Canyon Courier May 2, 2024

ECARES helps senior residents P6

EFR community paramedic Je Henson takes 93-year-old Dorothy Moore’s pulse during a visit to her Evergreen home.

PHOTO BY JANE REUTER

Students help unearth Bergen Meadow time capsules

BY JANE REUTER JREUTER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

More than four decades ago, the rst time capsule was buried at Bergen Meadow Elementary School. On April 19, it and four other capsules emerged from the ground to the cheers of the school’s excited young students.

Principal Kristen Hyde and three second-graders unearthed the ve ammo cans — the oldest rimmed with rust from its decades in the ground — that contain artifacts from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. e last was buried in 2011, on the school’s 40th anniversary.

What’s in them was a mystery — but not for long. Evergreen photographer Ellen Nelson photographed and documented each item. ey were slated to be on display during

Resurfacing the past

a 4 p.m. May 1 Bergen Meadow closing celebration.

After 53 years and in the face of declining enrollment, Bergen Meadow Elementary will close its doors May 24, the last day of the school year. In September, its students will join the current Bergen Valley’s third through fth grade student body, and that school will be renamed Bergen Elementary.

e existing ve time capsules and their contents, repacked in new ammo cans, will be re-buried at Bergen Elementary in the fall. With them, the school will bury a sixth time capsule, this one re ecting 2024. e intent is that the capsules not be unearthed again until 2074, another 50 years.

at was also the intent in 1981 when the rst capsule was buried, said Hyde, principal of both Bergen Meadow and Bergen Valley schools. But the school’s closure, and uncertainty about the future use of the building, changed those plans.

“So many people in the commu-

Shay Spungin (in red) helps fellow second graders Casey Strickler and Val Davchev unearth a time capsule at Bergen Meadow Elementary April 19.

PHOTO BY JANE REUTER

Want to Break Away From Common Exterior Products? Check Out These Winners

elevated it to the top of a competitive category.”

I’m always on the lookout for new products that might interest my readers, and Pro Builder magazine is great at finding and promoting them, including with their annual “Most Valuable Product (MVP) Awards. Their February-March 2024 issue featured the top 3 winners (gold, silver and bronze, of course) in 16 categories from “Connected Home” to “Weatherization.”

In this week’s column, I’d like to feature their winners in the “Exterior” category. I think you’ll agree that each provides a fresh look and a welcome break from what we are seeing, especially in the tract homes from the major builders.

The “Gold” winner was Tantimber’s decking product they call Thermowood Here is a picture and description of their wood decking:

“Thermowood is a sustainable alternative to endangered South American hardwoods and various environmentally damaging petroleum-based wood imitations and hybrid products. It is dimensionally stable, extremely durable, and will not warp in extreme temperatures and environments, the company says, while still being workable. The practical and environmental benefits of the product, as well as its pleasing aesthetics,

Tantimber is a Turkish company, and their website describes their commitment to sustainable production of natural wood products. Today’s composite decking materials are petroleum-based, but Tantimber’s products are made from thermally processed natural wood. Their website is www.Tantimber.com

The “Silver” winner was Nakamoto Forestry’s siding product Gendai. Here is the picture and description of this product:

“Gendai is sustainably sourced and ethically produced shou sugi ban siding — an exterior cladding made exclusively from Japanese cypress that is charred as a preservative heat treatment. The product is black in color with a waterbased finish. Traditionally called ‘arai’ meaning ‘washed,’ Gendai is brushed once to remove the textured charred surface, leaving behind a smooth appearance and dark hue. The burnt fiber crevasse shadows are subtle and create a silky color with charred grain details throughout.”

Archive of Past Columns Is Online

Over the past two decades, this column has appeared in local weeklies and the Denver Post, and during that time I’ve written about every conceivable topic related to real estate. You can find and search that archive online at www.JimSmithColumns.com

Listed: 3-Bedroom Briarwood Hills Home

This bi-level home at 11296 W. Kentucky Dr. has been well maintained by the seller. It was painted and walkways replaced in 2006, and a new roof & siding were installed in 2017. The house is white with blue shutters and gutters, and a blue & white garage door was new in 2009. The seller put in a new, energy efficient furnace in 2014 and new acrylic shower and shower doors in 2007. The backyard is mostly flat now (due to the seller rocking the sloping landscape) and completely fenced. There are lilacs on two sides of the house, and an ornamental plum and two purple ash trees are in the backyard. Briarwood Hills is a very quiet, friendly neighborhood. Most of the surrounding homeowners care about their yards, as does this seller. You will find magazine-quality photos and a narrated video tour at www.LakewoodHome.info. Call listing agent Jim Swanson at 303-929-2727 to request a showing.

Nakamoto is a family-owned business in western Japan, which owns its own forests and mills near Hiroshima. They are the biggest manufacturer of yakisugi (the more common name for shou sugi ban wood) in the world, and have been doing it for 50 years. Their website is www.NakamotoForestry.com.

The “Bronze” winner for exterior products is Fiberon’s Wildwood Cladding. At right is the picture, and here is the paragraph describing the product:

“Free of toxic chemicals and made with 94% pre- and post-consumer recycled content, Wildwood composite cladding is a highly sustainable alternative to traditional wood cladding. It has several performance characteristics that make it an ideal solution for rainscreen applications, such as being hydrophobic and resistant to rotting, cracking, insects, and decay. The product features an open-joint profile and is available in a variety of board lengths and widths, combining the beauty and warmth of

Circling the Globe Was Fun

wood with the durability of highperformance, low-maintenance materials.”

The company operates out of Idaho and North Carolina. Its claim regarding sustainability is that its cladding features 94% pre– and post-consumer recycled content, is free of toxic chemicals and is manufactured using sustainable practices. They have been recognized as an “Eco-leader” by Green Builder magazine. The web address is too long for here. You will find a link for it at http:// RealEstateToday.substack.com

& Educational, But We’re Glad to Be Home!

$569,000

As you read this on May 2nd, Rita and I are just four days from our flight home to Denver, having circled the globe, mostly by ship. (There’s no port in Denver…) At right is a night-time picture of our ship, the Viking Sky, which I took in Tahiti back on Jan. 22nd. Our 122-day world cruise ends next Monday. Over 300 readers and friends have been following my daily “travel-blog” at http:// WhereAreJimandRita.substack.com. It will allow us to relive our adventures.

2-BR Lakewood Condo Listed by Jim Swanson

$300,000

This clean two-bedroom condo with both a detached garage and assigned parking is at 5725 Atlantic Place #100 in the Sunpointe condos of southeast Lakewood. This garden level unit has new flooring throughout. It has two good sized bedrooms and a nice living space with a woodburning fireplace. There’s a small outdoor patio, with storage. The subdivision is west of Sheridan Blvd. and just south of Jewell. All furniture in the unit is included if the Buyer wants it, otherwise it will be removed. The garage space is #112, and assigned parking space is #118. The building got a new roof thanks to a hail storm, and the seller will have paid his share of the deductible before closing. Find more pictures and a narrated video tour at www.LakewoodCondo.online. Call Jim Swanson at 303-929-2727 to see it.

the getting

care

nity helped collect artifacts and bury those time capsules,” she said. “ ey asked us to please make sure we dug them up. Now all of them will go with us to Bergen Elementary.”

e May 1 closing ceremony is a chance for current and former students to walk the halls one last time. In addition to documenting the time capsules’ contents, Nelson used a drone and camera to photograph Bergen Meadow inside and out, including pictures of each handprint on the school walls. e handprints signify second-graders’ passage to Bergen Valley.

at footage will be available to

*The fine print

Casey Strickler, with classmate Val Davchev next to her, holds up on one of the time capsules she helped unearth at Bergen Meadow Elementary April 19.

PHOTO BY JANE REUTER

students, teachers and alumni.

“ at way, someone who can no longer walk in the halls and be here could see and be a part of that,” said Pam Lush Lindquist, a former Bergen parent who organized the school’s 40th anniversary celebration.

While Hyde said many former school sta ers and community members are feeling emotional about the school’s closing, Bergen Meadow’s sta and students are looking forward to the change.

“People are really excited to be all together,” she said. “We already share sta , and among our students, siblings who may now be in separate schools are really excited to be together. ere’s a big feeling of anticipation.

“But there’s nostalgia among sta and community who are no longer here,” she continued. “ at’s really why we’re opening our doors again on May 1, as a walk down memory lane.”

e Je co school board voted in November 2022 to close 16 schools with declining enrollment, includ-

ing Bergen Meadow.

Bergen Meadow and Bergen Valley — located less than two miles apart and known together as e Bergens — share a principal; buses; a PTA; a digital teacher librarian; art, music and physical education teachers; mental health professionals and more.

Je co Public Schools is building a 15,000-square-foot, 10-classroom addition to Bergen Valley Elementary School to prepare for its new students and transformation to Bergen Elementary.

Editor’s note: e May 1 closing celebration happened after press time for this edition of the Canyon Courier. At the time of printing, the Courier planned to cover the ceremony — check canyoncourier.com for latest coverage.

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Resilience1220 to host annual fundraiser May 8

Evergreen nonprofit

focused on youth mental health provides free counseling and other services to local teens, parents and community

BY JANE REUTER JREUTER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Resilience1220 was born out of tragedy, but in the ve years since its creation, it’s become an anchor for many foothills area youth — a place to turn for therapy, community and acceptance.

And while the name was created to capture the age range of those it serves — ages 12 to 20 — Resilience1220 therapists and sta have also helped thousands of parents, teachers and others in the community.

e Evergreen-based nonpro t

provides con dential, no-cost counseling to youth from age 12 to 20. It also hosts no-cost therapeutic and social support groups for teens and adults. To date, it has served more than 2,700 young people.

Now, it needs the community’s help. Resilience1220 will host its “Elevating Youth Mental Health” fundraiser from 5 to 8 p.m. May 8 at Center Stage, 27608 Fireweed Drive in Evergreen. e evening will include a silent auction, hors d’oeuvres, cash bar and a showing of the documentary “Ripple E ect.” e lm documents the complexities of suicide loss.

e evening is not only Resilience1220’s largest fundraiser, it’s also the organization’s 5th anniversary and a celebration of Mental Health Awareness Month.

In 2019, three foothills-area teenagers were lost to suicide, triggering “a collective sense of alarm,” said Ariel Shea, director of therapy for Resilience1220.

“It scared people, and I think it

Therapists Jess Barks and Kelly Andrews ran a tie dye activity during one of the quarterly Teen Takeover events at the Clear Creek Recreation Center. PHOTO

In Evergreen, paramedics provide preventative care to help older residents stay in their homes

system, helping residents stay out of the hospital and in their homes.

e free program’s e ects are evident not only in statistics, but the words of its clients, like 89-year-old Amanda Elder.

BY JANE REUTER JREUTER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

As paramedic Je Henson takes 93-year-old Dorothy Moore’s pulse, she gently teases him.

“Basically, this one’s my father, checking my blood pressure, watching my stress, making sure I’m doing the right thing,” she said during one of Henson’s weekly visits to her home in Evergreen.

Henson is one of ve community paramedics who make up Evergreen Fire/Rescue’s ECARES team. Evergreen Community Assistance Referral & Education Services is aimed at lling gaps in the local health care

“My doctor says I’m one fall away from being disabled,” said Elder, who has lived alone in her Evergreen condominium since 2005. “But since I met Je and the crew, I have just felt so much more secure in this place. I just know they’re there.”

Founded in 2018, ECARES has grown to 50 clients, and those numbers are expected to keep climbing.

Evergreen’s population — along with all of Je erson County’s — is aging. By the year 2040, it’s estimated that about 25% of the county’s population will be over 65, with almost 10% over 80 years.

Because of the quality of life they enjoy, many seniors want to stay right where they are, according to a Je er-

SPEAK OUT!

son County demographics study. But when health care issues arise, options for older residents are often limited. Family members may be out-of-state or have little time to help, and in-home health care is typically expensive. Moving out of their mountain home may be not only emotionally di cult but nancially impractical.

“Some of them are house-rich and cash-poor,” said Annie Dorchak, the ECARES team lead who helped create the program along with EMS Division Chief Dave Montesi. “ e cost of assisted living can be $5,000 to $6,000 a month. Your average person does not have that kind of money and most insurances won’t cover it. ey can’t afford to go. And there aren’t that many

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places to move to down the hill.”

Moving to the metro area can also mean leaving behind support systems and friendships Evergreen residents have built over the years.

“You give up your home, your neighbors, the life you know to move to the Denver metro area and a totally di erent lifestyle,” Dorchak said. “People don’t want to do that. ey’d rather live and die in their home. Even if it means less access to health care, they believe they have a higher quality of life in their home.”

Born of community need and demand Programs like ECARES ll gaps in the health care system. Evergreen

The Evergreen Fire/Rescue ECARES team includes, from left, community paramedics Je Henson, John Lock, Mike Sivertson and Annie Dorchak. Sarah Provins, who is also part of the team, was not available for the photograph.

PHOTO COURTESY OF EVERGREEN FIRE/RESCUE

residents saw the need for such a program in 2016 and asked for help during community meetings leading up to the passage of a mill levy increase for the re district. Funds generated from those taxes formed the springboard for ECARES.

e tax increase is also helping save money in the forms of fewer 911 calls. Dorchak said it’s a model for other agencies, and she frequently gets calls from departments across the state that want to start a similar program.

Community paramedics must be licensed, with most obtaining a community paramedic certi cation from the International Board of Specialty Certication. ECARES is also endorsed by the state public health department’s Emergency Medical Services Division.

Most clients are referred to ECARES by their doctors after a hospitalization. During weekly visits to clients, community paramedics check vitals, ensure clients are taking medication when and how they should, and assess them for any physical, cognitive or emotional changes.

“We’re in a sense in a medical desert, and we’re able to bridge that gap at no cost to the patient,” he said. “We are an extra set of eyes on these people. We can also catch things that might otherwise go unnoticed.”

Rarely, community paramedics may recommend stepped-up care or a change in a client’s housing situation. e goal is always to keep a client in the home they know.

“We noticed early on there’s a concern or fear that we’re going to make them move out of their house,” Dorchak said. “If we don’t think someone is safe at home, there are options. We try to work with family and nd resources. Maybe someone from a home care agency comes in a couple times a week. Or maybe family is interested in having them live with them, or family member can move in with them.”

‘Doing God’s work’

e level of help community paramedics provide is detailed and often highly personal. Community paramedics speak with clients’ doctors and families, and Henson said he has often stood in line at the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions. He shrugs o any suggestion that these tasks extend beyond his job description.

“We tend to wear many hats,” he said. “ ey need these meds yesterday, and who’s going to get them for them?” For Henson, his three-year commu-

Evergreen Fire/Rescue community paramedic Je Henson helps Jack Mcpartland review medical appointments during a late March ECARES visit to Mcpartland’s Evergreen home.

nity paramedic career is a dream come true. Certi ed as a chiropractic physician and EMT, Henson ran a Chicagobased wellness clinic for 25 years before moving to Colorado and falling into “this amazing job.”

“ECARES is extremely unique,” he said. “It’s hard to comprehend this is even possible. Show me a better example of a community that takes care of its own more than Evergreen Fire.”

“It’s kind of like doing God’s work,” he continued, adding, “and I’m not religious.”

In his three years with the program, Henson’s built close relationships with his clients, and the comfort they feel with him is clear.

“You’re like a little old woman,” Elder lightly chides him when he asks if she’s taken her medication.

“It takes one to know one,” Henson shoots back, and the two smirk at one another.

Elder moved to her Evergreen condo after her husband’s death. She was 69 then, and her daughter and son were not comfortable with the decision.

“ ey didn’t think I was able to live alone and wanted me to move into assisted living, but I’d been waiting 50 years to move to the mountains,” she said. “I’m a mountain girl. I’m happy here.”

She credits her genes and ECARES

for much of her health and happiness, as does Moore, who’s lived alone since 1982.

“I’m never lonely,” she said. “I have a lot of friends. I knit, needlepoint, read and garden. I’m very fortunate.”

She also has ECARES.

“It’s hard for some seniors to have people intrude into their lives, but it’s a great program,” she said. “I’ve recommended it to many people.”

ECARES lls another, less clinical purpose. While some seniors have active social lives, the community paramedic may for others be the only person they see in a week.

For Henson, the social connection goes both ways.

“I think we like coming to see them as much as they love us coming,” he said.

“It is a fairly emotional job. You get to know these people really well.”

“If they pass away or leave their homes to go somewhere else, it’s a gut punch.”

Dorchak echoes that sentiment, but underneath the grief triggered by a client’s death, she said she also feels a sense of peace.

“ ere’s a di erent type of satisfaction from helping somebody age — and in multiple cases die — with grace,” she said. “We’re really giving autonomy and choice.”

Program spreading through foothills

Neighboring re agencies, faced with the same aging demographic, are getting on board. Two years ago, Inter-Canyon Fire started a Mountain Area Community Paramedics program.

Inter-Canyon Fire Captain Suzannah Epperson, who leads the program, said she modeled it after EFR’s ECARES.

MACP has about 20 clients, a medical director and two community paramedics.

“I especially worry about the people that are living alone,” she said. ey’re kind of living on the edge. I’m so happy when they use this resource.”

e Elk Creek Fire Protection District is also talking about a program there, trying to balance the funding, sta ng and other elements needed to launch it.

“We know there are a lot of elders in the community who want to age in place, and this is where some of them want to die,” said Elk Creek spokesperson Bethany Urban. “We would love to help them have the opportunity to age in place.”

“It would make sense for us to work together (with neighboring agencies,” she said. “It’s on our radar and we’re exploring options.”

Epperson, who also volunteers with Indian Hills Fire Rescue, said that agency also plans to start an ECARES-style program.

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PHOTO BY JANE REUTER

Not this year

Poll after poll shows that voters are not excited about either presidential candidate. Both men have approval ratings below 40%. ese two will face voters in less than seven months and one will be the next president.

e time is perfect for a third-party candidate. We have one, you say. Yes, we do, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be on the ballot in the majority of states. Polls show him getting somewhere between 10 and 20% of the votes, which is pretty signi cant. In reality, though, he has no chance of getting 420 electoral votes which is what it would take to win the presidency. I am not belittling his candidacy, but there is no feasible way he could win. So, for most of us, it’s a choice between two candidates, neither of which brings much enthusiasm.

It appeared for some time that the no-labels movement was going to eld a candidate. ey were able to cut through the red tape and get their candidate on the ballot. ey had raised a signi cant amount of money to support the candidate

There are many things about SeriesFest, the annual event that celebrates emerging and underserved voices in episodic storytelling, that make it truly unique. But what really stands out as the event reaches its 10th season is how it charts a decade’s worth of change in television – both in programming and how people access shows.

“When I think back to that rst year, we didn’t know what to expect and weren’t sure if anybody was going to come,” said Randi Kleiner, co-founder and CEO of SeriesFest.

“Now looking back, we’ve had so many success stories of shows that launched here, like ‘Mr. Robot’ and ‘Yellowstone,’ that people watch and love.”

Season 10 of SeriesFest kicked o on Wednesday, May 1, and runs through Sunday, May 5. e bulk of the festival will be held at the Sie

and it looked for a while that they were ready to bring us a third-party candidate. But they decided in the end not to and here’s why. e current election rules include the Electoral College. To win, a candidate must get 420 electoral votes. If no candidate can get that many votes, the election will be decided by vote of the House of Representatives with each state getting one vote. ose House of Representative members who would vote would be the newly elected group elected this November. So, we have no idea whether there would be a Republican or Democrat majority in the new House.

e no-labels movement had promised that they would not run a candidate who would become a spoiler. If their candidate could not win the presidency, they would not

run that candidate. ey considered Nikki Haley and Joe Manchin, but both declined as they too could see they could not win, and their candidacy would tip the balance towards Donald Trump. I applaud them for their honesty. Now would have been an ideal time for a thirdparty choice, and either would be able to defeat the party candidates in terms of popular votes. Had they run together as president and Vice President, they would have been unbeatable. But the electoral college doomed the e ort.

Trump has won 42 of the 44 primaries and caucuses and has 1915 delegates, which is enough to win the nomination. Biden, of course, ran largely unopposed and also has su cient delegates to win. But I would point out that the nomination system is deeply awed.

Trump was selected in primaries where approximately 5.1 million votes were cast, and Biden’s primaries yielded 2.0 million votes. e current estimate is that there are 50.9 million registered Democrats in the U.S. and 36.3 million regis-

tered Republicans. is means that 3.9% percent of Democrats picked Biden and 14% of Republicans chose Trump. Said another way, 82% of voters had no voice in these picks.

To sum up the situation, we don’t like either candidate and we had little to do with nominating them, but there is no chance of a third-party candidate who could win, entering the race. Members of the no-labels movement have announced that they will continue their quest for more moderation in government by working on Senate, House and local races. Hopefully, their e orts will result in more moderation and the realization that working together is the only way forward.

Jim Rohrer of Evergreen is a business consultant and author of the books “Improve Your Bottom Line … Develop MVPs Today” and “Never Lose Your Job … Become a More Valuable Player.” Jim’s belief is that common sense is becoming less common. Contact Jim at jim.rohrer2@ gmail.com.

SeriesFest celebrates a decade of television greatness

FilmCenter, 2510 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver, but some special events will be held at other locations.

Fittingly for a milestone year like this, the event is bigger than ever, with more great programming to watch, panels to attend and unique events to take part in.

“My recommendation for attendees, especially new ones, is to choose an independent pilot block, a network screening and a panel and from there, you can see what you gravitate towards,” Kleiner said. “What you’ll nd is the festival is all about community — anyone who comes through the Sie FilmCenter doors will feel that.”

is year’s pilots lineup is more wide-ranging than ever, with 45 independently produced pilots available to see. is includes international pilots, which is a rarity at these types of events. Attendees can select from shorts, dramas, comedies and more.

Some of the panels that are worth checking out include “It’s In the Details: Costume Design for Television,” which features costumers for shows like “Outlander,” “Queen Charlotte” and “Yellowstone,” and a screening and discussion of the hilarious SYFY show “Resident Alien.” Creator, executive producer and writer Chris Sheridan and actor Sara Tomko will both be in attendance.

For special events, the SeriesFest Soiree Fundraiser Gala is the biggest event of the whole festival. e organization will be honoring Minnie Driver, Mark Duplass, SAG-AFTRA,

Shondaland and Betsy Beers, as well as celebrating 20 years of “Grey’s Anatomy,” with cast and creatives in-person. “Grey’s” is getting its own special legacy celebration, featuring showrunner Meg Marinis and actors James Pickens Jr, Kevin McKidd, Camilla Luddington, Caterina Scorsone and Kim Raver. And as always, the festival wraps up at Red Rocks, this year with a dance party celebrating Beyoncé’s new album, “Cowboy Carter,” featuring Young Guru and special guests from the album.

“ ere is so much programming this year, and so much talent taking part, that I hope people come check it out as I know they will get hooked,” Kleiner said. “We’re always trying to expand our audience and I hope people embrace the festival and have the insightful conversations that really move the needle forward

Columnist

Clarke Reader

HAPPENINGS

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.

THURSDAY

Evergreen Chamber of Commerce Women in Business luncheon: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., May 2, Mount Vernon Canyon Club, 24933 Club House Circle, Evergreen.

Wheels of Expression-Art Show & Skatepark Fundraiser: 4-8 p.m., May 2, Evergreen Brewery/ Boone’s Lot, 2962 Evergreen Pkwy. Art, food trucks, skate ramps, yard games, music.

SATURDAY

Evergreen Audubon Wildlife Watch Team Volunteer Training: 1-3 p.m. May 4. Meet at the picnic tables next to the Evergreen Lake parking lot. Register at evergreenaudubon.org.

National Wild re Community Preparedness Day: 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. May 4, Inter-Canyon Fire Station 3, 8445 S. U.S. 285, Morrison. Information on slash collection, re insurance and wild re safety. Hosted by Homestead Community Ambassador and Homestead Emergency Action Team.

SUNDAY

Evergreen Audubon Dawn Chorus: 6-9 a.m., May 5, Ever-

SEE HAPPENINGS, P14

READER

in the industry.”

For the full schedule, passes and more, visit https://seriesfest.com/.

Lone Tree Arts Center Blends Music and Movement

It’s been a long time since classical music carried the stodgy reputation it once used to have. From pairing orchestras with popular acts to performing lm scores live, there is so much room for experimentation and fun. e Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St., is taking this to a thrilling new level with Cirque de la Symphonie and the Boulder Phil e event will be held at the center at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, and will delight audiences with a unique pairing of music and acrobatics. e Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the region’s best orchestral groups and Cirque de la Symphonie is well-known for its unique and enrapturing approach to movement synchronized to music.

Secure your tickets at www.lonetreeartscenter.org.

Ain’t No Party Like the Denver Derby Party

No party in Denver gets quite the hullabaloo that e Original Denver Derby Party does, and deservedly so. Every year it’s a total blast of

fun and tradition, all going to a good cause (100 percent of all proceeds bene t the Sean Ranch Lough Foundation).

Held on Saturday, May 4, the party has found a perfect venue in McGregor Square, 1901 Wazee St. in Denver. McGregor has more than 17,000 square feet of outdoor gathering space, the Milepost Zero food hall, three levels of indoor space and balconies, and features a 66-foot by 20-foot LED screen, according to provided information.

Make sure your derby drip is on point and get information and tickets at https://denverderby.com/.

Clarke’s Concert of the Week — Blondshell at the Larimer Lounge

Sabrina Teitelbaum, the 25-yearold who records under the name Blondshell, is one of last year’s great new indie rock discoveries — her self-titled album from 2023 made a bunch of best of lists and brims with great guitar licks and smart and insightful lyricism.

In support of the album, Blondshell will be stopping by the Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St. Denver, at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8. An intimate venue like this is the perfect place for Teitelbaum’s classic-rockinspired ri s to achieve full e ect. Get tickets at www.larimerlounge. com.

Clarke Reader’s column on culture appears on a weekly basis. He can be reached at Clarke.Reader@hotmail. com.

David M. “Dave” Dobbels, very much-loved son, father, brother, uncle, neighbor and friend, age 61, passed away on March 16, 2024, in Pine, Colorado. Dave graduated from Rich South High School in Richton Park, IL. and attended Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL. Dave was born July 18, 1962, to Elmer and Lorraine (nee VandeMaele) Dobbels in Moline, IL. He was predeceased by his father, Elmer Dobbels, and mother, Lorraine Dobbels. Dave is survived and is dearly missed by his stepson Collin, who Dave loved as a true son, , siblings Debbie McMahon (husband Christopher), Denise Schmitz, and Dan Dobbels (wife Sue). His infectious laughter and fun-loving spirit will also be missed by his nieces and nephews, Meghan McKenna, Ryan McMahon, Caitlin Crawford, Eric Dobbels, Greg Dobbels, Joe Dobbels, and Makenna Schmitz.

David was a caring and loving soul and will be remembered a ectionately by the many lives he touched. He was the Principal of Evergreen Sports Group and was admired and appreciated by colleagues in his sales and marketing career. He was a passionate

youth football coach and talked with pride about Collin and the many players he coached through the years. David was an avid football fan and enjoyed talking to and texting with his nephews, brother, and brother-in-law during football games. He spoke fondly of his many friends, neighbors and co-workers and always enjoyed exercising his witty humor with family. Dave enjoyed hiking, mountain climbing, biking, and skiing his beloved mountains. David will be desperately missed by those he left behind. Our hearts are broken by this unexpected loss.

Memorials in David’s name can be made to the Mountain Area Land Trust. Online, go to www.sayetheland.org. Memorials can also be mailed to Mountain Area Land Trust, 908 Nob Hill Road, Suite 2000, Evergreen, CO, 80439.

A Celebration of Life will be held on May 17 at e Barn at Evergreen Memorial Park, 26624 N. Turkey Creek Rd. from 6 to 10PM. “May the winds of heaven blow softly and whisper in your ear how much we love and miss you and wish that you were here.”

Local organizations provide comprehensive services for people in need

“comprehensive legal, emotional and critical supportive services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, abuse of at-risk individuals, elder abuse, and human tra cking.”

Brandon Bowles, developmental manager for PorchLight, said the navigators are the PorchLight team members who help guide each person through the center. e organization partners with several government and nonpro t agencies to provide services to people and families in need.

lieve that tackling all of a person’s needs is the best way to help them.

Pos Ryant, founder and director of the Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization of Denver believes that forming relationships is at the heart of what makes the holistic approach work.

BY JO DAVIS JDAVIS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA

Healthcare, a ordable housing, food insecurity, homelessness, violence and in ation are among the top issues facing Americans and Coloradans, according to a study by Pew Research Center.

While the state and the country struggle to resolve these issues through legislation, nonpro ts in the Denver metro area are attacking the issues using a holistic approach.

e Merriam-Webster Dictionary de nes “holistic” as a focus on the whole system, not a single part. A holistic approach to helping people means also helping with shelter, food, mental health, medical checks, employment, wellness and more in addition to the problem that brought the person in for help.

Several local organizations practice using a holistic approach to helping people. One model of this approach is the PorchLight Family Justice Center in Lakewood.

e organization’s work is described on its website as providing

According to Bowles, these services can range from health checks at the in-house clinic, legal services, remote court appearances, therapy, housing, clothing and even childcare, among other things.

e center has several services provided by partner agencies right there on location, so there is no need to leave the building for most things, Bowles added.

“We have 20 cubicles here for partners to use,” Bowles said. “So oftentimes we use the analogy that PorchLight is kind of like the mall.

e stores in the mall are our partners and the services that are provided.”

He gave an example. “Our medical services are provided through St. Anthony’s forensic nursing programs,” Bowles explained. “Our navigators are kind of like personal shoppers. So, they’re the ones that know what is on sale at all the stores, what’s on discount. If you want to nd a pair of orange shoes, they’re going to tell you which store to go to. So that’s kind of an easy way to think about it.”

Organizations like PorchLight be-

“I think we’re more focused on the relationship with clients and really providing opportunities for the community to build their resilience,” Ryant said. “To nd their support system, to create awareness around various wellness tools and/or programs that are out there. And not only the ones we o er but that are out there for people who may be struggling, who just need a friend.”

Ryant went on to say that helping his target demographic — the youth of the Denver Metro area — requires providing services and a space for their families as well.

AOPYO is not the only organization that provides services for the entire family. Gigi’s Playhouse of Denver in Lakewood provides a space and services for kids and adults with Down syndrome. ese services include education, tness, wellness, occupational skills, support groups and more. However, there is also programming that the family can use.

“ e value that we’re giving to these families is astronomical,” said Leslie Klane, executive director of Gigi’s Denver. “It’s not just in the fact that the services are free, but it’s in helping the families (and the person with Down syndrome) move on that path towards a future of independence and a good quality of life of enjoying life.”

ese organizations and others believe the bene ts of the holistic approach is yielding results.

For example, Gigi’s Playhouse Denver volunteers have developed a cutting-edge tness program GigiFit, for kids with Down Syndrome. According to Klane, the program is being used around the world.

“We have two physicians locally, in Wheat Ridge. ey co-designed GigiFit,” Klane explained. “It’s about mobility, dexterity, exibility and its movement.”

Klane said the doctors designed the program to help Denver families at rst.

“But then it became national, then international,” Klane said. She said GigiFit classes are virtual, with participants from all over the world.   AOPYO’s best success stories come from the people who came back to help work at the company once their time with the program nished.

An example is Lex Cacciatori, the AOPYO communications support specialist. Cacciatori said she entered the program at a volatile time in her adolescence. e organization’s approach helped steer her to a better life.

“It’s not just supportiveness, energy and the community, but the people of AOPYO,” Cacciatore said. “ ey’ve really supported me through a lot of things personally, academically and in every aspect of my life.”

She said Ryant even checked in with her throughout college to provide the much-needed support and encouragement.

HOLISTIC

Dr. G.C. Di Laura, language specialist at AOPYO, said the center and Ryant helped her whole family. Di Laura said that she rst came to the program years ago to seek support for her daughter.

“ e atmosphere that they create, the openness, a safe it’s so hard to nd these places, especially for the youth,” Di Laura said. “As a parent, my daughter also went through the program. And Pos (Ryant) was amazing for her. We had very hard personal di culties at that time.”

Di Laura said Ryant and the organization helped her whole family with wellness, mental health, academic support and providing a community.

Some other local organizations that provide holistic help include:

• Marisol Homes of Denver is a women’s shelter that runs a holistic program for clients. e program includes services and support in employment, housing, health care, mental health awareness wellness and more.

• Hope House of Colorado in Arvada calls its holistic approach “selfsu ciency programming” used to help teen mothers in the Denver Metro area. e organization provides wellness, education, career, social support and more for teen mothers.

• e Arc of Colorado has locations all across the state and the U.S. It provides services and support for adults and kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Additionally, Arc provides mental, career, education and wellness services for their clients.

• Avi at Old Towne in Arvada holds 30 apartments for former foster kids who have “aged out” of the system and are no longer eligible for services. CASA of Je erson and Gilpin Counties partners with Foothills Regional Housing to create housing for 30 of the teens. e program also provides services in mentorship, wellness, and support with career and education.

To nd more organizations that o er a holistic approach to helping people, go to ColoradoGives.org and search the nonpro t organizations listed.

Pos Ryant (right) and Ronnie Qi (left) stand in the Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization’s new headquarters. The organization o ers wellness classes, support groups, Self Care Saturday events, tutoring and more to help Denver Metro teens. PHOTOS BY JO DAVIS

Lex Cacciatore was once a teen in the Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization. The holistic program helped her to get accepted to and graduate college. Cacciatore now works for AOPYO, helping other teens.

Google, Rewiring America and Gov. Polis announce a new energy savings tool for Colorado households

Gov. Jared Polis recently announced a collaboration with Google.org and the nonpro t Rewiring America. ey launched a tool to help Coloradans calculate their energy savings, the Colorado Energy E ciency Upgrade Savings Calculator. e tool is funded by a $5 million grant from Google.org.

“With this new tool, Coloradans can easily access discounts on heat pumps, electric vehicles, solar power and more. ese clean energy upgrades save Coloradans money, potentially thousands of dollars, and will help Colorado achieve our climate goals to help future generations,” said Gov. Polis.

e calculator was created to help families calculate their savings from

upgrading to a more energy-e cient lifestyle. ose savings come from the many incentives and credits available from federal, state and local sources, according to the governor’s press release announcing the project.

“Tens of thousands of dollars in local, state, utility, and federal incentives make these zero-emission technologies more a ordable and accessible,” said Colorado Energy O ce Executive Director Will Toor. “ is easy-to-use tool will help Coloradans maximize these incentives to pay the lowest possible cost for home energy upgrades, which reduce pollution and save them money on utility costs.”

e calculator was the brainchild of the nonpro t Rewiring America and the Google.org Fellows. Rewiring America is an organization that promotes electrifying communities. Ac-

cording to the governor’s announcement, the Google.org Fellows are a team of engineers, program managers, and other IT experts who work on pro bono projects.

“Collaborating with Rewiring America enabled our Google.org Fellows to support the creation of a crosscountry impact by helping American households take advantage of these new electri cation incentives,” said Bhavna Chhabra, senior director of software engineering and Google’s Boulder o ce lead. “It’s a great example of how advanced technology, like AI, can be leveraged in a bold and responsible way. As a Coloradan, I’m proud that our state is leading on climate solutions at the household level.”

e savings calculator also has language translation capabilities and is

designed to be easy to operate. e collaborators hope that the tool helps households reduce their climate impact without economic compromises.

“We’re thrilled to launch this new tool in a state that is truly leading the way on residential electri cation, thanks to Gov. Polis’ leadership and the e ort of so many advocates,” said Ari Matusiak, CEO of Rewiring America. “We look forward to continuing to work in partnership to make these important home upgrades more affordable and accessible to all. With this calculator, households in Colorado are only a few clicks away from the next steps on their electri cation journey.”

To access the calculator, go to https://homes.rewiringamerica.org/ calculator.

motivated schools to listen di erently,” Shea said.

In response, a group of local therapists and community members — led by therapists and parents Heather Aberg and Jen Pearson — founded Resilience1220. Aberg still works with the organization as a therapist. Pearson runs a private counseling practice.

e group’s goal was to make it easy for youth to access counseling. at started with making it free. At age 12, youth in Colorado can legally receive mental health services without the consent of a parent or guardian, removing yet another potential barrier to care.

e need for Resilience1220’s services was immediately clear. In its rst year, it provided 970 hours of individual therapy. In 2023, that number had increased to 1400 hours, according to the nonpro t.

It’s also grown from a handful of counselors to 33, all of whom are paid for their work even as the services remain free to clients.

Shea and Resilience1220 executive director Annie Cooley said multiple factors contribute to the rise in teenage anxiety and depression.

“I think it’s been growing for years, and I think the pandemic exacerbated everything,” Shea said. “Social media plays a role, both pro and con. It helps connect kids but it’s also isolating. Our world is angst-ridden, and obviously, they’re feeling that.

“I’m always inspired when kids seek help for themselves; it takes so much courage. I’m blown away by the kids and their strength.”

About 1 in 5 adolescents report symptoms of anxiety or depression, according to a 2021-2022 Teen National Health Interview survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. And a signi cant share say of those teens said they weren’t receiving therapy due to cost, stigma, and/or not knowing how to get help.

ose are the very issues Resilience1220 works to overcome, and in its ve years of existence, Shea feels they’ve made strides.

“Even at the time this (organization) started, I think the stigma was pretty strong,” she said. “We don’t talk about mental health. We don’t tell everybody we’re going to therapy.

Now, there’s been a shift. Kids

Resilience1220’s summer Stay Connected

adding the organization has grown from reacting to a crisis to taking a

“Our focus in the beginning was

away,” said the parent of an 18-yearold transgender child and three other children. “ ey have always held space and found resources for us. I believe the resilience we found in our family is a direct result of (their) support. ese folks are digging deep and creatively showing up to meet real needs in mental health.”

Another parent said they found a pencil on the ground with Resilience1220’s information on it. e timing could not have been better.

“I had no clue what Resilience1220 was, so I looked them up online and was shocked,” the parent said. “ ey got us going with a therapist and my son was happy to speak with someone other than family. …Resilience1220 really makes a di erence.”

Resilience1220 provides far more than one-on-one therapy. It o ers art therapy, and experiences like hiking, ropes courses, movie screenings and even Dungeons and Dragons hangout events. erapists partner with area schools and conduct in-school group sessions on topics teachers say their students want to learn more about.

“We really try and work within the community, supporting parents and teachers, and doing a lot of education and outreach,” Cooley said,

on the individual,” Shea added. “As we’ve grown, we’ve tried to look at things systemically. We o er three free sessions to parents of clients, as well as teachers. We’re trying to tap into getting kids connected and not isolated.”

Resilience1220 also works with a youth advisory committee and has a peer mentoring program.

“ e youth give us intel, and really let us know what their peers want,” Cooley said.

“We want to continue to build more peer-to-peer programming. So far, it’s been going really amazing.” Resilience1220 is also working to grow its presence in neighboring Cooley said, including Gilpin and Clear Creek counties.

Tickets for the May 8 fundraiser are $30 for general admission or $50 for a VIP ticket that includes priority theater seating and a movie snack. For more information or to buy tickets, visit resilience1220.org and click “calendar.”

Summer series includes equine therapy group. The nonprofit partnered with Higher Ground Healing Farm to discover the healing benefits of working with animals

PHOTO COURTESY OF RESILIENCE1220

HAPPENINGS

green Lake. Meet at the picnic tables next to the Evergreen Lake parking lot. Information at evergreenaudubon.org.

TUESDAY

Evergreen Audubon Chapter Meeting: 6-7:30 p.m. May 7, Church of the Trans guration, 27640 CO74, Evergreen.

WEDNESDAY

Seniors4Wellness Wellness Class on scams: 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., May 8, Bergen Park Church, 31919 Rocky Village Dr, Evergreen.

Buchanan Park Improvements: Walk the Park! Community KickO 5-6:15 p.m. May 8, Evergreen Park & Recreation District Admin Bldg, 1521 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen. Join a Community Walk with EPRD board, sta and design team

5th annual Elevating Youth Mental Health fundraiser: 5-8 p.m. May 8, Center Stage, 27608 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen.Resilience 1220 fundraiser, featuring silent auction, hors d’oeuvres, cash bar and the documentary “Ripple E ect,” on the complexities of suicide loss.

UPCOMING

Evergreen Fire/Rescue Spring wild re presentation “Firewise landscaping:” 6-7:30 p.m. May 9, EFR Administration Building, 1802 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen. Learn

how to strategically place re-resistant plants to resist the spread of re to your home. evergreen rerescue. com.

Buchanan Park Improvements: Walk the Park, On Your Own Time: May 9-17. Pick up a map at EPRD Admin Bldg, 1521 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen, and walk the park on your own time.

Center Stage 3rd annual trunk sale: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 11, 27608 Fireweed Dr. Evergreen. Vintage clothing, handmade princess dresses and skirts, tote bags, jewelry, fabric and patterns.

Recycling Strategies glass recycling community information workshop: 6-8 p.m. May 15, Evergreen Fire/Rescue, 1802 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen. Learn how to properly dispose of glass so that it can be e ectively recycled. Information: Deb Sandler at recyclingstrategies@gmail.com”

Seniors4Wellness Friday Cafe: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. May 17, Christ the King Church, 4291 Evergreen Pkwy, Evergreen

Art Gone Wild fundraiser for Wild Aware: 5-8 p.m. May 17, Mountain Home, 27965 Meadow Drive, Evergreen. Free event featuring wildlife art created by area artists and sculptors for sale to the public, wine and appetizers. Wild Aware volunteers will provide information about the nonpro t’s programs.

Seniors4Wellness Bingo &

• SHOWER ENCLOSURE SPECIALIST

• WINDOW / THERMOPANE REPLACEMENTS

• WINDOW & DOOR RESCREENING

• NEW WINDOW SYSTEMS

• TABLETOPS / MIRRORS

• AUTO, TRUCK, RV, GLASS INSTALLATION

• WINDSHIELD CHIP REPAIR

• VEHICLE DOOR MIRROR REPLACEMENT

• HEADLIGHT LIGHT POLISH RESTORATION

Games: 12:30-2:30 p.m., May 22, Bergen Park Church, 31919 Rocky Village Dr, Evergreen.

Evergreen Fire/Rescue Wild re Forum: 6-8 p.m. May 22, Evergreen High School, 29300 Bu alo Park Road, Evergreen. evergreen rerescue.com.

Medlen School Days historical camp: June 6-8 and June 13-15. For elementary age children. Sponsored by the Evergreen Mountain Area Historical Society. Camp is located on South Turkey Creek Road. $40. Email MedlenSchoolDays@ gmail.com for registration form. For information, call JoAnn Dunn at 303-503-5978.

Evergreen Elks Lodge 2024 charity golf tournament:  June 19, Hiwan Golf Club, 30671 Clubhouse Ln. Registration 6:30 am, tee time 8:00 am.

Evergreen Sustainability Alliance spring recycling: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. June 22, Evergreen Lutheran Church, 5980 Highway 73, Evergreen. Bring your hard-to-recycle items like electronics, old paint, block Styrofoam, appliances, glass, toothbrushes/toothpaste tubes, old markers/pens and car batteries to the Evergreen Sustainability Alliance’s Spring Clean recycling event. TVs an additional $25. For more information, info@sustainevergreen. org.

ONGOING

e American Legion Evergreen Post 2001: Meets every fourth Tuesday at 7 p.m., Evergreen Church of the Trans guration, 27640 Highway

74, Evergreen. Serving all military veterans in the foothills communities. Email evergreenpost2001@ gmail.com

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.

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 MountainAreaDems@gmail.com.

Evergreen Sustainability Alliance is looking for volunteers: Evergreen Sustainability Alliance’s “Let’s Embrace Zero Food Waste” program in local schools and food banks needs volunteers. Volunteers are needed for a couple hours. Call 720-536-0069 or email info@sustainevergreen.org for more information.

Evergreen Nature Center: e 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 www. EvergreenAudubon.org.

Blue Spruce Habitat volunteers needed: Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity is looking for volunteers. A variety of opportunities and exible schedules are available on

SEE HAPPENINGS, P15

I’m 4 years old, crate trained, potty trained and fully vaccinated. I’m looking for my new forever home because my last companion passed away. If you’d like to meet me at my foster home, just complete the application at EAPL.com and we can arrange to catch up…

new construction sites as well as for exterior minor home repairs. No previous construction experience needed. Contact volunteer@ bluesprucehabitat.org for information.

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. ere are many volunteer options from which to choose. For more information, call Mary at 720673-4369 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.

Caregiver support group: Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice o ers a monthly group to provide emotional support services for caregivers helping ill, disabled or elderly loved ones. An in-person support group meets every third Monday from 4-6 p.m. at 3081 Bergen Peak Road, Evergreen. For more information, visit mtevans.org/services/ emotional-support/.

Parkinson’s disease support group: A Parkinson’s disease support group meets the rst Friday of

the month from 1-3 p.m. at Evergreen Christian Church, 27772 Iris Drive, Evergreen. For more information, email esears@parkinsonrockies.org.

Mountain Foothills Rotary meetings: Mountain Foothills Rotary meets at 6 p.m. Wednesdays both in person at Mount Vernon Canyon Club, 24933 Club House Circle, Genesee, and via Zoom. Join the Zoom meeting at https://us02web.zoom. us/j/81389224272, meeting ID 813 8922 4272, phone 346-248-7799.

Beyond the Rainbow: Resilience1220 o ers Beyond the Rainbow, which is two support groups that meet the second Tuesday of the month. One is a safe group for those 12-20 and the other is a group for parents and caregivers wanting support for raising an LGBTQ+ child. For group location and to RSVP, email heather@resilience1220.org.

HIRING

CONTEST Cute Pets Celebrate National Pet Month!

Former Clear Creek deputy found guilty of reckless endangerment in Christian Glass case

Jury unable to reach a decision on second-degree murder, o cial misconduct charges against Andrew Buen

BY CHRIS KOEBERL AND CORINNE WESTEMAN

May 1st – 20th

Voting begins:

May 21st – 31st

Winner announced in the June 6th publications.

sponsored by:

Following eight days of testimony and two-and-a-half days of deliberations, a Clear Creek County jury found former sheri ’s deputy Andrew Buen guilty of reckless endangerment.

e jury could not reach a decision on the charges of second-degree murder and o cial misconduct, they told the judge at 4:30 p.m. April 26. e parties will return to Clear Creek Courthouse April 29 to discuss next steps in the case and schedule Buen’s sentencing for the reckless endangerment conviction.

Reckless endangerment is a Class 2 misdemeanor punishable by up to 120 days in jail and/or $750 in nes.

Overnight June 10-11, 2022, Christian Glass called 911 for help, saying he was trapped in his car. When ofcers arrived, they asked Glass to leave his vehicle and he refused in what turned into a long stando that ended when o cers broke his car window and used a Taser on him. Buen then shot Glass ve times, killing him, according to an indictment.

Christian’s parents, Simon and Sally Glass, addressed the media afterward, saying they were still processing the jury’s decision. ey were thankful for the reckless endangerment conviction and thanked the jury for their deliberation in the case. ey were hopeful that justice would still be served for their son, even if it takes several more weeks.

e jury, made up of county residents, heard testimony from a range of witnesses for both the prosecution and defense. Jurors also repeatedly watched three separate videos from the body-worn cameras of law

The jury could not reach a decision on the charges of second-degree murder and o cial misconduct, they told the judge at 4:30 p.m. April 26.

PHOTO BY CHRIS KOEBERL

enforcement o cers on-scene that night.

“Everything (Buen) did that night was to get Christian out of the car and, ladies and gentlemen, he did it. He got him out,” 5th Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum said during closing arguments.

“When you watch the bodycam footage, I want you to listen to what Deputy (Tim) Collins on the hood of the car says after Buen shot his ninemillimeter handgun ve times,” McCollum told jurors during closing arguments. “He said, ‘Oh God, what did we just do?’”

Buen’s defense attorneys maintained that Glass was intoxicated or “high” the night he refused to leave his stranded vehicle.

Referring to body-worn camera video from the night Glass was killed, Buen’s lead defense attorney, Carrie Slinkard, said Glass’s eyes appeared dilated in a manner “consistent with drug use.”

“Instead of complying, he (Glass) armed himself with a knife and police responded with the realized consequences they had been warning him about multiple times over and over as he assumed a violent posture, (and) prepared to attack anyone who makes entry into that car illegally,” Slinkard said in court.  Buen chose not to testify during the trial.

Editor’s note: Visit clearcreekcourant.com for a full version of this story.

How Columbine can reshape news media to better serve the public

BY RYLEE DUNN AND ELLIS ARNOLD RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA AND EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Nearly 25 years after a mass shooting plunged Columbine High School into the national consciousness, a former principal and two current teachers sat down for interviews with news reporters ahead of the tragedy’s anniversary.

Media Day, organized by the Jefferson County School District as a way to shield teachers and students from a barrage of reporters, o ered them a chance to re ect on where journalists went wrong in covering the shooting.

One frustration that still sticks in their minds: News coverage can amplify rumors and misinformation, including the narrative that the two students committed the shooting

because they were bullied.

“I think a lot of times, the narrative that was given was not accurate,” said Frank DeAngelis, who served as Columbine’s principal at the time. “And unfortunately, 25 years later, that narrative is still out there.”

In the years since the attack, few events have stopped America in its tracks like that day.

e intervening years have seen school gun incidents on the rise and, in turn, a rise in the frequency in which such events are covered in the news media. And while mass school shootings haven’t necessarily become more common, they’ve taken on a higher death toll.

e way that media covers traumatic events has been debated by readers, scholars and journalists

Tom Fildey, a graphic designer at Colorado Community Media, flips through old Columbine Community Courier newspapers from when he was an intern at the paper 1999. The newspapers include reporting and photos from his team from the day of the Columbine shooting and the weeks that followed.

PHOTO BY NINA JOSS

alike, but a few lessons have become clear, as highlighted by those who study coverage of shootings and by those in the Columbine community like DeAngelis: Don’t make the shooters into legends. Don’t unwittingly inspire future killings. Don’t turn the tragedy into myth and misinformation.

University of Colorado Boulder professor Elizabeth Skewes, a media scholar, posits that people have become desensitized to news of mass shootings, and survivors and those impacted indirectly have been retraumatized.

Unfettered access to news at America’s ngertips through smartphones “can make it so that when everything feels dramatic, nothing is dramatic,” Skewes said.

“Any mass shooting is awful,” she said. “Unfortunately, we have so many that they have become almost routine.”

Shooters in the years after the 1999 attack emulated the Columbine killers. University of Connecticut assistant professor Amanda Crawford said that is partly because reporters, whether they meant to or not, gloried the killers. She said journalists should avoid that.

“You can’t underestimate the impact of that news coverage — of that media attention — on our larger

ideas about mass shootings, about school shootings, about youth perpetrators, about this ongoing mass shooting crisis,” Crawford said.

Covering the Columbine shooting

e Columbine attack remains a singular event in the canon of mass shootings in the United States, due to a number of factors: the advent of 24-hour news, police protocols of the time period and news coverage that sensationalized the shooters, Skewes said.

“Columbine was really the rst televised mass shooting,” Skewes said, adding: “I think a lot of journalists didn’t quite know what to do, even though there had been other mass shootings to some degree.”

Skewes added that the police protocol of the time was to assume criminals take hostages and wait, meaning that news outlets had time to mobilize to the scene but lacked concrete information — leading to rampant speculation.

“ is unfolded over hours,” Skewes said. “News organizations could be there to see it unfold and to photograph it as it unfolded too … ere was so much misinformation initially.”

John McDonald, formerly executive director of Je co School Security from 2008 to 2022, now the chief operating o cer for the Council on School Safety Leadership, said the rush to get information out led to the dissemination of faulty narratives, such as incorrect theories about

the killer’s backgrounds, becoming widespread.

“ e other problem with Columbine is the facts and circumstances surrounding it and the narrative out of the media was so di erent from the truth because everybody was trying to make sense of the unimaginable,” he said.

Tom Fildey, who was a senior at Evergreen High School and a photojournalism intern at Evergreen Newspapers — which published the Columbine Courier, the area’s local paper, at the time — said that while he rushed to cover the attack, radio stations provided spotty information.

“I raced down the hill, listening to the radio the whole way,” said Fildey, who now works in the production department in our newsroom, which produces two dozen metro area newspapers, including the Littleton Independent. “No information was really becoming available; every station you listened to was telling you something di erent. It was one person or two shooters, or many shooters and the body count was three, eight, whatever. Everything was all over the place.”

Graphic images circulated widely, while cell phones enabled a urry of calls to local stations from people promising information to journalists who needed to ll airtime and newspaper pages. at included callers who told TV news stations they were on campus as the incident unfolded, according to a case study by Alicia

Shepard, who wrote for the American Journalism Review. One caller who had claimed to be a student at the school turned out to have called from Utah, where he was a 25-yearold snowboarder.

ings were reported “breathlessly” without being properly factchecked, Skewes said.

In the days and weeks following the shooting, some of the coverage turned toward the shooters — the cover of Time magazine shortly after the massacre and the corresponding spread centered the perpetrators, not the victims.

“All of the focus was on the shooters,” Skewes said. And “then I think as the days unfolded, there was such an attempt to explain the actions of (the shooters) by who they were — they were goth, they were trench coats, they were this, they were that — and they were none of it.”  e portrayal of the shooters as victims of bullying, ampli ed by news coverage, may have helped inspire more killings. In his manifesto, the 2007 Virginia Tech shooter referred to the Columbine killers as martyrs.

“Shooters and attempted school shooters followed the Columbine model, so it created this social script,” said Crawford, the assistant journalism professor.

“Of the 12 documented school rampage shootings in the United States between Columbine in 1999 and the end of 2007, eight (66.7%)

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rampagers directly referred to Columbine,” Ralph Larkin of the City University of New York wrote in a 2009 study.

And of the 11 rampage shootings outside the U.S. in that time, six had direct references to the Columbine shooting, the study says.

News outlets like the Rocky Mountain News and Washington Post wrote about bullying, or a culture of mistreatment, at Columbine as a motivation for the shooting. But mental health experts from an FBI summit focused on the conclusion that one of the shooters was a psychopath, according to Dave Cullen, who wrote the book “Columbine,” an examination of the shooting. DeAngelis, Columbine’s former principal, said he viewed the so-called “basement tapes” — home videos made by the shooters — and said they talked about being “superior.”

“ e reality is that lots of people are bullied who don’t commit a mass murder, so that’s not a real answer as to why the shooting happened, right?” Crawford said.

Mass shootings by the numbers

e history of modern mass school shootings in the U.S. stretches back at least to the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting, and a number of school shootings occurred in the

1990s before Columbine.

“But Columbine was really the incident that brought this phenomenon into the public consciousness,” Crawford said.

And the way news media covered the Columbine shooting likely fueled imitators.

“A lot of these shooters are trying to become famous. For instance, even with the Las Vegas shooter, the FBI found no motive for the shooting other than a quest for infamy,” Crawford said. “Why do they think mass shootings make you famous in the media? Because it made the Columbine gunmen famous in the media.”

U.S. school gun incidents have become more frequent in the past 25 years and are now at their highest recorded levels — and school mass shootings, although not necessarily increasing in frequency, have become more deadly, according to a March 2024 study in the journal Pediatrics.

An initiative called e Violence Project, with support from the U.S. Department of Justice, created a database of mass shootings from 1966 to 2019. Some main takeaways include:

• e database spanned more than 50 years, yet 20% of the 167 mass shootings in that period occurred in the last ve years.

• e death toll has risen sharply, particularly in the last decade. In the 1970s, mass shootings claimed an average of eight lives per year. From 2010 to 2019, the end of the study pe-

riod, the average was up to 51 deaths per year.

Of mass shootings in the database, about 8% occurred at a K-12 school, with about 5% happening at a college or university.

The impact of covering mass shootings e advent of smartphones has made it so that large numbers of people are noti ed when a mass shooting happens — whether it directly impacts them or not. But the rushed-out, breaking stories aren’t always the best versions of the stories. And, though news organizations have learned lessons since Columbine, initial accounts of stories can still be wrong, or triggering.

“I think slower journalism is better journalism,” Skewes said. “I teach at CU and if I get an alert on my phone that says ‘Something is happening on campus, you need to lock down’ and I’m on campus, that’s helpful information because then I know it’s a safety issue.

“But if I get an alert on my phone that is about something at (another CU campus), I can’t do anything about it,” Skewes continued. “All I can do is worry and speculate.

Skewes said she would instead prefer well-vetted information about what happened that a reporter has taken their time to discern and factcheck.

She also discussed the impact that the Columbine shooting and the mass shootings that have occurred in the wake of it may have had in creating more such events.

“ ere’s two things they talk about in the literature: One is the contagion e ect and the other is the copycat e ect,” Skewes said.

Skewes said the “contagion e ect” is the noticeable increase in mass shootings in the wake of a prominent one — “a ripple e ect, if you will,” she said.

Copycat e ects typically refer to

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imitation of a person’s behavior, while contagion is based on the idea that behaviors can “go viral” and spread through society like diseases, according to an article in the journal American Behavioral Scientist.

McDonald said the fascination with the Columbine shooting still follows the school around, 25 years later.

“Every media story about a school shooting is a Columbine-style shooting,” McDonald said. “So, we have struggled for years to try and get o the radar and it’s a big lift. ey still come from around the world, they want to come to the school, it’s a place of fascination for people and all we want to do is educate kids.”

Less emphasis on perpetrators

At Media Day by the Je erson County School District in early April, Je Garkow, a Columbine social studies teacher who was a student at the school from 2002 to 2006, said it seems like there’s less emphasis on perpetrators in media coverage of school shootings now, which he thinks is “hugely positive.”

DeAngelis, who served as Columbine’s principal at the time of the shooting, is glad to see more caution in news coverage of tragedies.

“Media are saying ‘we can’t con rm this,’ and they’re waiting for information,” DeAngelis said.

Sam Bowersox-Daly, another current Columbine teacher, expressed concern that today’s media coverage of shootings often becomes tied to a political issue and what politicians are doing.

“Focusing on Washington after it happens, does that take away from — these are still people,” Bowersox-Daly said.

Garkow remembers the fth anniversary of the shooting, when MTV News reporters o ered to pay for Qdoba burritos if students would do an interview, he said.

“ e media was chasing kids around, like trying to corner us at lunch,” Garkow said.

DeAngelis and Christy, the current principal, both sighed with relief when asked whether Media Day helps them. DeAngelis said the phone used to ring o the hook, especially during the 20th anniversary. is year, he’d only received one call from a national reporter as of Media Day. For Christy, it’s helpful for keeping reporters away from the campus and preventing them from interrupting the school day.

‘A time for extreme sensitivity’

“Back then, it wasn’t the same as it is now,” Fildey said. “I think (journalists) bring a lot more empathy to our work (now).”

Fildey recalled being at a memorial service shortly after the massacre when a group of about 12 survivors huddled together in a moment of solidarity. In the center of the circle, a photographer lay on the ground, wide angle lens pointing up at traumatized teens.

“Great photo,” Fildey said. “But man, that’s kind of an invasion.”

Skewes is working with University of Dayton Professor Katie Alaimo on a book about media coverage of mass shootings, and said she was prompted to do so after the 2012 Aurora theater shooting.

In the immediate aftermath of that shooting, Skewes turned on the local

news and saw an anchor say that out of respect for the families of the victims and survivors, the network would not talk about the shooter unless there was some major court case and development that necessitated coverage.

“I was caught by that in the sense that I thought it made perfect sense in many ways,” Skewes said. “And then I kind of thought, ‘Well, except that if we can’t talk about the shooter, we can’t talk about the systemic failures that occurred and what prevented people from reporting concerns that they had.’”

Journalists may not want to entirely avoid a shooter’s name since it can provide a reference point for researchers and historians in the future, Crawford said.

“As someone who studies misinformation, I also recognize that if the media failed to ever identify a shooter, that could feed the inevitable conspiracy theories about these tragedies even more,” Crawford said.

But “most of the stories should not include the shooter’s name, and there is no reason to use the name repeatedly in a story,” said Crawford, who thinks the news media has gotten better about not focusing on the killers.

Despite some improvement, the media still shows up and “inundates

a town” after a mass shooting, as it did covering the Columbine tragedy, Crawford said.

She advises against “endless hours of news coverage, even when there is almost no con rmed facts or new information to share. at kind of coverage serves no one and just extends the trauma of the event.”

Skewes recommends giving the families of victims time in the aftermath of shootings but keeping them in the loop about a news outlet’s future plans for coverage.

“In the immediate aftermath, or coming up on an anniversary of a shooting, is a time for extreme sensitivity,” Skewes said. “Beyond that, when you need to do these kinds of stories (about the shooter), reach out to victims’ advocacy organizations and say ‘We’re going to do this, do you want to be a part of the story?’ And if not, that’s OK.

“But we want to let you know we’re doing it so that when you see it when it comes out, you’re not surprised and you’re not caught o guard,” Skewes continued. “Give them as much of a heads up if you can, because I think there’s kind of a gut punch to picking up a paper and nding your life in it again, or seeing something on the news.”

Cultivating Community Health & Wellness

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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 10am

Wednesday Evening 7:00pm, Zoom options available

Contact: clerk@christianscienceevergreen.com for ZOOM link

Reading Room 4602 Pletner Lane, Unit 2E, Evergreen

OPEN TUE-SAT 12PM - 3PM

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

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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

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--June through September—

27640 Highway 74 – ¼ mile east of downtown Evergreen at the Historic Bell Tower www.transfigurationevergreen.org

CONGREGATION BETH EVERGREEN (SYNAGOGUE)

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Rabbi Jamie Arnold

www.BethEvergreen.org / (303) 670-4294

2981 Bergen Peak Drive (behind Life Care)

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Pastor Joyce Snapp, Sunday Worship 10 AM

Located one mile west of Pine Junction just o Rt. 285

966 Rim Rock Road, Bailey (303) 838-6759

All are welcome to our open/inclusive congregation!

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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!

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Pastors: Kevin Turner And Charles Cummings Sunday Church Services 9:30-11 Am

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!

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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

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Missouri Synod. 106 Rosalie Road, Bailey, CO

303-838-2161 Pastor Pete Scheele

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 • www.evergreenumc.org 3757 Ponderosa Dr. across Hwy 74 from Safeway in Evergreen Join us in person every Sunday at 10:00am for worship “Open Hearts, Open Doors, Open Minds”

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Public Notices

Legals

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that there has been filed with the Board of Directors of the RRC Metropolitan District No. 2 (“District”), located in Jefferson County, Colorado, a petition requesting the Board adopt a resolution approving the inclusion of certain property into the boundaries of such District (“Petition”).

1. The name and address of the Petitioner and a general description of the property that is the subject of such Petition is as follows:

Petitioner: Lennar Colorado, LLC

9193 S. Jamaica St., 4th Floor

Englewood, CO 80112

Description: Tract L1, Red Rocks Ranch Subdivision Filing No. 2 Adjustment 2, according to the plat recorded on January 3, 2022 at Reception No. 2022000369, County of Jefferson, State of Colorado, consisting of approximately 4.327 acres.

2.Accordingly, pursuant to Section 32-1-401(1) (b), C.R.S., notice is hereby given that the Board of Directors of the District shall hold a public meeting to hear the Petition on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at 1:00 p.m.

(a)To attend via Zoom videoconference, use the following link, or e-mail csorensen@specialdistrictlaw.com to have the link e-mailed to you: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87193407695?pwd=d2FGRjhNdjBlaHI0UVRNVk8rMUNnUT09

(b)To attend via telephone, dial 1-719-359-4580 or 1-253-215-8782 and enter the following additional information:

(1)Meeting ID: 871 9340 7695

(2)Passcode: 323431

3. All interested persons shall attend such meeting and show cause in writing why such Petition should not be granted. All protests and objections shall be deemed to be waived unless submitted in writing to the District (c/o McGeady Becher P.C., 450 E. 17th Ave., Ste. 400, Denver, CO 80203) at or prior to the hearing or any continuance or postponement thereof in order to be considered.

RRC METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 2

By:/s/ PAULA J. WILLIAMS

Attorney for the District

Legal Notice No. CAN 1551

First Publication: May 2, 2024

Last Publication: May 2, 2024

Canyon Courier

Bids and Settlements

Public Notice

COLORADO

STANLEY ROAD FORCE MAIN IMPROVEMENTS

General Notice

Clear Creek County (Owner) is requesting Bids for the construction of the following Project: Stanley Road Force Main Improvements CP 24-02

All bids must be received in one of the following ways no later than Wednesday, May 22, 2024 at 2:00 PM local time:

•Upload an electronic copy to the Prospective Bidder’s online submittal folder assigned by the County; Prospective Bidders will receive a link to their submittal folder upon registering via email to sstreepey@clearcreekcounty.us, subject line: RFB CP 24-02

•Courier service, delivered to the Clear Creek

County Road & Bridge Department located at: 3549 Stanley Road (CR 312), Dumont, Colorado 80436

•U.S.P.S. at P.O. Box 362, Dumont CO 80436

At that time the Bids received will be publicly opened and read.

The Project includes the following Work: The Stanley Road Force Main Improvements include the installation of approximately 2,800 feet of 4” HDPE SDR 11.

Bids are requested for the following Contract: CP 24-02 Contract for Construction of a Small Project

Obtaining the Bidding Documents Information and Bidding Documents for the Project can be found at the following designated website:

https://co-clearcreekcounty2.civicplus.com/Bids. aspx?CatID=17

Bidding Documents may be downloaded from the designated website. Prospective Bidders are urged to register with the designated website as a plan holder, even if Bidding Documents are obtained from a plan room or source other than the designated website in either electronic or paper format. The designated website will be updated periodically with addenda, lists of registered plan holders, reports, and other information

relevant to submitting a Bid for the Project. All official notifications, addenda, and other Bidding Documents will be offered only through the designated website. Neither Owner nor Engineer will be responsible for Bidding Documents, including addenda, if any, obtained from sources other than the designated website.

Instructions to Bidders.

For all further requirements regarding bid submittal, qualifications, procedures, and contract award, refer to the Instructions to Bidders that are included in the Bidding Documents.

This Advertisement is issued by: Sean Wood, Chair Board of County Commissioners

Parents may qualify for grocery money

Summer EBT program

$120 per child

BY ANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT COLORADO

Starting in June, hundreds of thousands of low-income Colorado families will get $120 per child to pay for groceries during summer break.

e program, called Summer EBT, aims to help parents of children who attend preschool through 12th grade in public schools pay for food when free school meals are unavailable or harder to access. State o cials expect families of more than 300,000 children to bene t.

A Colorado law passed during a special legislative session in November enabled the state to join the new program, which is mostly funded by the federal government with a small contribution from the state. Nearly three dozen states are o ering the program this year.

In recent years, Colorado has taken several steps to reduce the number of children who go hungry in the state. Starting this school year, the vast majority of Colorado students can get free school meals regardless of family income because of a universal meal program approved by voters in 2022. A program similar to Summer EBT was in place during the pandemic, but it expired last summer.

Colorado families are eligible for Summer EBT cards if they receive public bene ts such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Colorado Works, or if their children qualify for free or reduced-

price school meals. Most families will automatically receive a letter in May for each child eligible for Summer EBT, with preloaded cards arriving in the mail shortly after. To access the money on the card, families must set up a per-

sonal identi cation number. ey can do this by calling 888-328-2656, entering the card number, and following the prompts.

Families who believe their child is eligible for Summer EBT, but who didn’t receive an eligibility letter can

contact the Summer EBT Support Center at 800-536-5298 (text 720741-0550) or email cdhs_sebt_supportcenter@state.co.us.

Chalkbeat is a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.

The Summer EBT program will provide thousands of low-income Colorado families with grocery cards preloaded with $120

school-age child.