, hard living, exceptional salary. at truck driving job kept me nancially viable for 30 summers. During that time, I learned about the trucking industry. I’m here to tell every citizen of Evergreen that you need to demonstrate against the proposed truck stop on Exit 252 o I-70 where El Rancho is located.
Big rigs will snarl tra c at the intersection leading to Walmart, Home Depot and Starbucks. Truckers leave their trucks running when parked for the evening or eating — poisoning the air 24/7 with toxic pollution. ere’s already a truck stop 15 minutes west and 10 minutes east on I-70. It’s unneeded and redundant to stick another one in Evergreen. ere’s another half-dozen unpleasant problems with establishing a truck stop in Evergreen — that I hope will not come to pass because enough citizens vote against it.
A truck stop at Exit 252 will prove the worst thing to happen to Evergreen. Every Evergreen citizen needs to demonstrate against the truck stop with letters to the editor, speak up at council meetings, speak up at Je co meetings, stand up with signs and action. You can save Evergreen with your actions, but if you sit home, you and your family will become victims of that truck stop. It’s not going to be pretty for any of us. To take action, www.save-el-ranchocampaign.com
Let’s save Evergreen by not allowing a truck stop to bring noise and trucks into the “last of the silence.”
Frosty Wooldridge Genesee
During the initial pandemic shutdown there were six adults living together in our house. Five of us had jobs that occupied several hours of our days, but we still found ourselves with many hours of time that had always been lled doing things outside of the house.
As a family, we seized this unique opportunity to learn new skills. We learned sign language, cooked amazing meals, played di erent instruments, and even tried watercolor painting.
My youngest daughter, Carly, an art major with a psychology minor and a creative perspective on life, taught us the basics of watercolor painting. On the day of our rst lesson, she handed out the supplies we needed and began by telling us to create a base of water over the area on our paper where we wanted to paint. As we created our water foundation, she explained that the base makes all the rest of the painting possible. With the base in place, she told us to take a tiny bit of paint and begin to create whatever we wanted to design.
For my rst piece, I wanted to paint a co ee cup with steam rising from the drink. I established my base, took my rst color, and brushed it onto the page. As I applied the paint, I was amazed that it actually began to resemble a cup. About 15 minutes into the lesson, Carly stopped me, gave me a quick compliment, and said, “To improve this, you need to add dimension and depth.”
She explained that to achieve this e ect, I needed to manipulate the paint that was already on the page. Following her advice, I lightly wet my brush and began to move the existing color, adding to some areas and reducing others. e result was a cup that had depth—something I could genuinely be proud of as a novice.
As I worked on this art project, I was struck by the wisdom of needing to start everything we do with a good base. e water on the page starts everything o right. In our lives the base is equally critical — faith, family, friends and many other things can be central to that base. Everyone’s base is di erent, but we all must have that foundation to be successful. Beyond the base, I found the idea fascinating that all the color I needed was already present on the page. When I rst examined what I had on my
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
paper, I thought Carly was mistaken; there was no way I had the necessary color. However, she was right. To create something with depth, I just needed to manipulate what was already there. In our everyday lives, it’s easy to feel like we lack the things we need. In reality, while we may need to rearrange “the colors,” everything we require is so often already available.
I encourage you to take some time to notice, re ect on and celebrate the areas of your life that are vibrant and full of color. When you look closely, you can nd those wonderful aspects of your life — whether it’s your relationships, family, friends, routines or cherished memories. All that vibrancy can be applied to the areas where you feel a struggle or where the color seems too faint.
Moving that color might involve asking for help or taking time for a conversation. It could also mean nding opportunities to assist others or trying something new. Whatever approach you choose, it can be as simple as adding a little water to your brush and blending those colors as needed. e rich colors of your life make a di erence, but before you can move them, you need to see them. You have got this.
I hope my words inspire you, and that you will share them with those who need encouragement. ank you to everyone who has shared their stories with me so far; I truly appreciate hearing about the valuable ideas you nd in these columns and how you use them to uplift those around you.
Jim Roome lives in Arvada with his wife, Beth. He spent 34 years in public education. Lessons learned from the one two punch of being diagnosed with MS shortly before his best friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer led him into a new pursuit as a freelance writer and speaker. He uses his life experiences and love of stories to inspire, educate and encourage local, national and international audiences. Contact him at jim.roome@gmail.com.
Mazda in the middle
CONIFER – According to Ex-Boyfriend’s complaint, Ex-Girlfriend took a vehicle registered and insured in her name from his premises without his permission. Ex-Boyfriend believed that because he’s the one making payments on the car she shouldn’ta-oughtn’ta done that, and while he “wasn’t concerned about her having the car,” he was concerned that she felt free to come by his place any time she felt like it, particularly in view of the fact that he was holding a restraining order out of Aurora speci cally instructing ExGirlfriend not to “threaten, harass, assault, or stalk” him. Aside from retrieving a vehicle she legally owns, deputies asked Ex-Boyfriend if Ex-Girlfriend had actually done any of those things. ExBoyfriend seemed to recall her saying something about how she would “bring people with me next time,” which was a comment he thought could be construed as portentous, at least, and maybe even sinister. O cers called Ex-Girlfriend, who admitted coming to get the car, but said her mom had gone inside to get the keys and insisted she’d never personally seen, much less talked to, Ex-Boyfriend. Her mom backed up that claim, DMV backed up her right to the car, and deputies backed away from further o cial involvement.
the caller assured him, con dently. Grandpa next wanted to know why his all-American grandson Brandon had suddenly begun speaking with a thick foreign accent. “I broke my nose in the accident,” the self-described Brandon explained. Smelling a rat, Grandpa told “Brandon” he was in the car and asked him to call back in 10 minutes after he found a place to pull over and park. Apparently impatient for his bail money, “Brandon” called back in ve minutes, only by then he was calling himself “Legal Aid.” Grandpa told “Legal Aid” he wasn’t buying what he was selling, and “Legal Aid” hung up without so much as a thankee-kindlee. Grandpa reported the Brandon-scam to JCSO fraud investigators.
Inflection detection deflects deception SOUTH TURKEY CREEK – e caller was insistent. “I’m your grandson!” he wailed. “I had an accident, and got a DUI, and I need you to bail me out of jail!” Ordinarily Grandpa wouldn’t hesitate to bail a grandson out of jail, but he had a couple of questions rst, starting with which one of his grandsons it was who’d gotten himself into that pickle. “Is this Brandon?” he asked the caller. “Yes, this is Brandon!”
Kenobi vs. Vader EVERGREEN – Peaches was walking her dog through the neighborhood on the evening of Jan. 3 when a “noise” caught her attention. Fearing she’d happened upon “crime” in progress, she shined her ashlight in the direction of the sound. Turns out the sound was her neighbor and arch-nemesis, Herb, who was out walking his own dog and didn’t much appreciate being caught in Peaches’ spotlight. Herb “confronted” Peaches about such thoughtless use of illumination and turned his own electric torch on her. Racing home to call 911, Peaches told deputies that Herb “scared” her, and that she believed he’d been trying to start more trouble between them. Herb’s memory of events was pretty much the same as Peaches’, only with Peaches “cussing” him out and “talking trash on my family.” Deputies told Peaches and Herb to holster their ashlights and keep as much distance between each other as neighborhood geography allows.
stark terms what F. Scott Fitzgerald means in “ e Last Tycoon” when he wrote that there are no second acts in American life. Fitzgerald, though, was writing about the uber-wealthy, those who lead shallow, empty lives, since all they know is how to make piles of money and how to gain and wield power. e rest of us, those of us not hellbent on becoming the GOAT (the Greatest Of All Time) know that. We simply try our best to live a good and meaningful life as we roll and, at times, bumble through it.
Note that I wrote “good,” and not perfect, for we’re all awed creatures prone to do dumb stu . When we did, those poor decisions might’ve done harm to others or to ourselves. Nicely put, they neither were in our best interests nor served us or others well. Which might make you think that you could’ve done better if only you had used your head, behaved better, or gotten o your du and…?
But could you have? Maybe, but then again, maybe not. It was where you were at that point in time and stage of life, so you were neither privy to the experience and good sense you’ve amassed over the decades nor the font of wisdom you’ve become. And just maybe you were caught in a downward spiral due to a mental health issue or a crisis that you got swept up in. I believe those who have led ethical lives, albeit with occasional lapses, often judge themselves too harshly for past failings. It’s like how some judge historical characters by today’s standards.
Not only that was then and this is now for them, it’s true for you. If you’re one prone to beat yourself up over stu that’s long in the past, consider giving yourself a little space and a dose of self-compassion. Even the Buddha lived the life of a benighted nabob before he set forth on his path to enlightenment.
In “My Way,” written by Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra sings about facing the nal curtain. at makes sense given his profession, but a curtain-closing could symbolically work for you if you consider it in context of Shakespeare’s line about the whole world being a stage and each of us being an actor playing a part. But no matter how you see your exit, it’s not unusual to look back, survey your life, and, in so doing, express regrets and rue that you didn’t do better.
Surveys show that when seniors do a scan of their lives, no one wishes they had worked harder and spent more time doing chores like vacuuming, mowing, and the like. e most regretted choices were not spending more quality time with those they love along with not traveling, reading, and pursuing their creative talents more.
As cold as it might seem, I liken our Earth time to a product’s shelf life. Each of us has an expiration date. If you’re reading this, it’s obvious yours hasn’t arrived yet. And contrary to Fitzgerald’s assertion, there can be second acts for those who are not one-trick ponies. So with that in mind, one pledge you should make— and keep—hereon: No more regrets.
Jerry Fabyanic is the author of “Sisyphus Wins” and “Food for ought: Essays on Mind and Spirit.” He lives in Georgetown.
Lois Marie Arbour February 19, 1932 - February 12, 2025
Lois Marie Arbour, 92, passed away on February 12, 2025 in Wichita Kansas. She was born on February 19th 1932, in Rock Island County Illinois, the daughter of Joseph and Ida (Ziegler) Knapp.
Lois enjoyed riding the hills in Colorado for 42 years and the trails in Missouri. She was a member of the National American Trail Ride Conference (NATRC). She rode mules for 23 years.
grandson Bobby Adams. She is survived by her three children; daughter Shelli Reed and son-in-law Kelly Reed of Derby Kansas, daughter Sheila Adams of Denver Colorado, and son Kevin Edie of Lakewood Colorado. Also, numerous nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and great Memorial services are pending.
She is preceded in death by her parents, older brother Joseph Knapp, younger brother Charles (Boots) Knapp, twin sister Phyllis Butter eld, and
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BY TAMARA CHUANG THE COLORADO SUN
More than 10,000 supermarket workers involved in a two-week labor walkout will return to their jobs at King Soopers stores Feb. 18 after the labor union and the Colorado grocery chain reached an agreement late Monday to stop picketing and get back to work.
ere’s no new contract yet, but the two sides plan to resume negotiations to work out their di erences. ey agreed to a “100-day period of labor peace, ensuring negotiations continue in good faith and without further disruptions,” according to King Soopers o cials.
e strike ended at midnight, two days earlier than the planned two-week walkout.
“We have taken a big step forward and ensured that Kroger knows that sta ng is a key concern to workers and customers alike,” said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, in an emailed statement. “ is strike was about thousands of everyday grocery store workers, collectively standing together and facing one of the largest corporations in America and saying ENOUGH. Our strike was just the beginning of this e ort and elevated sta ng in grocery stores to a national level with more workers and allies joining together.”
Joe Kelley, president of Kroger-owned King Soopers, called workers “the heart of King Soopers” and said the goal is to reach a “fair agreement that honors their hard work while ensuring we continue to provide fresh, a ordable groceries for the families who rely on us.”
Local 7 represented the 77 Denver-area stores that went on a planned two-week strike starting Feb. 6, just before Super Bowl weekend. Two stores in Pueblo joined a day later.
Negotiations had stalled after Jan. 16, more than a week after many Denver contracts expired. More stores were expected to join as their contracts expired Feb. 15. But the Colorado Springs stores, which had voted last month to authorize a strike, never participated.
e contentious dispute had both sides ling unfair labor practice claims against one another. Kroger-owned King Soopers also led for a temporary restraining order to limit picketing at stores and led a federal lawsuit against the union for forcing it to bargain with out-of-state labor unions instead of the workers themselves.
A judge on Friday granted the retraining order but not completely. e judge just told union workers to not block delivery trucks or impede pedestrian tra c to stores.
For employees, the issue was partly about money but also about sta ng. Union workers said sta ng shortages often resulted in long checkout lines for customers, and unstocked shelves or mispriced products that overwhelmed workers juggling customer service duties.
But the threat of striking workers losing their health care coverage because they hadn’t worked enough hours during the week is probably what brought the union back to the table. King Soopers mentioned this on Monday.
“Securing this agreement was about restoring certainty, not just for our business, but for the people who make it possible. It also ensures that eligible associates who were unable to meet hourly requirements due to the work stoppage will continue to receive their industry-leading, a ordable health care coverage, fully funded by the company to maintain continuity,” Kelley said.
A ected King Soopers stores and their pharmacies will return to normal business operating hours ursday.
Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 7, ready to picket on Feb. 6, 2025, the rst day of the King Soopers worker strike. (Tamara Chuang, e Colorado Sun) e return-to-work agreement also stipulated that King Soopers’ “Last, Best, and Final o er” from Jan 16 won’t be its last, according to the union.
King Soopers o ered raises to boost store clerks’ hourly wage by $4.50 over four years, with top clerks earning above $27 an hour by 2028. Adding in health care and pension bene ts, that would be $29.48 an hour. e current wage is $22.68, the company said.
Not all King Soopers are unionized, including locations in Brighton, Castle Rock, Erie, Firestone and two stores in ornton. Union stores outside of Denver remained open in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont, Loveland and four stores in the Grand Junction area.
is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonpro t based in Denver that covers the state.
BY NATHANIEL MINOR
NEWS ALLIANCE
A bill that will soon be introduced at the Colorado legislature would allow Japanese mini vehicles on most of the state’s roads.
Kei cars and trucks, known as Keijid sha, or light vehicles, in Japan where most of them are made, are growing in popularity in the U.S. But many states have banned them in recent years, categorizing them as o -road vehicles un t for roads or citing safety concerns. U.S. buyers can import older kei vehicles that are exempt from federal emissions and safety rules for under $5,000.
Colorado’s Division of Motor Vehicles also tried to explicitly ban them last year, though it later pulled its proposed rule. Some kei vehicle owners, however, say the state is still trying to keep them o the road by refusing to allow them into the emissions testing process.
Now, proposed legislation could settle the issue of the tiny vehicles’ legality. One of the sponsors of the coming bill, Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo, said kei trucks can be useful for farm work and in dense cities where space is tight.
Ad:”Where you need to parallel park, you need to get into narrow alleys, you need to get around tra c, hauling [construction] site stu , but to be able to do so with a vehicle that’s the size of a Mini Cooper instead of an F-150,” Hinrichsen said in an interview.
Hinrichsen and other advocates readily admit the micro vehicles, which have top speeds of around 60 miles per hour and can lack modern safety equipment like airbags, are not appropriate for the state’s interstates and other major highways. His bill would restrict them from such roads, he said.
“But there’s absolutely no reason why they can’t be safely operated on city streets or on farm roads [or] state highways where the speed limit’s 55,” he said. e bill already has the support of Gov. Jared Polis. A spokesperson said he is “excited to expand consumer choice to a ordable vehicles and looks forward to supporting kei freedom.”
Kei vehicles, however, have historically faced opposition from law enforcement agencies, motor vehicle administrators, and auto dealers.
Ryan Albarelli, a Broom eld software engineer, grew up wanting a truck. But
state’s dirty air. Older kei trucks, including Albarelli’s Honda, lack modern systems like fuel injection that lower emissions. e American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a national group that represents and lobbies for motor vehicle and law enforcement administrators, has fought kei vehicles across the country for years. e organization did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Two senior o cials at the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles and the State Patrol sit on the AAMVA’s regional board. e Colorado DMV also declined an interview request. Asked why the DMV proposed and then pulled the rule explicitly banning kei trucks, spokeswoman Jennifer Giambi said in an email that the rule “aimed to clarify existing state laws regarding vehicle classi cations to ensure consistency and better understanding.”
as an adult with kids and bills, he could never justify the staggeringly high cost of a typical huge modern North American pickup truck.
en, on a trip to Japan, he noticed kei trucks and thought one of those might t in the sweet spot between utility and thriftiness -- brawny truck commercials be damned.
“It’s the opposite of a large masculine truck. It is a small, as weak of vehicle as you could possibly imagine,” Albarelli said. “But it’s a pickup truck and it’s cool and people like it. So that enthusiasm is threatening to some people, I think, that sell vehicles.”
Albarelli eventually bought a 1990 Honda Acty once owned by a Japanese treetrimming company and powered by a tiny 660cc engine. He has to squeeze a knee past the steering column and his head is just inches from the roof. e top speed capable of coming from the three-cylinder engine is about 55 mph.
But the bed is just about the same size as the standard 6.5-foot bed on a new F-150.
“You’re not going to tow a camper with it,” Albarelli said “You’re not going to haul an entire bed of gravel with it to landscape your house. But brush or anything you pick up at the Home Depot or any hardware store is going to work.”
Albarelli was able to register and get permanent plates for the larger Toyota. e smaller Honda, though, is stuck in a
bureaucratic doom loop. He said he got it titled through his county DMV o ce with no trouble. But his local emissions testing o ce has refused to test it, he said.
So Albarelli has revved up his advocacy work, publishing posts in a popular Facebook group and talking with bureaucrats and legislators. He even started a nonpro t, Colorado Kei Advocates, though he admits he hasn’t put much work into that yet. He hopes the legislature will legalize the vehicles so he won’t have to keep pressing people to let him drive it.
“I want to have a win-win situation,” he said. “I agree that we should have restrictions, but I also think that we should be allowing these vehicles.”
Colorado legislators have tried to legalize kei vehicles before. Failed bills were opposed by the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association and the Colorado State Patrol in 2015 and 2016.
Both groups declined to comment on the coming bill from Hinrichsen. But Tim Jackson, former president and CEO of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, said the arguments against legalizing kei vehicles at the state level boil down to two issues: pollution and safety.
“It does set up a two-tier system on both emissions and safety, and I think it contradicts everything that Colorado as a state has been trying to do,” Jackson said, referencing Colorado’s various e orts to improve road safety and clean up the
“Kei Vehicles have never been eligible for on-highway title and registration in Colorado,” Giambi wrote, adding that the rule was pulled because it “was already covered by existing statutes.”
Albarelli, however, disputes that existing state law explicitly bans kei vehicles, pointing out that he was able to get temporary plates for his Honda and only got hung up in the emissions testing process. e state’s Air Pollution Control Division declined an interview request, saying it does not comment on proposed legislation. A spokesperson, however, said the division, “does not have an appropriate testing process for these kinds of vehicles.”
Josh Juhasz, president of Revhard Motors, a Denver-based dealership that specializes in Japanese models, said he’s imported a handful of kei vehicles for customers who’ve been able to successfully register them in counties where emissions tests aren’t required.
But, he said, state o cials have made the emissions process a “brick wall” and so he’s discouraged potential customers from buying kei vehicles -- at least for now.
“I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be legal,” he said. is story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and e Colorado Sun, and shared with news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
hat started with an old video camera in a French resort and a syndicated kids’ program about ocean conservation has become an award-winning Colorado-based commercial video production company, claiming high-pro le national brands like Apple, Disney, Under Armor, Noodles and Co., and Seagate Technology as clients.
And now, Boulder’s La Storia can put breaking the sound barrier on the company’s resume.
“My brother and I started the company in North Carolina mainly because we had a couple contacts there who we thought might be interested in videos,” said La Storia cofounder RC Walker. “
“We were two brothers from Aspen with no background in lmmaking. ankfully, we met incredible people early on who believed in us, plugged us in, and helped us get connected. We’ve learned and evolved from there.”
e Boulder couple behind La Storia Productions, Walker and his wife Molly McKinney-Walker, made history this past January when their company was hired to document Boom Supersonics’ XB-1 aircraft breaking the sound barrier — the rst civilian company to do that — over the Mojave Desert.
“Our partnership with Boom has been unique. We essentially have served as a key creative partner for the brand overseeing many of their photo and video campaigns and 3-D animation,” Walker said.
“ e Boom event itself was a phenomenal milestone for aviation, but working with the engineers and ground crew on the team was such a fascinating experience for us as lmmakers. ey’re the lifeblood of operations like this, so it was empowering to see this mission through their eyes and build that into the story we were telling in front of a live audience.
e La Storia crew used 18 cameras — seven on the ground and 11 in the air — to capture every angle of the historic moment with Boom’s Supersonic XB-1 experimental aircraft.
Walker said he was a nance accounting graduate from the University of Colorado looking for adventure when he got interested in lmmaking.
“After graduating from CU Boulder with a degree in Finance, I decided to play ‘hooky’ and spent a few years living in Hawaii before going to France. I worked in the Alps, where I had an old camcorder, and my roommates and I started making short lms. Films had always inspired me, but this moment of creativity behind the lens ignited a deep love of cinematography and changed my life trajectory.”
“But my brother had been working in North Carolina for a non-pro t, so he at least had a small network of connections. So in 2013, I moved to Charlotte, and we o cially launched La Storia Productions out of our tiny apartment,” Walker said.
“ ankfully, our love and passion for storytelling, along with lots of hard work, introduced us to some incredible people who we still consider some of our closest friends, and they helped us tremendously,” Walker said.
“ ey connected us with the Charlotte creative community and helped us collaborate with like-minded clients. But the best of these introductions during this time was that Geo and I each met our wives on our own lm sets and still get to work alongside them today.
Meanwhile, his future bride made a name for herself on children’s television. Molly McKinney-Walker said her background started in television with a commercial when she was three.
“I got into the industry at an early age and was incredibly blessed to have had the positive experiences I’ve had. My rst big opportunity was at seven years old when I was cast to host the TV, Aqua Kids, an environmental children’s TV show about protecting marine and aquatic environments,” McKinney-Walker said.
“I continued to host this show until I was 24 years old, and I learned so much during this time, both as a talent in front of the camera and lmmaking behind the camera.”
She began trading her spot in front of the camera for a producing role, where she interviewed scientists and animal educators on camera.
“ is is actually how I fell into becoming an Executive Producer, since it started making sense to plan and pre-interview the scientists and animal educations I would eventually be working with on-camera,” McKinney-Walker said.
After graduating college and moving on from the show, she started freelancing, producing at La Storia for nine months before she was hired full-time.
After graduating college and moving on from the show, she started freelancing, producing at La Storia for nine months before she was hired full-time.
Both McKinney and Walker settled in Charlotte, North Carolina for a while but relocated to Boulder just before COVID-19 hit. McKinney-Walker said they got the Boulder o ce and nished remodeling it in December 2019 but couldn’t use it for a few months due to COVID-19.
“We had a brick-and-mortar location in North Carolina and planned on keeping it and opening a second mid-west location to compete with the Los Angeles market, but as with so many other industries, COVID-19 changed that plan for us,” McKinney-Walker said. e La Storia team had even built a whole new set for a major tech company client on their campus in San Jose, Calif., but they never used it due to the pandemic. “It was beautiful with painted wood walls and a multi-functional background,” Walker said. “But with COVID, we couldn’t get into the o ce, so we ended up pivoting and rebuilding the entire set in our home basement to lm the content our client needed. I guess that’s one of the perks of a cinematographer and a producer being married and quarantining together. We were able to utilize our available resources and help our clients solve problems,” Walker said.
The story behind La Storia
Walker said they came up with the name La Storia early on.
“We wanted to choose a name with international
air. I had spent time living in France but phrase story had a complex spelling in French, so we aimed for simple and memorable,” Walker said. “My brother had spent time living in Italy, and in Italian, the translation for ‘ e Story’ has a dual meaning. It captures history and modern-day storytellers, sharing the importance of timeless stories that must be told.”
McKinney-Walker said one of La Storia’s longeststanding clients, Seagate Technology, one of the largest tech companies that makes hard drives in the world, has worked with their company for almost 11 years. McKinney-Walker said being a creative partner is something they can o er their high-caliber clients.
“I think our high client retention rate with high pro le clients re ects the relationship and partnership mentality we have with our clients. Ironically, as a production company that provides photo and video marketing solutions for our clients, we’ve never done marketing for ourselves. We truly operate on a word-of-mouth referral system, which works for us. I always say when think about our clients, we take their brands on as our own,” McKinney-Walker said.
“It de es a typical traditional agency model with established brands; we already have a strong in-house marketing team,” she said. ” We can provide triage support when they are overworked or need help scaling up for something they don’t have the in-house resources for, like the project we traveled to the Mojave Desert for recently, to lm Boom Supersonic.”
Walker said it was fascinating working so closely with the Boom team and getting the honor of telling their story, learning and understanding the process, cadence of the tests, crew safety, and camera angles.
“I’ve worked in daily communication with Kaden Colby, Head of Creative Production and Events at Boom Supersonic, for over a year to prepare for their supersonic test ight. is was the sixth ight we’ve shot for them,” Walker said.
McKinney-Walker said Boom wanted to be authentic and live on the day of the shooting, so they wanted people to feel like they were there. Event coverage had not been done to the extent their team pulled it together, with many partners involved, to make that possible from a story brand standpoint.
“As a company specializing in creating 30-second commercials for many of the brands we work with, getting to have a project like Boom’s supersonic ight was
taxiing out,” is a massive moment for this team, but it’s often not shown in the movies.”
McKinney-Walker said that for them, it’s never just about showing up and doing a job; they felt the emotion of getting to know them for a year. When they handed the aircraft over to Geppetto, it was uncertain whether he would return from that ight. It’s about life and visually communicating these people’s trust in each other and the unknowns from pushing innovative boundaries.
“With clients like Boom who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, it’s a contagious energy that encouraged us to push the realm of what had been done for our industry as well for events like this,” McKinneyWalker said.
“ e Boom event was unique, and we wanted to capture the immersive moment. However, we’re responsible for ensuring no safety issues present or distract the ground crew from performing their duties,” Walker said.
“We took tremendous care in the choreography of our cameras so they could do their job, ignore us and stay focused. From a safety standpoint, they knew when our cameras were in position, where our guidelines were, and most importantly, after a year together, they trusted us.”
For more information about La Storia, visit https:// lastoriaproductions.com/
General Inquiries: info@lastoriaproductions.com
Interested in Hiring La Storia: molly@lastoriaproductions.com
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Hawk Foundation and Ovation West Performing Arts.
“Our community came out in spades to not only listen to Jock play and speak about his amazing career, but to support this cause,” said Pam Lush Lindquist, president of the Wooden Hawk Foundation. “People are asked for all kinds of very worthy causes and reasons, so the outpouring of support really touched me. It was an amazing spirit of coming together, and it makes me so proud of this community.
“ at’s what’s going to change things — not in the scope of the world, but in our little world.”
Cindy Lempke, communications manager for Resilience 1220, said she was also
happy with the turnout and the evening.
“We’re so grateful for the huge response to our evening with Jock Bartley,” she said. “ e theater was full, the audience feedback was very positive, and, most importantly, the issues of youth mental health and suicide prevention took center stage.”
e ‘Call on Me’ concert was named after Bartley’s song by the same title, which he wrote in 1997 at the request of a Colorado Springs suicide prevention hotline. e song tells the story of a person manning a hotline telephone, talking to a young person in crisis.
In addition to that song, Bartley welcomed Firefall guitarist and singer Steven Weinmeister to the stage, and the two played and sang old favorites including, “You are the Woman,” “Livin’ Ain’t Livin’” and “Cinderella.”
Bartley lives in Westminster. Firefall was founded in Boulder in 1974.
Cougars wallop the Lobos in rivalry showdown, shift focus to playo s
BY JOHN RENFROW
Conifer’s girls basketball team was riding high ahead of the home season nale against arch-rival Evergreen. e Lobos have stacked more wins in the 2024-25 season than the past four years combined. At 14-8, Conifer is a formidable team with sights on the state tournament for what feels like the rst time in forever. Still, Evergreen made Conifer little sister again with a 60-19 rout on the Lobos’ home oor. e Cougars came into the game 10-12 and 4-4 in the 5A/4A Je co League. But they carried a three-game winning streak into Conifer and quickly jumped on the Lobos early.
Fans looked up after the rst quarter and it was 14-0 Evergreen. It almost felt over already.
“We talk about defensive pride a lot,” Cougars Head Coach Cub Buenning said. “In certain games, it’s easy to lose sight of the focus on defense. We have the opportunity to be really good defensively. I was happy with it. ere are still some things
to work out … but overall I’m super happy with their e ort.”
It was an emotional night for Conifer’s team, coaches and fans. Before tipo , the Lobos honored Assistant Coach Scott Deem, who passed away last month after a battle with brain cancer. e players presented Deem’s family with a personalized, signed jersey.
Conifer seemed rattled right out of the gate. At least eight rst-quarter turnovers contributed to the early hole the Lobos found themselves in, and Evergreen took advantage early.
Izzy Ogdon, the freshman standout for the Lobos, hit a 3-pointer to get Conifer on the board. With 4:48 left in the second quarter, it was 21-3 Evergreen. e Cougars ended the half up 27-8.
e third quarter was an explosion of o ense for Evergreen, which scored 23 points to Conifer’s seven to go into the fourth quarter up 50-15. Without Ogdon hitting 3-pointers and free throws, the Lobos struggled to put points on the board.
A running clock sped up the fourth quarter until the nal horn ended the game 60-19. Ogdon nished with 15 of the Lobos’ 19 points, with senior Eleanor Sikora posting the other four. Senior Finley Johnson had three steals for the Lobos.
“Evergreen being our rival, we’re always disappointed to lose to Evergreen, but these girls never quit,” said Lobos Head
Coach Connie Ireland. “It doesn’t matter what the score is. e best news of the night was it sounds like we moved up a ranking in 3A for the playo s, so they’re pretty excited about that.”
Despite playing in the 5A/4A Je co League, Conifer jumps down to 3A for the state tournament. e 3A 32-team regional/state tournament bracket is scheduled to be released by CHSAA on March 2. Before Conifer’s loss to Evergreen, the Lobos were No. 27 in the CHSAA Seeding & Selection Index.
“Now we just have to refocus and regroup and plan for our rst playo game in at least eight or 10 years,” Ireland said. “( e Je co League) de nitely has prepared us for the tournament. We’re going to go out and play our best. We’ve got some great senior leadership. I love them to death. ey really set the tone for the younger kids, and I just love their neversay-die attitude.”
Sophomore Ellie Buenning led Evergreen with 18 points. Senior Taylor Bailey hit ve 3-pointers for 15 points and senior Addie McEvers nished with 10.
Evergreen remains in 5A for the playo s.
e 40-team state tournament bracket is scheduled to be revealed on Sunday, Feb. 23. Before beating Conifer, Evergreen was ranked No. 23 in 5A in the CHSAA Seeding & Selection Index.
“Defense, rebounding, the little things
that we can be complacent with at times are super important,” Coach Buenning said. “We have the height. We have the ability. I think if we play defense, we box out and we rebound the ball, the o ense will take care of itself and I think we can compete. We feel great about where we’re at right now. We’re ready to go.”
Last year, Evergreen was given the No. 16 seed in the 5A state tournament. e Cougars lost in the rst round 49-36 to No. 17 Palmer Ridge.
Boys basketball
Before the girls’ team routed Conifer in the Lobos’ home gym, the Evergreen boys’ team also enjoyed a rivalry win. e game was tightly contested until the fourth quarter, when the Cougars’ size took over.
Evergreen won 59-48 to improve to 16-7 and 6-3 in the 5A/4A Je co League. e Cougars are currently ranked No. 20 in 5A in the CHSAA Seeding & Selection Index. Conifer fell to 12-11 and 3-6 in the 5A/4A Je co League. e Lobos play in 4A in the postseason and are currently ranked No. 30 in 4A in the CHSAA Seeding & Selection Index.
Neither Conifer nor Evergreen made the state tournament last year. Visit CHSAANow.com for updated rank-
and
son.
BY ELISABETH SLAY ESLAY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Various school districts and sports organizations in Colorado are weighing in on a recent executive order, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, issued by President Donald Trump in early February. e order has raised concerns and sparked discussions regarding the participation of transgender individuals in school athletics, particularly in women’s sports.
Keira, a representative from Team Trans, an international collective of trans and non-binary hockey players, expressed concerns over the executive order’s implications. (Keira requested to not include her last name due to safety concerns.)
“It’s a non-issue that not only lacks scienti c support but is also so minuscule — consider that only 12 athletes in the NCAA identify as trans out of over 500,000,” Keira said. “ e fact that this has become a major focus for this administration and the preceding election is not just a waste of time and e ort, but also dangerous.”
e Colorado High School Activities Association has been a key organization involved in the conversation. In response to the executive order, a representative from CHSAA said the organization is aware of the order and is monitoring both state and federal statutes.
In a Feb. 10 email to Littleton Public Schools obtained by Colorado Communi-
ty Media from a Colorado Open Records Request, CHSAA updated school districts on the steps it’s taking.
“ e order aims to bar transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports, creating a direct con ict between federal directives and existing Colorado state law,” documents state. “We recognize that this development places our member schools and CHSAA as a whole in a di cult position, as it raises legal and operational questions that are not yet fully answered. As always, when federal actions con ict with state law, our goal is to ensure clarity, compliance and support for our membership as we navigate this complex landscape.”
CHSAA goes on to state that it’s still trying to determine answers to questions regarding the impact and the legality of the order.
“While questions have been raised regarding the intersection of this order with Title IX and Colorado state law, we will do our best to nd answers to those questions and to provide appropriate guidance,” CHSAA said. “As the legal landscape continues to evolve, we will remain engaged and provide updates as new information emerges.”
Additionally, CHSAA clari ed that Colorado state law remains in e ect and protects people from “discrimination and harassment in schools based on disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, family composition, religion, age, national origin, or ancestry.”
“CHSAA is committed to understanding the potential implications of these new federal directives, and we will share more information with you as it becomes avail-
able,” the organization said.
Many school districts — including Englewood Schools, Je erson County Public Schools and Westminster Public Schools — have said they will follow CHSAA’s lead.
Douglas County School district Superintendent Erin Kane said at the school board’s Feb. 11 meeting that the district is already following an injunction that kept it in line with Title IX in 2020 and the district’s policies are consistent with those rules.
“Our biggest takeaway is that we need to let the dust settle and gure out where everything lands because right now, there are federal departments making recommendations as to what happens next,” Kane said.
Westminster Public Schools has an enrollment of 7,661 students and district spokesman Steve Saunders con rmed that, as of now, CHSAA’s policies regarding transgender athletes remain unchanged.
Je erson County Public Schools said it will continue to follow all Colorado state laws when it comes to how the district treats students, sta and families.
“Physical education, intramural and interscholastic activities are managed in accordance with district policy regulation, which includes the CHSAA’s Transgender Inclusion Bylaw & Policy,” the district said. “ e policy states, ‘students should be permitted to participate in physical education classes and intramural sports in a manner consistent with their gender identity. With regard to interscholastic activities, the district will follow the CHSAA Transgender Policy Statement.’”
South Suburban Parks and Recreation,
BERGEN PARK CHURCH
Bergen Park Church is a group of regular people who strive to improve ourselves and our community by studying the Bible and sharing our lives with each other. On Sunday mornings you can expect contemporary live music, Children’s Ministry that seeks to love and care for your kids, teaching from the Bible, and a community of real people who are imperfect, but seek to honor God in their lives. We hope to welcome you soon to either our 9:00AM or 10:30AM Sunday service. Search Bergen Park Church on YouTube for Livestream service at 9:00am 31919 Rocky Village Dr. 303-674-5484 info@bergenparkchurch.org / www.BergenParkChurch.org
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH SERVICES
28244 Harebell Lane
Sunday Service & Sunday School: 10 a.m.
Wednesday evening: 7p.m: (Zoom only Nov.1st-Mar. 31st.)
Visit: www.christianscienceevergreen.com for more information and ZOOM link
Reading Room: 4602 Plettner Lane 303-674-5296
OPEN: TUES-SAT 12 p.m.-3 p.m.
CHURCH OF THE HILLS PRESBYTERIAN (USA)
Serving the mountain community from the heart of Evergreen Worship 10:00 a.m.
Reverend Richard Aylor
O ce Hours: Tu-Thur 9:00 - 4:00; Fri 9:00 - noon Bu alo Park Road and Hwy 73 www.churchofthehills.com
CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION EPISCOPAL
In-Church: Sunday Communion Quiet Service 8:00 am & with Music 10:15 am 10:15 am only Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86017266569
In-Meadow: 2nd Sunday of the month at 9:30 a.m. --June through September— 27640 Highway 74 – ¼ mile east of downtown Evergreen at the Historic Bell Tower www.transfigurationevergreen.org
CONGREGATION BETH EVERGREEN (SYNAGOGUE)
Reconstructionist Synagogue
Rabbi Jamie Arnold
www.BethEvergreen.org / (303) 670-4294 2981 Bergen Peak Drive (behind Life Care)
DEER PARK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Reverend Dr. Knut Heim, pastor, Sunday Worship 10 AM
Located one mile west of Pine Junction just o Rt. 285 966 Rim Rock Road, Bailey (303) 838-6759 deerparkumc.org
All are welcome to our open/inclusive congregation!
EVERGREEN LUTHERAN CHURCH 5980 Highway 73 + 303-674-4654
Rev. Terry Schjang
Join us for worship in person or on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/EvergreenLutheranChurch
Sunday Worship held at 9am. www.evergreenlutheran.org + All Are Welcome!
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY CHURCH – EPC 1036 El Rancho Rd, Evergreen – (303) 526-9287 www.lomcc.org – o ce@lomcc.org
Sunday Worship 10:00 a.m., with communion every Sunday “Real Church In An UnReal World”
A community empowered by the Holy Spirit which seeks authentic relationships with God and others to share the good news of Jesus with Evergreen, the Front Range and the world. Come as you are, all are welcome!
PLATTE CANYON COMMUNITY CHURCH
Located: 4954 County Road 64 in Bailey.
O ce hours MWF 8am-1pm 303-838-4409, Worship & Children’s Church at 10am
Small group studies for all ages at 9am
Transitional Pastor: Mark Chadwick
Youth Pastor: Jay Vonesh
Other activities: Youth groups, Men’s/Women’s ministries, Bible studies, VBS, MOPS, Cub/Boy Scouts.
ROCKLAND COMMUNITY CHURCH
“Connecting all generations to Jesus”
Please check our website, www.Rockland.church, for updated service times ¼ mile north of I-70 at exit 254 17 S Mt. Vernon Country Club Rd., Golden, CO 80401 303-526-0668
SHEPHERD OF THE ROCKIES LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod. 106 Rosalie Road, Bailey, CO 303-838-2161 Pastor John Graham Sunday Worship Service; 9 a.m., Fellowship Time; 10:15 a.m., Sunday School & Bible Class; 10:45 a.m. www.shepherdoftherockies.org
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF EVERGREEN Rev. Sarah Clark • 303.674.4810
1. TELEVISION: e show “Happy Days” is a spino of which older sitcom?
2. LITERATURE: Which author created the character Hercule Poirot?
3. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Where is Barack Obama’s presidential library located?
4. GEOGRAPHY: What river forms part of the border between the United States and Mexico?
5. ASTRONOMY: Which planet in our solar system has the strongest gravitational eld?
6. U.S. STATES: Which four states intersect at the Four Corners monument?
7. SCIENCE: What is anemophily?
8. MOVIES: How much does an Oscar award trophy weigh?
9. WEATHER: What is a haboob?
10. MEASUREMENTS: How many millimeters are in a meter?
Answers
1. “Love, American Style.”
2. Agatha Christie.
3. Chicago, Illinois.
4. e Rio Grande.
5. Jupiter.
6. Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
7. Pollination by the wind.
8. 8.5 pounds.
9. An intense dust storm.
10. 1,000.
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which manages youth sports programs and doesn’t receive any federal funding, said it would not be making any changes to its policies.
“Our goal at South Suburban is to provide safe and inclusive recreation opportunities for all members of our community,” said Becky Grubb, South Suburban communications manager.
South Suburban also referenced its existing transgender and non-binary policy, and a rmed that no changes would be made in light of the new directive.
When asked how common it is for transgender women to participate in women’s sports at South Suburban, the organization replied that it does not track this information.
Keira, from Team Trans, pointed out that the debate surrounding transgender athletes goes beyond the concerns of trans individuals, with cisgender women, particularly women of color, facing discrimination based on arbitrary expectations of their bodies.
In 2022, a cisgender high school girl in
Utah was investigated for being trangender after placing rst in a state championship. Complaints from the parents of her competitors who came in second and third place prompted the investigation.
Additionally, in 2023 a 9-year-old girl in Canada was accused by an adult man of being transgender while she was competing in a track meet.
“ is ‘debate’ has led to cisgender women and girls — especially those of color — being subjected to discrimination simply for being perceived as ‘too manly,’” Keira said.
Keira said that many trans athletes view their participation in sports as vital to their well-being and mental health, and that no one is “pretending to be a woman” to succeed in athletics, but rather, to survive due to concerns for their safety.
Keira also pointed out the potential harm the executive order could cause to trans youth, whose rights may be threatened as a result.
“Trans kids are watching their rights being actively taken away, and we risk losing them,” Keira said. “ at is not OK. ey deserve to grow up in a world where they feel safe, seen and supported — and it’s on all of us to ensure that happens.”
NOTICE OF FINAL PAYMENT
NOTICE is hereby given that the Evergreen Metropolitan District (“District”) of Jefferson County, Colorado, will make final payment at 30920 Stagecoach Blvd. Evergreen, Colorado, on March 6th, 2025, at the hour of 10 a.m. to Roof Connect (“Contractor”), of Sheridan, Arkansas, for all work done by Contractor in construction work performed within the District.
2025 Last Publication: February 27, 2025 Publisher: Canyon Courier
Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company or corporation that has furnished labor, materials, team hire, sustenance, provisions, provender, or other supplies used or consumed by Contractor or its subcontractors, in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done or that supplied rental machinery, tools, or equipment to the extent used in the prosecution of the work, and whose claim therefor has not been paid by Contractor or its subcontractors, at any time up to and including the time of final settlement for the work contracted to be done, is required to file a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid and an account of such claim to the District, whose address is 30920 Stagecoach Blvd. Evergreen CO, 80439, on or before March 5th, 2025. Failure on the part of any claimant to file such verified statement of claim prior to such final settlement date will release the District, its Board of Directors, officers, agents, and employees, of and from any and all liability for such claim pursuant to
§38-26-107, C.R.S. BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS EVERGREEN METROPOLITAN DISTRICT
By: /s/
Jason Stawski
General Manager
Legal Notice No. CAN 1848
First Publication: February 20th, 2025. Last Publication: February 27th, 2025. Published in: Canyon Courier Public Notice
NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT JEFFERSON COUNTY, STATE OF COLORADO
Pursuant to C.R.S. Section 38-26-107, notice is hereby given that on the 11th day of March 2025 final settlement will be made by the County of Jefferson, State of Colorado to: AMERICAN WEST CONSTRUCTION LLC. 275 E 64TH AVE DENVER, CO 80221
hereinafter called the “Contractor”, for and on account of the contract for the West Coal mine Ave to West Bowles Ave Roadway Improvement project in Jefferson County, CO.
1. Any person, co-partnership, association or corporation who has an unpaid claim against the said project, for or on account of the furnishing of labor, materials, team hire, sustenance, provisions, provender or other supplies used or consumed by such Contractor or any of said work, may at any time up to and including said time of such final settlement, file a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim.
2.All such claims shall be filed with Heather Frizzell, Director of Finance Jefferson County Colorado, 100 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden CO 80419-4560.
3.Failure on the part of a creditor to file such statement prior to
