Peer visits at Parker hospital bring hope to patients recovering from stroke
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Something as simple as a touch of a hand and some comforting words brought Julie Pfankuch from hopelessness to being hopeful. at’s what helped Pfankuch on her long path to recovery from a stroke and now, years later, Pfankuch is spreading that hope at AdventHealth Parker Hospital with their new Stroke Peer Visitation Program.
“Not knowing what’s coming down the road for you and the struggles… just sharing that with someone can make a big di erence,” said Pfankuch.
One of the most common post-stroke complications is depression. A 2023 study published in the federal National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine found that the prevalence of post-stroke depression is high, is often underestimated and tends to occur months after stroke.
Recently retired from the hospital, Kimberly Roth was the stroke coordinator at AdventHealth Parker. roughout her nearly two decades at the hospital, she saw the number of stroke patients at the hospital increasing.
of giving hope to people who have had a stroke, the program was created by Kimberly Roth, who saw a need for ongoing support for stroke survivors.
Douglas County School Board delays action on protections for trans students
BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Following backlash from a group of parents, elected ofcials and others opposed to updating discrimination policies to include transgender students, the board for the Douglas County School District has inde nitely delayed a vote on the matter.
Proposed changes to the policies would have explicitly prohibited discrimination and harassment against transgender and nonbinary students, mirroring new language in the federal Title IX law as well as a 2023 Colorado law.
Board president Christy Williams said the board received over 100 emails about the proposed changes prior to a meeting on June 18 and that she wanted to delay action on the matter to give the board more time to get information about the impacts of the changes.
Julie Pfankuch, who had an ischemic stroke in 2016, is now one of the first peer visitors with AdventHealth Parker Hospital’s Stroke Peer Visitation Program. With the premises
COURTESY OF JULIE PFANKUCH
Renaissance Festival brings medieval fun and annual road closure
Bear Dance Drive south of Castle Rock to be closed on Saturdays and Sundays as needed
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A road that parallels Interstate 25 will close to southbound tra c going toward Larkspur during the Colorado Renaissance Festival on an as-needed basis, the Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce says. is marks the second year in a row that the tra c plan for the Renaissance Festival will close the back road some have used during the festival in the past. Other routes
to the festival will still be open.
A widely known event, the festival has caused concerns among nearby residents about tra c linked to the gathering.
ere’s also a public-safety concern about access for emergency vehicles, said Deputy Cocha Heyden, spokesperson for the sheri ’s o ce.
“Only residents and con rmed golf course attendees will be allowed past the closure. Others will be turned away,” the sheri ’s o ce said on the social media platform X. e Renaissance Festival — which the Town of Larkspur’s website describes as Colorado’s “premier summertime event” — is a thematic recreation of a 16th century village and marketplace set in a “picturesque mountain venue,” the website says. e road closure spot is south of Castle Rock. e sheri ’s o ce
may close Bear Dance Drive south of Tomah Road on Saturdays and Sundays, starting at about 9:30 a.m. until roughly 1:30 p.m.
e closure period started on June 15 and lasts until Aug. 4, but it will only be implemented as needed, Heyden said.
“If it appears that tra c through that area is getting bad, they will close it southbound,” Heyden said.
At the closure, golfers headed to a nearby golf course will be allowed through with a con rmed tee time. Residents living in the area will also be allowed through.
“We will trust that if they say they
Tra c signals illuminated at the intersection of Tomah Road and an Interstate 25 frontage road in the Castle Rock area, pictured here in March 2023. The Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce plans to close nearby Bear Dance Drive south of Tomah Road on Saturdays and Sundays as needed amid tra c during the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur.
PHOTO BY ELLIS ARNOLD
live there, they do. If it appears they may not, they may be asked for proof,” Heyden said. “We would like to trust people to be honest.” e closure does not a ect anyone going northbound, Heyden said.
Access to the festival runs via Spruce Mountain Road to Perry Park Avenue, according to the sheri ’s o ce. e festival’s address is 650 Perry Park Ave. in Larkspur. For more information on the festival and routes to get there, visit its website at coloradorenaissance. com.
Douglas County High School teacher arrested for alleged child sexual assault
BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A teacher at Douglas County High School has been arrested on allegations of sexual assault against a child.
e Douglas County Sheri ’s Ofce arrested James omure, 55 of Centennial, on June 18 and faces one charge of sexual assault on a child by a trusted person. omure is being held in the Douglas County jail on a $20,000 bond.
Cocha Heyden, a spokesperson for the sheri ’s o ce, said the investigation is ongoing and she can’t release further details.
A statement from the Doug-
las County School District says omure has been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is underway. omure is a social studies teacher who has worked in the district since 1999.
“I know it is concerning to receive news of this nature,” Douglas County High School Principal Tony Kappas said in an email to the community. “Please know the safety and well-being of every student is of primary importance to Douglas County High School and the Douglas County School District.” e sheri ’s o ce is asking anyone who believes they or someone they know might also be a victim of omure to email sclay@dcsheri . net.
It’s Time for Listing Agents to Get on the Narrated Video Walk-Through Bandwagon
For 15 years Golden Real Estate has been almost the only brokerage which does live-action video tours of its listings. Other brokerages make use of the “virtual tour” field in the MLS for videos that are nothing more than slideshows with music or Matterport tours which are interactive but miss the vital ingredient of a live action video tour — narration such as you’d get if you were walking through the house with the listing agent.
points of each room. To get a feel for this kind of video tour, go online to www.GRElistings.com and click on any one of our listings to watch the narrated video tour.
Our video tours are designed to simulate a live showing. As such, the video starts on the street, with me (or a broker associate) introducing the listing and perhaps showing the street scene. “Now let’s go inside and check out this home.”
Cut to the foyer and a walk through of the home, speaking as we go. “Notice the hardwood floors…. That’s a woodburning fireplace…. See the skylight in the vaulted ceiling…. These are Corian countertops…. The high efficiency washer and dryer are included…. Notice the mountain view out the kitchen window….” You get the idea.
No slideshow with music can compete with a narrated walk-through with the listing agent pointing out the selling
What makes this the right time for listing agents from other brokerages begin producing narrated video tours is the NAR settlement, which is likely to reduce the number of in-person showings at listed properties. If every listing had a narrated video tour, the number of showings would be reduced, because only those who watched the video tour and knew this listing might be a contender for them would go to the trouble of calling the listing agent or engaging a buyer agent to show them the listing.
By the way, narrated video tours are essential for attracting out-of-town buyers. More than once, an out-of-town buyer has gone under contract for one of our listings based solely on the narrated video tour, because they feel as if they have toured the home. The buyers still have the opportunity to terminate when they fly in for the inspection. None of those buyers terminated, however.
So, in this video age, what is keeping the majority — the vast majority — of
I Foresee a Surge in Buyer Activity This Summer
The primary outcome of the muchdiscussed NAR settlement announced in March is that buyers will now have to compensate agents representing them in the purchase of homes.
That change is scheduled to take effect on August 17th, so it makes sense that home buyers who have been “on the fence” are getting serious now about buying a home while they can still count on the seller, not them, paying their agent’s commission.
It doesn’t matter that their fear is unfounded. I fully expect sellers to keep offering to pay a “co-op” commission to the agents who bring them a buyer, even though that commission cannot be mentioned anywhere on the MLS.
Just this month, REcolorado, the Denver MLS, quietly introduced a new field for all listings. It’s a field to list another website, such as the websites we already create for every listing, and that website is allowed to mention the co-op commission for buyer agents since it does not derive its data from the MLS. If you want to see what that looks like, simply go to the website for my latest listing, www.ArvadaHome.info There on the home page of the website you will see the 2.8% co-op commission my seller is offering to buyer agents
under the headline, “Buyer Agent Commission Details.”
Nevertheless, the fear is very real among buyers that they will have to pony some serious money on top of their purchase price and loan expenses to pay for professional representation. Another development in this regard is the introduction of new mobile software called LivePad, which facilitates the process of showing homes to buyers when the showing agent doesn’t yet have a signed compensation agreement. In addition to some fine features for setting up a tour of listings, the tabletbased software allows the showing agent to create that requisite agreement on the tablet where the buyer can sign it digitally before entering the first listing. If the compensation agreement is for just that one day, the buyer can avoid paying the specified fee to their showing agent by waiting until the next day to make an offer under a new agreement. There may also be a surge in sellers putting their homes on the market prior to the August 17 deadline. Broker associate Chuck Brown had a seller get “off the fence” this month and sell his home, because he feared reduced buyer interest once buyers face the prospect of paying for their own agents.
listing agents from creating narrated video tours of their listings? I can only speculate, but here is my speculation. Listing agents like to farm out as many tasks as they can. They hire photographers (as we do) to shoot magazine quality photographs of their listings. Those vendors offer “videos” of the interior and drone videos of the exterior, and the listing agents think that’s sufficient. But there’s no narration of those videos, because the videographer would not know what to say. He only knows how to press “record” and “stop.”
The Matterport interactive tours are
Reader Suggests the Pooling of Insured Homes as a Way to Reduce the Risks Causing Higher Insurance Premiums
One reader, Andrew Burt, recently responded to my request for creative solutions to the home insurance crisis caused primarily by the multiple natural and man-made disasters resulting in profit-crushing insurance claims.
His suggestion: the pooling of multiple homes so that the loss sustained by any one home is spread across the pool.
My first reaction was that this is how insurance works already. Insurance companies have thousands or millions of insured properties in the expectation that only a small percentage will file catastrophic claims.
Nevertheless, here is Andrew’s proposal, which he supported with some serious mathematical formulae not for publication in this lay publication.
“If I'm in a pool with, say, nine other properties, and one of them gets damaged, the insurer pays a claim but then distributes the cost of that claim over all 10 properties in next year's premium calculation — instead of raising just mine to cover all of it. (Or I cover all of it over an amortized number of years, which is what they seem to do rather than lumping their cost all into year one. It doesn't change the math of the idea. Spread the new premium costs over multiple people instead of just me.)”
Andrew compared his proposal to the Affordable Care Act, which insures everyone without regard to pre-existing
conditions, but requires everyone to be insured. (Wildfire risk is a “pre-existing condition.”) He suggested that widely separated properties within the state could be pooled to further spread the risk of multiple claims within the pool.
at ‘Summer Solstice’ Fundraiser
Mike Nelson was one of six featured speakers at the annual fundraiser for New Energy Colorado, held on June 20th at The Retreat at Solterra in Lakewood.
Viewers of Mike’s weather forecasts on Channel 7 know that he is passionate about climate change. In addition to addressing the topic, he gave away free copies of his 2020 booklet, “The World’s Littlest Book on Climate: 10 Facts in 10 Minutes About CO2.”
Also speaking at the well-attended event was U.S. Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, State Sen. Lisa Cutter, Jeffco Commissioner Andy Kerr, State Rep. Brianna Titone, and Will Toor, director of the Colorado Energy Office. New Energy Colorado is best known for its annual Metro Denver Green Homes Tour on the first Saturday in October. This year it is on Oct. 5. Golden Real Estate is one of its sponsors.
very popular, and we include those on our listings too, but only because they are included in the enhanced package which we purchase that includes floor plans, which are done by the Matterport software. The Matterport tours are cool because they are shot with 360-degree lenses, allowing the viewer to rotate the view and even look up at the ceiling, then click on the next marker to go from room to room. But, again, no narration about what you are seeing. To call it a “video” is deceptive. It’s just a link that is inserted in one of the three “virtual tour” fields. Jim Smith Broker/Owner,
Jim@GoldenRealEstate.com 1214 Washington Ave., Golden 80401
Broker Associates:
JIM SWANSON, 303-929-2727
CHUCK BROWN, 303-885-7855
DAVID DLUGASCH, 303-908-4835
GREG KRAFT, 720-353-1922
AUSTIN POTTORFF, 970-281-9071
KATHY JONKE,
Channel 7’s Mike Nelson Speaks
3 Coloradans to represent United States at Underwater Hockey World Championships in Malaysia
BY JOHN RENFROW JRENFROW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Colorado is a huge hub for hockey players and fans, whether on ice, on the eld or even underwater. And why not? If it’s a sport, we have it here.
Ten women under age 24 are set to represent the U.S. at the Underwater Hockey Age Group World Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this July and of course, three are Coloradans.
Elsa Debrunner, Lillianna Brooks and Aria Paul will compete in the event between July 16 and July 27 against about a dozen teams from around the globe. e U.S. is sending three teams spanning three divisions to the upcoming world championship: U24 men, U24 women and U19 men. Debrunner, Brooks and Paul are on the USA U24 Women’s Team.
“Training for worlds is a big commitment, but training with Lillianna and Aria is super encouraging and makes me super excited to play more hockey,” said Debrunner, a Conifer High School alum and club athlete at the Colorado School of Mines.
with two teams of six facing o at the bottom of the pool. A weighted puck can be pushed, slid or icked with a short stick into the goal. Equipment includes a mask, ns, a snorkel with a mouthguard, a glove, a water polo cap and a stick.
Teammates rotate dives for roughly ve-to-20 seconds in a fast-paced, three-dimensional sport that combines the back-and-forth motion of regular hockey with up-and-down movements to return up for air between dives.
“It’s physically di erent than any other sport,” Debrunner said. “But once you learn that, the communication with your team is probably the hardest part. You have to have a strategy really dialed in ahead of time because it’s di cult to communicate during the match.”
It requires elite breath control, tness and strong cooperation between coaches and teammates, Debrunner said. But the coaches believe the team is ready for a strong showing in Malaysia.
“We’re really impressed with the progress made since the team candi-
BY YORI HUYNH
mentation of the game plan started at a high level and has seemed to grow,” Coach Kendall Banks said in a release. “ rough their support of each other combined with healthy competition, there seems to be a synergy or ‘magic’ here. We’re excited to see where it takes the team.”
Colorado connections
Debrunner and Brooks are from Colorado originally, and Paul is from San Francisco but attends Colorado State University with Brooks. Brooks got into underwater hockey about three years ago, she said.
As a former swimmer for St. Mary’s Academy in Englewood, she had the tools to be a strong underwater hockey player. But she didn’t know what to make of the sport at rst.
“I saw a poster one day for a pool in ornton and it was like, ‘underwater hockey,’ and I was really committed to swimming at that point so I was like, ‘ at’s weird. I don’t know,’” Brooks said.
Elsa Debrunner, the team captain of the U24 women’s underwater hockey team, is a Conifer High School alum. Above, she’s pictured diving with her hockey stick after coming up for air in the Pacific Coast Championships tournament in Orange County, California in October 2023.
PHOTO
Aria Paul is originally from San Francisco but attends Colorado State with Lillianna Brooks. Paul has found a home with her Colorado underwater hockey players.
COURTESY PHOTOS
Lillianna Brooks swam at St. Mary’s Academy in Englewood before attending Colorado State University, where she found underwater hockey.
RECOVERING
In recent years, AdventHealth Parker has treated upwards of 350 to 400 stroke patients a year.
“We were really good at taking care of the acute phase of stroke, but then I knew we needed a stroke support group,” Roth said.
Roth began the process of establishing a stroke support program six years ago. She said it didn’t matter where the patients were being treated, but if they were a member of the community and could bene t from the service, they were welcome.
Monthly support group meetings started, introducing Roth to Pfankuch. Around the same time, the hospital’s stroke program had been named one of the best in the state.
“One of the things we felt like we still could do is use our stroke survivors in some capacity,” said Roth.
As doors continued to close on the idea, Roth began her masters where she studied literature and saw the overwhelming need for this kind of support. Finally, a door opened. Not knowing Pfankuch’s story of hope, Roth wanted her to be a part of the program.
A story of hope
In 2016 Pfankuch was a picture of health. She had a full-time job and was planning to run a triathlon with her daughter. en, days before Christmas, her life forever changed. She remembers looking at the clock. It was 7:05 a.m. She reached for the door, but her left leg failed and she noticed she felt “fuzzy.”
Her daughter had asked Pfankuch if her friend’s father could come by.
“He came in and sat down and he held my hand,” Pfankuch said. e man, a pilot, had a stroke ve years prior while ying an F-16 for the U.S. Air Force. As he told her his story of having a stroke while ying and being guided to ground by fellow pilots and then recovering, were words of encouragement to know that life is not over. Pfankuch found comfort in him.
Hope after stroke
Pfankuch – along with her service dog, Ollie – is now one of three peer visitors at the hospital. Nurses look to see if the program would bene t stroke patients as they arrive and the peer visitors meet them before they are discharged.
with her. She called for him. Pfankuch was initially reluctant, but her son’s friend called an ambulance after noticing the left side of her face drooping and her inability to raise her left arm.
Pfankuch had su ered an ischemic stroke, which accounts for about 87% of all strokes, according to the American Stroke Association. An ischemic stroke occurs when the blood supply to brain tissue is blocked by a blood clot.
Pfankuch was administered tPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, which is a clot-busting drug that is used to help treat ischemic strokes when given within a few hours of the rst symptoms.
“You only get about four and a half
hours to get it,” said Roth. “ at’s why Julie looking at that clock was important.”
Although Pfankuch didn’t lose any cognitive abilities, she became paralyzed on the left side of her body – and still is to this day. She also learned that she is among the 25% of cases where doctors don’t know what caused the stroke.
Pfankuch was in the ICU for a week and all she could think about was what was going to happen next.
“ at was probably the worst week of my life,” said Pfankuch. “Trying to gure things out and I was just in despair.”
While in the ICU, Pfankuch was visited by many people, but one in particular changed her way of thinking.
In April, Pfankuch met with a man in his 50’s who had a stroke while at the gym. She told him about her journey and how valuable stroke groups were to her.
“It’s like every stroke survivor has a before and an after,” said Pfankuch. “You just don’t know what life’s gonna be like after. And just helping them in the very beginning part is so important because that was the hardest part for me.”
e man had missed a round of pet therapy at the hospital, so he was thrilled to learn that Ollie accompanied Pfankuch. Within 10 minutes, Roth received a text of Ollie sound asleep on the patients’ feet.
In that moment, Roth saw her dreams coming true. ey were using the community to help make a di erence in stroke patients’ lives.
“I said this is the best day of my work life ever,” Roth said.
Ollie, Julie Pfankuch’s service dog, is also part of the Stroke Peer Visitation Program. During a visit with a man who just had a stroke, Ollie fell asleep on the feet of the patient while Pfankuch told her story and gave comfort to the patient.
COURTESY OF JULIE PFANKUCH
High school grads receive health care scholarships from Sky Ridge in Lone Tree
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
With dreams of careers in health care, four recent Douglas County and Cherry Creek high school graduates have been honored with Future Careers Student Scholarships from Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree.
For ve years, Sky Ridge has provided students hands-on opportunities in departments throughout the hospital.
“ e rsthand experience of watching skilled doctors and nurses work together to save lives has been nothing short of inspirational,” said Nandhana Vivek, a Legend High School graduate. is year, $5,000 in scholarships were
awarded to graduates from Legend, Rock Canyon and Cherry Creek high schools. All are currently assigned to the Emergency Department and donated more than 2,000 service hours to Sky Ridge.
With plans to attend the University of Colorado Boulder, Vivek wants to go into either neuroscience or personalized medicine. She is also a hospice volunteer and a certi ed nursing assistant at Stonegate. Re ecting on experiences at Sky Ridge, she said she exceeded what she would have learned in a traditional classroom.
“It’s in these moments, amid the controlled chaos, that I’ve learned the most about the resilience of the human body
and the impact of quick, decisive action,” said Vivek.
Another Legend graduate, Melanie Angelo experienced just how much the emergency room connects to the community. Although she volunteered in ve di erent departments, volunteering in the emergency room opened her eyes, saying that she never realized how sheltered she had been from her community’s needs and issues.
Interested in emergency medicine, Angelo will be attending Arizona State University.
e direct connections with patients and families in the emergency department also caught the attention of Rock Canyon graduate, Sydney Geary. She
has been enamored by the versatility of what comes into the department and its unlimited learning opportunities such as admitting patients and the process of patient care.
Hoping to pursue a career in neurology, pediatrics or emergency medicine, Geary will be staying in state as she plans to attend Colorado School of Mines.
Another recipient is Paige Scully, who recently graduated from Cherry Creek High School. She plans on attending the University of Tennessee where she is interested in studying marketing, hospital administration and emergen-
Wine Walk returns to Parker after successful lobbying e ort at state Capitol
Gov. Jared Polis signs bill outside at Parker Station
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
For nearly 15 years, Parker’s Wine Walk events lit a spark in the community, bringing people into Mainstreet shops. But when the state shut down the walks last year, that spark zzled.
Yet the cancellation lit another spark – a lobbying e ort that would culminate almost a year later at the state Capitol in the form of House Bill 241156. e bill, signed by Gov. Jared Polis, will bring back Wine Walk events.
“Wine walks are one of the oldest [events] that’s still around,” said Mayor Pro Tem John Diak. “It was great that we got support at the state level to gure out how we can continue our tradition.”
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Polis swung through downtown Parker in early June to sign the bill, which is named the Chamber of Commerce Alcohol Special Event Permit. It makes Parker’s chamber, and chambers of commerce throughout the state, eligible to obtain special event liquor permits.
A special event liquor permit allows certain organizations to sell liquor, wine and beer during an event that they host.
e new law comes after the Wine Walk last June was canceled after a complaint was led with the state’s Liquor Enforcement Division. Its investigation later determined the chamber of commerce’s event did not comply with licensing laws a ecting alcohol in retail locations.
Now, a year later, the chamber is starting the process of planning its next Wine Walk.
“It’s huge for the downtown businesses, it’s huge for the chamber just from a fundraising standpoint, so it’s a big win,” said T.J. Sullivan, president and CEO of the Parker Chamber of Commerce.
The aftermath of the shut down
Sullivan was among many in Parker shocked last year by the state’s decision, saying it was a disappointment as the event was an economic driver with
hundreds of people participating.
Republican state Rep. Anthony Hartsook, whose District 44 includes Parker, took that sentiment of disappointment and turned it into action at the state level.
“ e community was visibly upset over this,” Hartsook said. “I’m going to do everything I can to help these small businesses.”
He and town Councilmember Joshua Rivero walked around Mainstreet shortly after the cancellation to hear from businesses why the walks were important to them.
ey found the cancellation cost businesses tens of thousands of dollars.
In October, a spokesperson for the Department of Revenue said the Liquor Enforcement Division claimed to have worked “directly” and “amiably” with the town’s chamber to nd a solution. However, Sullivan said there was no direct communication.
An email sent to the Chronicle last year by the Liquor Enforcement Division listed several issues with the wine
walks. ese included that sidewalks are a public right of way and drinks cannot leave a public business and that the events were not private functions as they took place in public retail businesses. e state said the chamber did not have the authority to create new types of liquor permits.
“I am proud of the fact that when the Liquor Enforcement Division told us that our events were not legal because of certain reasons, we were able to work and change state law to eliminate those reasons,” Sullivan said.
Behind the legislation
Hartsook said that liquor laws were lacking clear guidance to chambers and businesses when holding events like these.
“What we wanted to do is update a lot of regulations to kind of come in line with supporting businesses, making sure they’re adhering to good, safe laws, so there’s no walking around in public carrying wine,” Hartsook said.
Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 24-1156, named Chamber of Commerce Alcohol Special Event Permit, into law in downtown Parker on June 4. Standing around the governor are members of the Parker Chamber of Commerce, including President and CEO T.J. Sullivan. Councilmember Brandi Wilks, Mayor Pro Tem John Diak and Rep. Anthony Hartsook was also in attendance. COURTESY OF AMANDA MAUGHMER OF PINK POPPY MEDIA
Sun Jr., a ‘psych mountain rock’ experience at the Mile High Hoedown
BY JO ANN M. COLTON
If you yearn to fly back to the sounds of yesteryear, you will love soaring to new heights with Boulder’s own Sun Jr, appearing at the MILE HIGH HOEDOWN later this month! The band’s sound is a blend of psychedelia, cosmic cowboy and Americana with indie-folk influences.
Friends Nod Norkus (drums), Jim Heekin (guitar/singer), Matt Kubis (banjo/singer), Jon Schimek (pedal steel guitar), and Jeremiah Streets (keys/ bass/organ) launched the band in 2013. They practiced in the evenings in Jim’s basement (“The Bottoms”), where they have become a “band of brothers.”
Sun Jr. hit the stage with a style all their own and immediately made an impression. From a spot on the “Gentleman of the Road” tour in Salida with Mumford & Sons, Dawes and the Flaming Lips in 2015, they’ve grinded their way into a stellar act that you cannot miss.
During the 2020 COVID pandemic, the band leaned heavily into long basement jams, taking notes from the likes of Pink Floyd and late ’60s bands that played for art’s sake. They branched into livestreaming to reach out to more folks and have continued to do so.
“In February 2024, (Heekin) posted a TikTok video of our song ‘Buttercorn’ from a live performance at Dharma Farm
— and it went viral,” Norkus said. “The post garnered 2.3 million views and about 40,000 new fans.”
The post was the mega break that has opened more doors to some of Colorado’s best venues and a “second media wave” of the post expanded their reach even farther, he said.
“We started receiving invitations to play in California, Texas, and points beyond the U.S.,” Norkus said.
The band’s current goal is
mostly to ignore national invites and build an ardent local fan base. To stay connected, they are partnering with Chris Wright of Violet Recording to capture their Colorado live shows to share more broadly. Wright will also engineer a series of in-studio live recordings, possibly capturing two albums from this dual recording process.
Visit sunjrband.com for the latest band information (recordings, play dates — and more)! Then, “go down” to the MILE HIGH HOEDOWN and enjoy Sun Jr.’s “Psych Mountain Rock” ex-
perience LIVE at the Stampede, 2431 S. Havana Street, in Aurora.
MILE HIGH HOEDOWN attendees can enjoy food truck food and beverages, learn new line dances with instructor/choreographer Laurie Burkardt, “creative cut” or screen print their own T-shirt with Ink & Drink, purchase a custom hat from hat shaper Parker Thomas, get a “flash” tattoo from Ace of MR. ACE Art & Tattoos; and visit Little People Face Painting for cool, but not permanent, body/ face/hair art — you’ll be sure to sparkle during Sun Jr.’s LIVE, never-to-be-duplicated hoedown performance!
Get the “low down” on the MILE HIGH HOEDOWN, which is 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, June 29, by heading to coloradocommunitymedia.com/ mile-high-hoedown. And GET A MOVE ON, partners! We’re running a limited-time buy-oneget-one promotion. Entry ONLY tickets are $20/each ($25 at the door). Don’t miss out and BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY!
Purchase Tickets
Latino authors and mentors group releases anthology
BY KATHRYN WHITE KATHRYN@DENVERNORTHSTAR.COM
Poet Ricardo LaFore turned the insult, “What have your people ever done?,” into a poem.
“My Ancestors Built the Pyramids” appears in a new anthology to be released this month by the Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors (CALMA).
“Ramas y Raíces: e Best of CALMA,” edited by Mario Acevedo, contains essays, poetry and short stories by 24 writers who live or have spent signi cant time in Colorado. e book’s title, which translates as “Branches and Roots,” re ects the breadth and depth of its themes, as well as the range of genres and literary forms contained within. Seeds for both the anthology and the organization were planted decades ago.
“I grew up at a time when I never ever ever saw a Spanish surname on a book,” said Dr. Ramon Del Castillo, a longtime activist, educator, researcher and poet. “ ere was a void, there was a link missing about who I was,
WINE WALK
about who we were. Until the advent of Chicano studies in the 1960s during the Chicano movement, when one of the issues that came up was literature and poetry. And out of that, you had the birth of thousands of poets now, and a whole body of literature that will compete with anybody’s writing.”
LaFore said the anthology seeks to encourage new writers, but also to preserve and protect what’s already been written.
“We felt that there was a void in our community,” LaFore said. “We recognized from the beginning that in a functioning democracy, all voices have to be heard. Our poetry, our literature, our writing, all have to be part of the American literary tradition. Otherwise, we don’t have a functioning democracy that values all voices. We have a proud and noble history, but it’s rarely known beyond our own community. And we had to x that.”
CALMA itself started with a conversation. It was 2019, and Frank Dávila had published his memoir, “An Outburst of Dreams.” Written largely for his children and grandchildren, Dávi-
events like Wine Walk without additional costs, Hartsook spoke with a variety of people, including state ofcials. He said he received support from chambers in city’s like Gunnison, Fort Collins and in the metro area.
la conducted extensive genealogical research in order to preserve and pass along family history. He wove in stories about his growing-up years picking cotton as a migrant worker, speaking Spanish and learning English as his second language. He wanted his family to know about the discrimination he faced. at same year, Dávila helped fellow writer Christina Montoya with edits to her rst book.
“We ought to think about forming a group,” Dávila said to Montoya, “where writers can support each other like this.”
Each knew a few others, and a small gathering at Raíces Brewing Company in west Denver followed. By early 2020, the group had six founders, was hosting Zoom sessions and had grown to more than 30 Latino authors, both published and aspiring.
CALMA went on to host book fairs, lead workshops and make presentations in high school and college classrooms. Several of the group’s members have taken on formal mentoring relationships.
Looking from multiple viewpoints, Hartsook said they ended up with simple legislation, changing one main paragraph and two sub-paragraphs.
“But it was a huge, huge change,” said Hartsook. “And to do that we had to coordinate and make sure that there were no unintended other consequences that would impact other liquor bills.”
Sullivan and Rivero testi ed at the state Capitol in favor of the bill. Even though it wasn’t his rst time testifying on a bill, Sullivan said he felt “ownership” of this bill.
Hartsook added it was a “process bill” that details what is required of chambers to host these events, such as security plans, businesses involved and time and place.
Additionally, people have to stay inside to consume drinks and every business location involved in the event has to provide some kind of food.
Convenience stores and businesses that sell cars, marijuana, gas or rearms may not participate. Teachers and childcare providers are also excluded.
The future of Parker Wine Walk e Parker Chamber of Commerce is in the process of submitting per-
“Since we formed CALMA,” Dávila said, “two Latinos have been inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame. Manuel Ramos was the rst one ever in 2021. We promoted and advocated for him. And then, Lalo Delgado was selected last year, posthumously.”
Abelardo “Lalo” Delgado (19312004), known as the grandfather of Chicano poetry, published 14 books and inspired many, including Del Castillo and LaFore. In the early 1970s, Delgado visited a classroom at the University of Northern Colorado, where he met Del Castillo and noticed his poetry.
“It was Lalo who told me, ‘Use everything you’ve got Ramon. Your humor, your sadness, all of it.’”
“Ramas y Raíces” opens with the Mexican proverb, “Quisieron enterrarnos, pero no sabían que éramos semilla ( ey wanted to bury us, but they didn’t know that we were seeds),” setting the stage for a volume demonstrating the many ways love, family, personal struggle and the ght for justice have borne fruit.
mits to hold Wine Walk events in the fall, said Sullivan. However, that depends on the permitting process after the law goes into e ect in August.
“If we can milk out some bene ts for the downtown merchants this year, we’re going to try to do it because the losing wine walks hurt those businesses,” said Sullivan.
Several new policies to increase security and volunteers to ensure people don’t leave businesses with alcohol and make the event as safe as possible will also be implemented by the chamber.
Brandi Wilks, town councilmember, went to the bill signing ceremony in place of Rivero.
“Seeing a Republican House representative and a Democrat governor come together to work on what’s best for our community, it made me very grateful and excited to see what we can do in the future,” said Wilks.
For Rivero, the win was not just for the community, but for the state. When he was part of the group that started the Wine Walk events, the idea was to get people to see businesses they’ve never seen before.
“When we started it, it was successful for us,” said Rivero. “It’s still that 15 years later, it still brings people to new doors. at kind of marketing is, I think, what Parker thrives on.”
Living and telling our story
Each of us is the author of our own story, a narrative that unfolds with each passing day. Our lives are composed of a series of chapters, each lled with unique experiences, lessons and aspirations. To truly live our story means embracing our past, fully engaging in the present and envisioning a future that re ects our highest potential. It is about living in such a way that our story inspires others and recognizing that the most powerful story we will ever tell and hear is the one we tell ourselves.
Our past is a rich tapestry of experiences, both good and bad. Re ecting on these stories from our past is not merely an exercise in nostalgia, but an opportunity to learn and grow. Our past shapes who we are today, o ering valuable lessons that can guide our future decisions. By acknowledging our past without being con ned by it, we can extract wisdom and strength from our experiences. Each mistake, triumph, and moment of struggle contributes to the person we have become, and understanding this helps us appreciate our journey and prepare for the road ahead.
However, the true power of our story lies in the present. e stories we are living now have the most immediate impact on our lives and the lives of those around us. Living our story means being fully present, embracing each moment with intention and purpose. It means acting with integrity, kindness and authenticity. When we live our story authentically, we become a beacon of inspiration for others. Our actions speak louder than words, and the way we live our lives can motivate others to pursue their own paths with courage and conviction.
Sun safety for Coloradans
As we approach summer, people need to remember that too much UV exposure puts them at greater risk for skin cancer. Coloradans are at an even greater risk — because of our higher altitude, we are closer to the sun. Colorado has the nation’s highest per-capita rate of skin cancer, according to CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S. One type of skin cancer is melanoma and according to the American Cancer Society, there will be more than 100,000 new diagnoses in the U.S. in 2024. More than 8,000 people are expected to die of melanoma this year, with nearly 3,000 being women.
eryone, 6 months and older, should apply sun protection every day, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. e foundation’s studies have shown that regular use of SPF 15 or higher reduces your chance of developing melanoma by 50% and premature skin aging by 24%.
• 125+: Too high
Besides getting vitamin D safely, other sun safety tips include:
• Avoid sunbathing
• Wear protective clothing
• Wear a hat
• Use eyewear with UV protection
• Seek shade
Make sure to check the UV level and be extra cautious when the UV level is 7 or higher. Avoid tanning beds due to their high UV intensity.
Sunlight produces vitamin D, which is essential for bone growth and our immune system. So, how much sunlight is too much? Even a few minutes of unprotected sunlight can cause DNA damage, which adds up over time, increasing your risk of skin cancer. Ev-
Besides protected sun exposure, your diet and supplements can be great sources of vitamin D. Start incorporating salmon, tuna, egg yolks or vitamin D supplements to achieve a healthy vitamin D level.
Bloodwork can help identify appropriate levels. Here are ranges to evaluate your vitamin D level:
• Below 30: De cient
• 30 to 50: Generally inadequate
• 50+: Adequate
Foothills Urogynecology recommends annual dermatology appointments to address your skin issues or damage. You don’t need to risk skin cancer by not wearing sunscreen to get su cient vitamin D scores. Wear sunscreen, add vitamin D dense food and consider taking a supplement.
Dr. Terry Dunn is the owner of Foothills Urogynecology, a Denver-based practice specializing in women’s health. To learn more, visit www.urogyns.com.
GUEST COLUMN
NORTON
e story we tell ourselves about our present is crucial. It shapes our self-image and in uences our actions. If we see ourselves as capable, resilient and worthy, we are more likely to take on challenges and seize opportunities. Conversely, if we tell ourselves a story of inadequacy and fear, we may hold ourselves back. us, cultivating a positive and empowering internal narrative is essential for living our best life. By a rming our strengths and acknowledging our worth, we can approach life with con dence and grace.
As we live our present story, we must also be mindful of the impact we have on others. Our actions and attitudes in uence those around us, often in ways we may not immediately recognize. By living with compassion, empathy and generosity, we can create a ripple e ect of positivity and kindness. Our story becomes a source of inspiration and hope, encouraging others to live with greater purpose and integrity. In this way, our story transcends our individual experience and contributes to the collective narrative of our community.
“We all have a story. e di erence is: do you use the story to em-
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power yourself? Or do you use your story to keep yourself a victim? e question itself empowers you to change your life.” — Sunny Dawn Johnston
In telling and living our story, we create a powerful narrative that resonates with others. Our story becomes a testament to our resilience, our growth and our capacity to overcome challenges. It becomes a source of inspiration, encouraging others to live their own stories with authenticity and courage. And ultimately, it becomes a re ection of our highest potential, a vision of who we are and who we aspire to be.
Let us embrace our past, live fully in the present, and envision a future that re ects our deepest values and aspirations. Let us tell our story with honesty and passion and live our story with integrity and purpose. I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when we remember that in doing so, we not only transform our own lives but also inspire others to embark on their own journeys of self-discovery and impact, we make this a better than good life.
Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.
OBITUARIES
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JARRETT
Linda Mae (Clark) Jarrett
September 1, 1947 - June 6, 2024
Linda Mae (Clark) Jarrett died June 6, 2024 at home in Lone Tree, CO. She was a 1966 graduate of Lakewood High. Preceding her in death were her parents Larry Clark and Ardis Brauer Clark, and brother Mike Clark. She leaves sisters Sandy Dees of Kittitas, WA and Connie Paxton of Castle Rock, CO. Linda married Paul Jarrett on July 3, 1969. ey have daughter Trina (John) Woelz of Parker, CO, sons Paul Jr (Erika) of Parker, CO and Donnie (Erika) of
Conifer, CO. She has grandchildren Britini (Hinkley-Jarrett) Nobles, Trevor Hinkley, Maddie (Hinkley) Spray, Alivia Jarrett, Sophia Jarrett, Molly O’Buckley, Jaxon Jarrett. Great grandchildren Valerie Jenkins, Ryker Woelz, Breckin and Maeson Nobles. A Celebration of Life will be held on July 7, starting at 11:00am as an open house at Paul and Linda’s home. If you do not know the address email pjarrettsr@yahoo.com or call
SUMMER SPLASH
Waters to chill in across the Denver metro area
BY HALEY LENA
Whether it’s dipping your toes in at the local pool or swimming at an open lake, a good way to beat the heat is getting in the water, and there are many water activities to choose from in the Denver metro area.
For some, summertime is a time to relax, but for others, it’s a time to be adventurous and create memories with family.
Here is a guide to some of the best places to swim in the metro area as well as enjoy fresh water.
The Splash at Fossil Trace
Enjoy the twists and turns of the water slides at e Splash Aquatic Park while taking in the green scenery of the Front Range.
“It de nitely has the more foothills-feel as opposed to the urban feel of Elitches or Water World,” said Betsy Sweet, aquatic supervisor for the city. “It’s less crowded.”
Across the park, guests have views of Lookout Mountain and Mount Zion, which is the mountain decorated with the “M” for the Colorado School of Mines.
As part of Golden’s Parks and Recreation Department, e
Splash goes beyond the standard recreational swimming pool. From those learning how to walk to the community’s seniors, the waterpark has amenities for all ages and swimming abilities.
“Not only is it fun for kids, but the adults in the world have fun as well,” Sweet said.
Popular among children is the leisure beach-entry pool that includes a large play structure, small water slides, spray fountains and “Tipper,” the 500-gallon dump bucket. But for the little ones who want to be in the water but aren’t con dent in swimming just yet, there is a gentle splash pad.
One of the most popular attractions for those 48 inches and taller are the two water slides, the green
body slide and the blue tube slide. If those under the height requirement want to ride the blue slide, they must ride with an adult. e park also has a 25-meter lap pool with eight lanes for the more experienced swimmers as well as an open swim area and diving boards.
With interactive structures around the park, Sweet said e Splash is home to the biggest sandbox in Je erson County, which also has dinosaur fossils to dig up.
Admission fees for Golden residents range from $8-11 based on age, $9-12 for Je erson County residents and $10-13 for non-residents.
SPLASH
Paradice Island Pool
5951 Monaco St., Commerce City, Colorado 80022 | 303-289-3769 | c3gov.com/paradice | facebook.com/ paradiceisland/ | Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily through Aug.11
Commerce City is a fast-growing and diverse community with over 1,000 businesses, a golf course and soccer complex, 25 miles of trials and a swimming pool.
Opened in 2015 on the east end of Pioneer Park, Paradice Island Pool was a rst-of-its-kind in Commerce City.
e park ranges from a toddler pool with interactive water features for young ones to a leisure pool to a lap pool for the more advanced swimmers. Guests can have a relaxing time on the lazy river or feel the adrenaline when going down one of three slides.
Other non-water features at the park include play structures, volleyball, shaded areas and cabanas for rent. It’s a place to gather with friends and family. Coolers, chairs, pop-up tents, party decorations and food are allowed, but not alcohol and glass.
Admission rates for residents with a valid city recreation play pass range from free to $4 based on age. For nonresidents who don’t have a play pass, the fee ranges from free to $10.
One of the most popular and thrilling activities in the City of Golden is Whitewater River Tubing on Clear Creek. Daily tube rentals are open every day and include commercialgrade river tubes with complimentary life jackets and helmets. Shoes, not ip- ops, are required.
Adventure West owner Beth Battilla said when the Golden location rst opens for the season, it’s for adults and strong swimmers only. It is then gradually opened to others as the ow rate drops.
“Golden is best for most people mid-to-late July onwards,” Battilla said. “Unless you are really comfortable swimming in swift water, then by all means, come earlier.”
Although online reservations aren’t required at this location, reservations guarantee a tube and speed up the check-in process. Battilla added that reservations are highly recommended on weekends as tubes tend to sell out.
ose under the age of 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
While the location in Golden is an “exciting” oat, Adventure West’s location in Littleton is more of a “mellow” and “picturesque” oat, and online reservations are required.
Here, guests can drift along the South Platte River for upwards of two hours and take in the sights of the Carson Nature Center.
Children must be ve years of age or older and parking is available at Breckenridge Brewery.
“( ey) are out tted with a commercial grade river tube, life jacket, given our tubing tips and a safety talk,” Battilla said.
11500 N. Roxborough Park Road, Littleton, Colorado 80125 | 303.791.7275 | cpw.state.co.us
From swimming to jet skiing, local reservoirs o er a variety of water activities and programs.
Colorado is known for its mountain range, but there are sandy beaches families and friends can visit as well.
Cherry Creek Reservoir has a ropedo swimming area for people to cool o . It’s important to note that Colorado State Park swim beaches don’t have lifeguards on duty, so children must be supervised by an adult at all times.
In addition to sailboarding and boating, the reservoir also o ers a youth rowing program called Mile High Rowing Club and an adaptive sailing program called Community Sailing of Colorado.
Another sandy beach sits on the west side of the Chat eld Reservoir and is open from sunrise to sunset through Sept. 2. e beach is complete with showers, restrooms and picnic areas with small grills.
e reservoir is divided into multiple zones. One is the main body of the reservoir, known as the “Power Zone” and is for general boating, water skiing and sailing and moves in a counterclockwise direction.
ere are two large “No Wake
Zones” at the southwest and southeast ends of the reservoir, which are more ideal for shing and canoeing. Paddle Boarding is allowed in all bodies of water except for the swim area.
River Run Park
2101 W Oxford Ave., Englewood, CO, 80110 | endlesswaveco@gmail. com|endlesswaves.net/waves/riverrun-park/
It may not be a common sight in Colorado, but there are places to surf. River Run Park on the South Platte River is one of many and has been expanding over the years to allow transplanted surfers from the ocean to hit the waves.
“ e waves get sort of more powerful and more challenging to ride as you go upstream,” said Jacob Vos, a director of the Colorado River Sur ng Association.
e most beginner-friendly wave in the park is “Chiclets” while the other two waves, “Benihanas” and “Six” are more high-speed and dynamic as they have hydraulic plates that are in the river to help shape the waves and attune them to the ow of the river.
“ at adjustability doesn’t mean the waves work for all conditions all the time, but it certainly widens the range of ows,” Vos said.
Since river sur ng di ers from ocean sur ng, Vos stresses that ankle leashes can be deadly in an “insidious” way because the force of the river makes it challenging to reach the ankle to release the leash.
Other features in the park are conducive for whitewater kayaking and
tubing, but Vos encourages users to check the South Platte River Union water gauges — which show how much water is in the river — and recommends wearing a helmet.
If the gauges show 100 CFS cubic feet per square, it’s more mellow, Vos said, but when it gets up to 1,000 cubic feet per square, the water is more violent.
“If people are just oating or just hanging out, they can have rude surprises if they don’t pay attention to those ows,” Vos said.
Parking is available at the Broken Tree Golf Course, however, the gates close in the evening. Parking is also available on the west side of the river. If there are additional questions, like where to get equipment, the Colorado Rivers Facebook group serves as a message board for the river sur ng community.
Honorable mentions
• South Suburban Holly Pool, 6651 S. Krameria Way, Centennial, CO 80111
• Snorkeling lessons at Eastridge Recreation Center, 9568 S. University Blvd., Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
• Rocky Mountain Beach, 3301 W 46th Ave., Denver, CO 80211
• Rocky Mountain Paddleboard at Big Soda Beach, 15600 Morrison Road, Lakewood, CO 80465
• Bow Mar Beach, 5395 Lakeshore Drive, Littleton, CO 80123
• Rueter-Hess Recreation, 9343 Double Angel Road, Parker, CO 80134
• e Bay Aquatic Park, 250 Spader Way, Broom eld, CO 80020
Tubers relax in the middle of Clear Creek.
FILE PHOTO BY CORINNE WESTEMAN
The Alps meet the Rockies at summit on snowmelt
BY ALEX HAGER KUNC
Colorado, with its dramatic mountain landscapes, deep winter snow and thriving ski industry, has been referred to as the “Switzerland of America.” Gov. Jared Polis even once used the phrase.
e similarities were are more than just a name. A delegation of experts from Switzerland visited Boulder in early June for a summit on melting snow and ice. Mountain guides, climate scientists, artists and policymakers shared notes on the impacts of climate change on high-mountain landscapes.
ose experts painted a fairly bleak picture as they described the role of warming trends in reshaping the snow and ice that de ne the Rockies and Alps.
Perhaps the most striking accounts of those changes came from mountain guides, who lead groups of climbers and adventurers on trips through the peaks. Angela Hawse, a Ridgway-based guide and vice president of the International Federation of Mountain Guides Association, shared videos of icefalls and rockfalls from around the world, showing how large pieces of mountains are falling apart as the ice and snow that holds them together disappears.
Hawse and Switzerland-based Urs
Wellauer, the association’s president, both expressed optimism in nding xes to climate problems through collaboration. Hawse reected on a trip the binational group took to Boulder County’s Brainard Lake as part of the conference.
“It really brought us together as a bunch of individuals that have different perspectives on life,” she said, “ at have di erent professions, that have di erent ways of looking at the mountains and ways of understanding how we can work together to communicate our experiences for that shared experience of moving forward.”
Climate scientists from both countries presented data about a number of climate factors that are rapidly changing the behavior of high-altitude snow and ice. Temperature and precipitation patterns in the Rockies and Alps are changing, and the two regions share even more granular similarities.
Researchers explained how windblown dust in Colorado is landing on top of snow, making it darker, absorbing more radiation from the sun and melting faster. at phenomenon makes it harder to capture and share water from the Colorado River, which is used by 40 million people across the Southwest.
In Switzerland, Saharan dust blown across the Mediterranean is
Orange dust from the Sahara Desert covers ski slopes in Verbier, Switzerland on March 15, 2022. Climate scientists said dust on snow is among a number of factors that are accelerating snowmelt in both Colorado and Switzerland.
a factor in the quickening melting of glaciers. e nation’s glaciers lost 10% of their total volume in 2022 and 2023, the same amount that melted in the three decades between 1960 and 1990.
Emily Zmak, a deputy chief at the Colorado Water Conservation Board who focuses on interstate water policies, remarked at the many similarities between the challenges facing both Colorado and Switzerland, and the potential solutions.
“ ere’s also a sense of optimism,” Zmak said. “We haven’t lost all of our snowpack, we still have time to adapt and be smart, to build community resilience to build resilience at a state or federal government lev-
Ambassador Balz Abplanalp, the Swiss representative for the Western U.S., organized the conference and said international collaboration will be a key part of global climate change solutions going forward.
“We can learn from experts from another domain,” he said, “How they tackle the issue in order to be inspired. is is 360 degree inspiration that we can generate.”
is story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.
PHOTO BY ALEX HAGER
Thu 6/27
Keith Nieto
@ 7pm
Stampede, 2430 S Havana St, Aurora
Fri 6/28
Fishbone at Levitt Pavilion Denver
@ 6pm
Levitt Pavilion Denver, 1380 W Florida Ave, Denver
2 Penguins Tap and Grill, 13065 E Briar‐wood Ave, Centennial
The Mike G Band @ 5pm
Brothers Bar & Grill, 7407 Park Meadows Dr, Lone Tree
Collective Groove: Debut at Wide Open Saloon
@ 6pm
Wide Open Saloon, 5607 US-85, Sedalia
Philip S. Miller Park, 1375 W Plum Creek Pkwy, Castle Rock
Sun 6/30
Sean Rodriguez: Preaching at Praise Center Church @ 8am
Praise Center Church, 3105 W Florida Ave, Denver
Sarah Adams: Unity Spiritual Center (solo) @ 9am
Unity Spiritual Center Denver, 3021 S Uni‐versity Blvd, Denver
GRIZZLY GOPHER AT THE OUTLETS IN CASTLE ROCK @ 2pm
Outlets at Castle Rock, 5050 Factory Shops Blvd #437, Castle Rock
Tue 7/02
MYD: LEGO Robotics @ College View Recreation Center @ 5pm Jul 2nd - Jul 23rd
Denver Parks and Recreation (CGV), 2525 S. Decatur St., Denver. 720-913-0654
Wed 7/03
Amaryllis The Band @ 6pm
Herman's Hideaway, 1578 S Broadway, Denver
Ikigai @ 7pm
Herman's Hideaway, 1578 S Broadway, Denver
Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre, 6350 Greenwood Plaza Blvd, Greenwood Village
Pixies @ 5:30pm
Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre, Englewood
Modest Mouse @ 6pm
Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre, 6350
Greenwood Plaza Blvd, Greenwood Vil‐lage
Mon 7/01
4 Pack - Junior Beach TrainingJune
@ 8am / $160
Jul 1st - Jul 31st
Dove Valley Regional Park (pending), 7900 S Potomac St Rd, Centennial. 720524-4136
Drop In (1 Day) - Junior Beach Training - July
@ 8am / $50
Jul 1st - Jul 31st
Dove Valley Regional Park (pending), 7900 S Potomac St Rd, Centennial. 720524-4136
MYD: Summer Rec Kidz @ College View: Tabletop Games @ 2pm Jul 1st - Jul 3rd
Denver Parks and Recreation (CGV), 2525 S. Decatur St., Denver. 720-913-0654
Amaryllis @ 7pm
Herman's Hideaway, 1578 S Broadway, Denver
Thu 7/04
Columbine Valley 4th of July Race @ 6am / $20
2 Middle�eld, Littleton
Parker Hometown 4th of July 5K @ 7am / $25-$30
PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue, Parker
Prophets and Outlaws @ 7pm
Private Event, Castle Rock
Plan ahead to create a calm space for pets as fireworks begin across Colorado
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
While there’s a lot of Fourth of July food and festivities to be enjoyed, the day can be stressful, or even scary, for our furry friends. e sounds of reworks exploding, summer heat and hazardous materials are among concerns and why local veterinarians agree that it’s a good time to keep your pets safe at home. e Fourth of July is one of the most dangerous days for pets, especially dogs. Shelters and veterinary clinics across the Denver area, including VRCC Veterinary Speciality and Emergency Hospital in Englewood, tend to take in more animals than usual during the week of the holiday.
“We do get a lot of toxicity ingestion,” said Lexy Santos, veterinarian technician. “Heat exhaustion, that’s a really big one.”
Extreme heat and hazardous materials
Although it’s fun and entertaining to have your pet join the celebrations, veterinarians encourage owners to watch their pets breathing and never leave them unattended in a
“Animals feel twice, if not three times the amount of heat that we do,” said Santos. “So, if we’re hot, they’re de nitely exhausted from the heat.”
Dogs that have thick coats, such as Saint Bernards and Chow Chows are even more susceptible to hot weather, as are dogs with shorter snouts like Boston Terriers, Bulldogs and Pugs, to name a few.
Whether it’s a dog sneaking around and picking up food scraps or deciding to give them a fun treat, festive foods can be hazardous.
It’s well known to experienced dog owners that chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, is one of the most toxic foods for dogs to ingest as it attacks their hearts and nervous systems. Other foods that might be at Fourth of July picnics that are harmful are raisins, grapes, macadamia nuts, walnuts and fatty foods such as french fries.
While it is okay for dogs to eat some plain, cooked meat, the seasoning and marinating of onions, garlic and mushrooms are toxic for them, leading to possible anemia and damage to their nervous systems. It’s also important to not leave alcoholic beverages, ca eine, soft drinks and milk unattended.
If owners have more questions about what their pets can eat and cannot eat, the ASPCA, a national animal rescue and protection organization, has a list of foods that are toxic to pets. It can be found at tinyurl.com/yee46bjn.
Weekly Carrier Routes Available
Castle Rock, Lone Tree, Parker & Highlands Ranch Areas
Tips to help keep your pets safe during Fourth of July celebrations
• Part-time hours
• P
•Adaptable route sizes
• Adaptable
• No suit & tie required!
Previous carrier experience encouraged; reliable vehicle and email access, required.
no telephone inquiries - but email us at:
Dogs are naturally curious, which means they aren’t just putting food in their mouths. Loose or used reworks should be closely monitored so pets don’t accidentally ingest the reworks or hurt themselves or others with them.
If you think your pet ingested a potential toxic food or plant, call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435 or take them to the nearest vet.
Keeping your pets calm amid fireworks
As loud sounds can trigger pets to run away from home or wiggle out of their collars, there’s a danger of them getting lost or run into tra c. at’s why the Missing Mutt Detectives, a volunteer group in Parker, say microchipping their pets increases the chance of reuniting with owners.
Additionally, the American Veterinary Medical Association encourages owners to take current photos of their pets and ensure that they have identi cation tags with up to date information in the instance they do run away.
e loud noises can also cause both dogs and cats to have anxiety, however, cats tend to hide better when frightened. is is why it’s important to keep them in an interior room, preferably with no windows,
to give them a space where they can feel comfortable.
Turning on soft music and giving them a chew toy to help them keep busy is also recommended. ere are anti-anxiety medications available, however, it’s important to speak with your pets primary veterinarian about the possibility of medications. If medication is not available or a possibility, another way to help keep your pets calm are anti-anxiety vests and shirts. ese can be purchased at places like PetSmart and Amazon.
“ ey feel like that secure hug makes them feel a little bit more comfortable,” said Santos.
Other safety concerns to consider
• If putting sunscreen on your dog, there are pet friendly sunscreen options as well as insect repellent. Do not apply ordinary sunscreen or insect repellent on your pets as they contain harmful chemicals.
• When cooking – inside or outside – keep the matches and lighter uid out of reach. ese could cause physical injury but also lead to respiratory issues.
• Citronella candles and insect coils should also be kept out of reach.
• Avoid putting glow sticks on pets.
Veterinarians encourage pet owners to create a safe space for their pets on the Fourth of July to help keep them safe and calm during fireworks. PHOTO BY MCKENNA HARFORD
DELAY
“I continue to stand against racism or discrimination of any kind,” Williams said. “However, I need to fully understand the impact these policy changes will have on our students involved in sports and those who utilize our locker rooms.”
The board voted 4-3 to table the changes without setting a timeline for future discussion on the policies. Williams was joined by board members Tim Moore, Becky Myers and Kaylee Winegar to table the changes.
The new language in Title IX, which was first passed in 1972 to prohibit discrimination based on sex, protects students against discrimination based on sex stereotypes, pregnancy (or related conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics. The federal changes take effect on Aug. 1 and the school board’s discussion of changes was set to align with that deadline.
The updates to Title IX mean trans and non-binary students are protected when using bathrooms and locker rooms that match their identity. The federal government is
still in the process of updating Title IX regulations regarding participation in athletics.
Schools that don’t abide by the changes risk being sued for violating federal law.
Additionally, the Colorado legislature passed a law in 2023, Senate Bill 23-296, which requires school districts to implement a discrimination and harassment policy separate from Title IX policies by July 1. District staff said it’s unclear what the consequences are for not meeting the deadline.
Douglas County School District attorney Mary Klimesh previously told the board that the updates would not constitute much change from existing policies.
“Colorado law and our policy have included a prohibition on harassment or discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation for some time,” Klimesh said.
Paula Hans, a spokesperson for the district, said the district would continue to enforce its current discrimination and harassment policies while the proposed changes are tabled.
Several public commenters at the meeting thanked the board for tabling the changes and some pushed the district to go further.
Martha Carver, a representative for Grandparents for Kids, urged the school district to give up federal funding so the district could ignore federal education regulations.
“We recommend that the school district reject federal money, thus avoid having to comply with federal changes,” Carver said.
Former school board member Jason Page said he would rather the district get rid of all sports than for it to allow trans students to play on the team that matches their gender identity.
“If push comes to shove, a great way to not deal with Title IX is to just remove athletics from the district so if that’s where we need to go, respectfully, I say let’s just remove sports,” Page said.
A few commenters shared disappointment with the board’s decision to delay the changes.
“Trans people are not inherently dangerous, but they are in danger,” Kathleen Boyer said. “They are in danger because of words spoken at meetings like this, in public and on social media. The permission given by adults in this community and around the country to target and dehumanize them and delegitimize their experiences leads to direct bullying and harassment.”
Before the meeting, a barrage of
comments opposed to the policy changes flooded social media and led to a petition calling on the board to delay the vote.
Rep. Brandi Bradley, a Republican representing part of Douglas County at the state Capitol, called on her supporters to speak against a proposal on the school board’s agenda tonight. In a post on X, Bradley said the school board should “be scared of the parents who will burn them at the stakes,” if the board approves changes.
The Colorado chapter of Gays Against Groomers, an organization criticized by the Southern Poverty Law Center for amplifying antitrans rhetoric, called the proposed changes “dangerous” and said they would hurt girls in schools.
The Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, a nonprofit that supports parents rights and school choice, started a petition to urge the county school board to delay voting on changing the policy while legal challenges are being worked out.
The Douglas County GOP shared the petition and echoed the request to pause the vote. At the meeting, a representative for the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network said more than 300 Douglas County residents had signed the petition.
Immersive Cinderella City display launches museum
BY ELISABETH SLAY ESLAY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The Englewood Historic Preservation Society hosted the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Historic Englewood Museum on June 22.
The museum’s first exhibit, produced by The Cinderella City Project, is located in the new facility on the second floor of the Englewood Civic Center at 1000 Englewood Pkwy.
The immersive exhibit highlights the history of Cinderella City, the large shopping mall built along the north side of Hampden Avenue between Broadway and Santa Fe Drive in 1968. The mall lasted for three decades, struggling in its final years, until it was demolished.
“As some may remember, the (Englewood Civic Center) build -
ing is the last remaining structure from the original mall,” said Lindsey Runyan, Historic Englewood communications director and museum coordinator.
In its heyday, the building that houses the civic center was a department store. The mall was completely demolished in 1998.
Historic Englewood is attempting “to bring Cinderella City mall back to life,” Runyan said.
Runyan said Josh Goldstein, creator of The Cinderella City Project and Historic Englewood Board secretary, worked to recreate the mall in a simulation “allowing for spectators to virtually walk through the mall and travel back in time to both eras of its design, 1960s and 1980s.”
“We are fortunate to have a theater space within the museum that will be ideal for showcasing the simulation,” Runyan said.
Other exhibits feature Englewood Schools, Cherrelyn Horse Car, Alexander Industries, General Iron Works, Arapahoe Acres and more.
“We believe that Englewood has a unique story to tell and having a museum space to bring that history to the community is essential,” Runyan said.
The city council approved the museum last year. However, Runyan said the Englewood Historic Preservation Society has worked on the project for much longer.
The society was formed 12 years ago amid efforts to secure the Sante Fe Railway depot for use as a museum, Runyan said.
“Although the group was not awarded the depot after going through the proposal process, they still continued to expand and grow the society with the hopes that
The Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab
o ers knowledge, training
BY BRUCE GOLDBERG SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
anks to Denver’s CELL (Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab), 16,000 people in Minneapolis took training to recognize and possibly prevent attacks at the Super Bowl about 10 years ago.
And they weren’t alone.
“CELL has done similar training in Arizona when it hosted the Super
someday they could form a museum,” Runyan said.
When the Museum of Outdoor Arts vacated its space in the civic center almost two years ago, that opened the door for conversations with city officials and the society, she said.
The city and the society have an agreement for a year-long lease and the society also received some start-up funding.
“We hope that there is enough interest in the museum to support it going forward,” Runyan said. “If the city and the community sees its value that will hopefully lead to a contract renewal and perhaps a later expansion should redevelopment occur in that area down the line.”
For more information people can email contact@historicenglewood. com.
CELL exhibit opens in Denver
Bowl two years ago, as well as many other events and venues nationwide,” said Tom Ruppel, chief operating o cer for CELL.
Other municipalities and sporting events have had CELL customize their training to match a speci c event, venue or place.
“What’s tremendous about these events is that there are 2,000 to 3,000 people each time – the public, students, community leaders, business leaders under one roof, listening to those experts debate the issues of the day,” said Melanie Pearlman, president and CEO of CELL.
CELL is a nonpro t, non-partisan institute and o ers a speaker series
and training programs.
It reopened in early May, following a four-year pause to renovate its home at 99 W. 12th Ave. in Denver. CELL updated its displays and o erings during the four-year hiatus in order to provide an interactive experience to block security threats.
Among the exhibits is a large, attention-grabbing, badly damaged piece of metal recovered from the south tower of the World Trade Center.
“ e CELL is a place to stay on top of an evolving landscape of the threats we continue to face,” said Pearlman.
Titled exhibits with names such as “Vitriol & Violence,” “What is Terrorism,” “Rooted in Extremism,” “Countering Today’s reats” and “Civil Liberties & National Security” grab visitors’ attention.
“ e impetus for the CELL was brought by the unfortunate attack of Sept. 11,” Pearlman said. “We wanted to form a (way) to educate people about issues that a ect our national security and our global security.
We brought together an array of thought leaders and subject matter experts for everything you can imagine, people from all di erent reli-
gious and political persuasions, that really helped us for an understanding for visitors.”
CELL does more than just share the knowledge.
“We want to help prevent crime and possible acts of terrorism to help prevent radicalization, and to teach enrollees how to do so,” Ruppel said.
For example, its Community Awareness Program works with local, state and federal safety o cials to help train people on how to recognize and report suspicious activity, as well as “discover how hatred can lead to violence, learn how terrorism in uences global security, and engage ... to make our community safer.”
“ is past year, we developed a new education series all about how we can address the rising threat of domestic, violent extremism here in Colorado,” Ruppel said. “We brought in experts from across the country to address and really speak to the community members about how to recognize (terrorist threats) and what concrete steps you can take to help prevent radical (behavior).”
To learn more about CELL, visit www.thecell.org.
UNDERWATER
But later as a student at Colorado State, Brooks was strolling the quad and saw booths for clubs. One was serendipitously for underwater hockey.
“ is girl, who was actually Elsa’s older sister (Ianna Debrunner), was like, ‘Hey! Do you want to play underwater hockey?’” Brooks said. “You know what? Maybe I do.”
SKY RIDGE
cy medicine.
“I am impressed with how the team
Since plunging into underwater hockey, Brooks has had tunnel vision for a spot on the U.S. team. But it’s a stop on her way to a bigger goal: being chosen on the USA Women’s Elite Team, which is a collection of the best players regardless of age.
Still, representing her country competitively is a dream come true. e team will battle against “10 to 12” other national teams, including Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and others.
A collection of women from all
handles life-threatening events with composure and professionalism,” Scully said.
e student volunteer program is led by Volunteer Director John Penn. As his father and brother were doctors. Penn wanted a way to give back to the
over the country, the national team met in January at a tournament in Colorado for the rst time. ey also had a training camp in Lake Tahoe in California for a week earlier this year.
But Brooks, Debrunner and Paul have an advantage being able to train together at Carmody Recreation Center in Lakewood and Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in ornton. ey’ll stay on their grind until it’s time to travel overseas for global glory.
next generation and encourage their academic pursuits.
How to follow the team e championships in Malaysia will be livestreamed with commentators on YouTube. To follow the team on social media, visit the following links: Instagram: @usa.u24w.uwh Facebook: USAU24Women’s UnderwaterHockey Team website: https://www. underwater-society.org/page/ show/8276732-u24-women
For more information visit the tournament website at www.6thuwhagworlds.com.
Wes Ayres, chief operating o cer at Sky Ridge also wants to help young adults pursue their dreams to become medical professionals, which is why he believes these awards are important.
“Helping students see the rewards of working in medicine and caring for their community is a gift,” said Ayres. “I am excited we can help our young students pursue further education.”
BOB MARSHALL!
Fewer Colorado youth feel sad, hopeless, suicidal, health survey finds
BY ANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT COLORADO
Fewer Colorado youth felt consistently sad or hopeless and fewer considered suicide last year compared with 2021, a large statewide health survey found.
e results from the Healthy Kids Colorado survey represent a bright spot after unprecedented levels of teen anxiety and depression surfaced during the pandemic. e situation was dire enough that state lawmakers took swift action, creating a program in 2021 to provide free counseling sessions to children and youth. Many school districts also launched free counseling programs and hired additional social workers, counselors, and psychologists.
Leaders at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environ-
ment, which publishes the survey results, were pleased with the survey ndings released Wednesday.
“ ere have been dramatic changes in the right direction around indicators of mental health, suicide risk, and substance use,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, the department’s executive director, in a press release. “We’re hopeful this is an indication of state and community investments in prevention programming and protective factors paying o .”
e 2023 Healthy Kids ndings on youth mental health are among the most notable of the survey results. In some cases they improved to well beyond pre-pandemic levels.
For example, 26% of high-schoolers reported persistent feelings of hopelessness or sadness in the 2023 survey, down from 40% in 2021 and 35% in 2019. In addition, 11% of high categories.
Among both middle and high school students, 58% reported their stress level was manageable most days — an improvement for high school students compared with 2021, but the same for middle schoolers.
Alcohol use, vaping fell for high schoolers
In addition to positive trends on youth mental health for both middle and high school students, the survey revealed that fewer high school students are vaping, drinking alcohol, or using prescription pain medication without a prescription or di erently than prescribed compared with 2021. Marijuana use held steady.
For middle schoolers, alcohol use was up in 2023, with many more reporting that they had ever taken a drink — 24% compared with 11% in 2021 — and more reporting they’d consumed alcohol in the previous month — 7% compared with 4% in 2021.
Middle school rates of vaping and using marijuana didn’t change in 2023 compared to 2021, but the survey found that more students in that age group had tried cigarettes — 7% compared to 4% in 2021.
While bullying overall didn’t increase in 2023 compared with 2021, LGBTQ students reported signicantly higher rates of bullying than other students. For example, 29% of gay and lesbian high school students reported being bullied during the previous year, compared with 12% of students generally. Gay and lesbian students also reported higher rates of sadness and hopelessness, and that they’d seriously considered suicide.
State leaders say a recent survey shows mental health is improving among Colorado youth.
More e orts to improve youth mental health are on the way in Col-
In May, the state announced a program that will train young adults ages 18 to 24 to connect youth with mental health support. is month, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced a new youth mental health grant program funded with millions from a lawsuit settlement with e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc.
e Healthy Kids survey has been given under various names since 1991. It has occasionally sparked backlash over concerns about data privacy or because some critics say the questions are too explicit.
Public health o cials emphasize the survey is voluntary for students and provides key information about how pre-teens and teens are faring when it comes to physical, sexual, and mental health.
More than 120,000 students completed the survey in 2023 — the most ever.
State o cials added several new questions to the 2023 survey, including about feeling safe at school, nightly sleep hours, use of psychedelic drugs, body image, and eating disorders.
One of the new questions revealed that nearly a quarter of high-schoolers and middle schoolers reported trying to lose weight or maintain their weight in unhealthy ways during the previous month — for example, by using diet pills, skipping meals, or vomiting.
Another new question revealed that large proportions of students worry about their physical appearance all or most of the time — 39% for high schoolers and 32% for middle schoolers.
Chalkbeat is a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.
$20 million Juul settlement to go to youth mental health
BY MELANIE ASMAR CHALKBEAT COLORADO
Colorado will spend $20 million of a $31.7 million lawsuit settlement with e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. on a grant program aimed at improving youth mental health, state Attorney General Phil Weiser has announced.
e program will prioritize collaborations between school districts and community organizations. e aim is to address children’s mental health so they don’t turn to vaping as a way to cope.
“When you think about a challenge like youth vaping, you can think about addressing the symptom — the fact that people are vaping — or the underlying cause,” Weiser said in an interview after the announcement. “We’ve chosen to address the underlying cause.
“We know that because of mental health issues, people turn to substances like vaping. at’s why we’re going to the source to ask: How do we build better connections?”
e “how” will be up to the school districts, which will be invited to apply for grants later this year. e long lead time is intentional; Weiser said the goal is for districts to collaborate with one another and with local community organizations to come up with programs that help develop young people’s connections to trusted adults and to one another. Several Colorado foundations have o ered to help facilitate those collabora-
tions over the next six months.
“We do not want to prescribe what you need to do,” Weiser told a room full of educators at a Colorado Education Initiative summer conference, where he made the announcement. “We want to o er a broad opportunity around holistic youth mental health and leave it to you to think about what collaboration, what partnership, what strategies make sense in your community.”
Colorado sued Juul in 2020, alleging that it targeted youth with deceptive marketing and played down the health risks of vaping. e state was one of several that settled with the company. Juul did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.
irty percent of Colorado high school students reported having vaped at least once, according to the most recent data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, which is administered every other year. Sixteen percent of students said they’d vaped in the last 30 days.
e $20 million grant program is the largest of three programs that Colorado is spending the Juul settlement money on. e others are a $6 million grant program aimed at nonpro t organizations and government agencies, and an $11.4 million grant program for school districts to address the youth vaping crisis. ose grant programs are already underway, and Weiser said the recipients will be announced soon.
Weiser said he sees the $20 million program as especially impactful
because of the power of collaboration. “Schools are free to work with whoever in their community is serving young people,” he said. “In some communities, it might be a Boys and Girls Club. In other communities, it might be a library teaching kids to read.”
Grant applicants whose school districts serve a combined 23,000 students or more will be eligible for a $2.5 million grant over a threeyear period, Weiser said. Applicants whose districts serve between 7,500 and 23,000 students will be eligible
for $1.75 million over three years, and districts that serve fewer than 7,500 students will be eligible for
Late last year, Colorado led a coalition of 42 attorneys general nationwide that sued Meta in a similar lawsuit alleging that its social media platforms, including Instagram, used deceptive practices to harm children and teens and addict them to social media.
Chalkbeat is a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.
Colorado sued Juul in 2020, alleging that it targeted youth with deceptive marketing and played down the health risks of vaping. STOCK IMAGE
Lead common across Colorado’s school districts
BY JASON GONZALES CHALKBEAT COLORADO
Nearly two-thirds of the roughly 2,200 sources of drinking water found roughly a year ago to have excessive lead contamination in Colorado’s 10 largest school districts still need to be xed.
at’s according to a new Colorado Public Interest Research Group analysis of state data. e group found that since testing began last year, districts haven’t addressed the high lead levels of lead in the majority of water xtures since May of last year.
e organization, which focuses on health and other public policy issues, released the analysis using publicly available data from May 1 — a year since the state began requiring the testing of lead levels in Colorado schools and child care centers drinking sources.
“We would like to see them prioritize this to provide a safer, healthier learning environment,” said the group’s Kirsten Schatz, referring to schools. “Drinking water in schools should be of paramount importance, and we’d like to see them get that done.”
e analysis pulls from a statewide
report required by a 2022 law that required schools to test water from sources like drinking foundations and make xes if lead levels are 5 parts per billion or higher. e law set aside $21 million for testing and repairs. Schools and child care centers were required to test by May 31 of last year.
Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin that can cause learning disabilities and behavior problems in children, and even low levels of exposure can impact a child’s IQ. Although lead levels in American children have decreased dramatically since the 1970s, studies show many children still have detectable levels.
Studies have shown that 72% of Colorado children under 6 who were tested for lead had trace levels in their blood. However, many kids in Colorado have never been tested.
Schatz said the group focused on the state’s 10 largest districts because they educate the majority of Colorado’s students.
e analysis shows of the 2,201 water xtures with contamination levels above 5 parts per billion and needing remediation, only 784 have been xed since testing began in May 2023. at means 1,417 sources still need a x to bring levels below
the threshold, according to the analysis.
Schatz said the statewide school data shows some districts have taken action after they began reporting lead levels. e organization analyzed data from Denver, Adams 12, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Je erson County, Academy, Douglas, Boulder, St. Vrain Valley, and Poudre school districts.
e report found Aurora Public Schools had the greatest need for remediation of contaminated drinking sources, with 88% of water xtures reported to have excessive lead levels still needing remediation. Meanwhile, about 83% of Denver Public Schools’ water xtures with excessive lead levels still needed remediation.
Out of the ten biggest districts, only St. Vrain Valley School District showed no xtures needing remediation.
e analysis identi ed some extreme high levels of lead. One xture at Eagleview Elementary School in Adams 12 tested as high as 4,500 parts per billion — or 900 times the state’s threshold. e xture has since been replaced, according to the report.
Although the Colorado Public In-
terest Research Group’s analysis focuses on only the state’s largest districts, statewide data shows it’s an issue that also a ects many smaller schools. e organization also created a resource guide for parents who want to analyze the statewide data for themselves.
Schatz said while she commends school districts for starting to take action, no student or parent should have to worry about lead in their water, and that there should be no lead in any source of drinking water. Her group recommends that parents worried about lead contamination send their students to schools with ltered water.
e American Academy of Pediatrics has set a safety threshold of 1 part per billion in drinking water. Most states have set the limit at 5 or 10 parts per billion.
“We know that there’s no safe level of lead exposure for people, and especially children who are still developing, because it causes so many health harms,” she said. “ e most important thing is that we provide a safer and healthier learning environment.”
is story runs permission of Chalkbeat, a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.
A new Colorado law will study the harms of slavery
But only if supporters raise almost $800K on their own
BY TATIANA FLOWERS THE COLORADO SUN
A bill creating the Black Coloradan Racial Equity Commission was signed into law June 4.
But supporters must raise $785,000 to prove there is strong community support for what the law directs History Colorado to do — assess and quantify the nancial impact of slavery, racism and discrimination on Black Coloradans and make recommendations for corrective measures. e group is about $30,000 short of reaching that goal by a self-imposed deadline of July 1.
“ is is not us using public dollars for something other folks didn’t think we needed a study on,” said state Sen. James Coleman, a Black Denver Democrat and lead sponsor of the law. “We had a big fundraising e ort this year, and at this point, we’re short about $30,000. I feel strongly we’ll be able to raise the rest of that money to begin implementing the bill.”
A similar bill, House Bill 1327, which passed in 2022, included $618,611 in state funding for History Colorado to investigate abuses at a federal Native American boarding school at Fort Lewis, in southern Colorado, and others like it statewide.
is year, the governor signed House Bill 1444, which provided $1 million to fund the Federal Indian Boarding School Research Program until the end of 2027.
State lawmakers did not ask for funding when they drafted the new racial equity study measure, Senate Bill 53, for Black Coloradans because “we knew it wouldn’t have passed,” said Sade Cooper, co-founder and chief executive o cer at CHIC Denver. e group is helping fundraise for Senate Bill 53, and helps families break free of intergenerational poverty and violence.
“We have similar studies that have passed,” Cooper said. “ ere was just one about the Indian boarding schools — that came with funding. But when it comes to really, truly, wanting to study this, in a partnership, we knew that if we went in there asking for money for something as contentious as this was, this wouldn’t have seen the light of day. at’s sad and it says a lot about our political environment.”
Senate Bill 53 establishes a commission to direct History Colorado to conduct historical research across areas such as economic mobility, housing, education, health care and the criminal justice system. Racial equity studies can be used as tools to qualify and quantify past discrimination and develop ways to make corrections.
Slavery, systemic racism and discrimination continue to harm Black Coloradans, who still disproportionately struggle to gain wealth and access other basic necessities such as
health care, higher education, nancial stability and housing.
Black people who were enslaved and unpaid for their work decades ago helped other Americans become wealthy and powerful and they’re now owed those same opportunities and resources, the preamble to Senate Bill 53 says. eir lost wages and assets not only a ect them but also detract from Colorado’s labor force, tax base and the overall health of the state’s economy.
e results of the racial equity study will hopefully show that communities came together to do, Cooper said, “what’s right for all.”
We can now be the architects for the next generation,” she said. “ at is what I want to know, as a Black Coloradan — that we are taking care of those that I might never know.”
While lawmakers and other organizations are working to raise the
money needed to begin the analysis required by Senate Bill 53, many Black Coloradans are commemorating Juneteenth, which marks the date when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, to take control of the state and ensure enslaved Black people were freed — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed on Jan. 1, 1863.
“We may not be shackled at the wrists and ankles literally, and working as indentured servants, but we are still unfortunately shackled by a lack of access to good education and a lack of access to the nancial wealth needed to buy a home,” Coleman said. “ ese are the kinds of things that still a ect our communities.”
Lawmakers are seen on the Capitol’s House floor on Jan. 12, 2022 in Denver at the start of Colorado’s General Assembly’s 2022 session. OLIVIA SUN/THE COLORADO SUN
SEE SLAVERY, P29
SLAVERY
How the commission is supposed to work
Senate Bill 53 describes a 14-member commission, to be convened by Sept. 1, that will help shape a threeyear study that aims to determine how Black Coloradans have experienced and continue to experience racial discrimination because of harmful state systems, policies and practices.
e study group must include people with legal expertise in constitutional law and racial justice; a historian who has studied Black history, slavery and racism; a person with experience quantifying the economic impact of those harms on Black people; and other public servants who have worked with Black Coloradans.
e members of the study com-
mittee will be appointed by the governor, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate.
Researchers on the committee may examine Black Coloradans’ ability to build nancial wealth by studying residential and commercial loan trends and tax policy, the law states.
e committee will also likely determine Black Coloradans’ ability to access higher education and workforce training programs and may study health disparities, police brutality and incarceration, among many other trends, to help estimate the nancial toll on African Americans in the state, the law says.
History Colorado must conduct at least two public engagement sessions in di erent parts of the state that allow community members to o er comments virtually or in-person about how state government has in uenced policies that have resulted in systemic racism and discrimi-
nations against Black Coloradans.
e dates for those community engagement sessions will likely be published in news media advisories and at leg.colorado.gov, when they are scheduled, Coleman said.
By September 2027, the study commission must submit a report outlining its ndings and recommendations to the governor, the Colorado General Assembly, the State Board of Education, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the Colorado Attorney General and the Health Equity Commission.
e study commission must also make the report publicly available on the Colorado General Assembly website.
e commission must present the ndings in the report to the Colorado General Assembly and the governor.
After that, the commission must work with lawmakers and anyone else necessary to implement the recommendations outlined in the re-
port, the law says.
If the study determines the nancial toll of racism and discrimination on Black Coloradans, the sum will be used to help inform future policy decisions, Coleman said.
“We will begin the rst year of the work upon receiving the funds — hopefully by July 1,” Coleman said. “After funds are secured, we’d love to kick o the task force in August and begin doing preliminary work with History Colorado and the task force to talk about Black history in Colorado. en, the goal would be to continue looking at the data we have in the second year, as we’re moving into 2025.”
Job descriptions are being drafted
History Colorado expects to begin hiring researchers this summer.
“As the research outcomes of this project are quite expansive, History Colorado is already in the process of
Colorado Community Media to Hold its First 5K Run
BY JO ANN M. COLTON
There is no better way to appreciate the beauty of Colorado than by witnessing all the sights and sounds of the great outdoors.
from walking and/or running along our state’s many wonderful paths and scenic nature trails.
Join Colorado Community Media as we host our first-ever 5K run on Saturday, Aug. 24, at Clement Park, 7306 W. Bowles Ave. in Littleton.
And, before the run, we want you to submit your own “Trail Tales,” including photos, to your local newspaper (events@coloradocommunitymedia. com). Tell us where you most enjoy going for a walk or a run in your commuor elsewhere in Colorado.
In turn, we will share many of those adventurous tales with the readers of our two dozen community newspapers in the weeks ahead of the run. About the 5k: It is scheduled to loop around Johnston Reservoir from 9:30 a.m. to noon. It will start and end on the bike path near Shelter P. The event is different from most 5k runs in many ways. For starters, the sole purpose of this event is to simply provide an opportunity for people across Colorado to come together, interact, and share their personal experiences gained
There are no prizes associated with the event and participants will not receive a “standard” T-shirt. Instead, registered participants will receive a pair of custom running socks. The Share Your Trail Tales 5k Run is open to people of all ages. Participants have the option of making it a fun-filled day for the entire family. Registration fees are $35 for adults (ages 17 & up), $15 (ages 5 to 16), and free for children (ages 4 and under ). Parking for run participants and event attendees is available in the west parking lot, which can be reached as you enter Clement Park through the Library entrance on W. Bowles Avenue.
Park is currently being firmed up to feature other activities throughout the day including food and beverage purchase options offered by local food trucks, vendor booths, and live music entertainment.
“Your support of this event as a race participant and/or as an attendee is paramount to the success of our first Share Your Trail Tales 5k Run and it will help us sustain our ability to support local news,” Scott said. “We encourage the engagement of our readers and future readers to be part of this and future events at Colorado Community Media.”
Colorado Community Media publications span eight counties along Colorado’s majestic Front Range — Weld, Adams, Jeffco, Clear Creek, Douglas, Elbert, Arapahoe and Denver. As a nonprofit organization, community is important to us and we are eager to reach out and meet members of the communities our news organization serves.
Carlie Scott, Colorado Community Media’s events director, stated that the program for the Aug. 24 run in Clement
Colorado Community Media could not put on events like this 5k run without the help of its dedicated supporters and sponsors. Sponsorship provides an ideal marketing prospect for your business and positive brand recognition. The organization offers many levels of sponsorship and opportunities for involvement. As a sponsor, you can be part of a fun community event that promotes health and wellness.
To register for the Share Your Trail Tales 5k please visit our website www.coloradocommunitymedia.com and click on EVENTS/CONTEST tab.
SLAVERY
drafting job descriptions, so we can move forward with hiring a team of researchers who can accomplish this serious and signi cant project,” Luke Perkins, a spokesperson for History Colorado, wrote in an email to e Colorado Sun.
“ is team will consist of four Black history scholars as well as a project manager who will help coordinate the team’s e orts,” he wrote in the email.
“It is History Colorado’s goal to have these postings up before the end of summer and to have this team work in collaboration with our existing Black history and engagement team to diligently complete the scope of this project.”
e research team will use historical documents such as those already archived by History Colorado and Denver Public Library, and will work
with community members to nd information excluded from those records, Perkins wrote in the email.
Colorado was not a state that enslaved Black people, but the state bene ted economically from labor done by them, Perkins wrote.
“Many early prospectors brought enslaved persons to the Colorado territory to do labor,” he wrote. “Colorado wasn’t considered a state when emancipation was proclaimed but enslaved people worked here prior to statehood and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.”
e Ku Klux Klan also wielded great power and in uence in Denver and in state politics in the 1920s.Major Colorado towns, including Denver, Grand Junction, Pueblo, and Cañon City were hotbeds for Klan activity, and by 1925, the racist organization had in ltrated all levels of state government, controlling many members of the legislature and people in the state supreme court, and on some town councils, according to the new law.
Some of the most notable KKK members at that time included the mayor of Denver, the Denver police chief and the governor. e group’s presence in those higher levels of government has in uenced state policies and systems and created inequalities that still negatively a ect Black Coloradans, Senate Bill 53 says. Statistics consistently demonstrate the disparities that Black people still face show there’s no better time for states to pass similar legislation, Cooper said.
In 2020, the homeownership gap between Black and white Coloradans was 32%. Black people in Colorado are incarcerated at a rate that is more than seven times higher than white people in the state, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Black people face a higher unemployment rate compared with any other racial group in the state. Black Coloradans also face many poor health outcomes at rates much higher than white Coloradans such as food insecurity, infant
and maternal mortality, asthma, diabetes and HIV and AIDS. Despite the falling poverty rates, in 2021, Black Coloradans were still about twice as likely to live in poverty when compared with white Coloradans, according to a U.S. Census Bureau data analysis by the Colorado News Collaborative. e average Black American has a life expectancy of nearly ve years fewer than the average white American, according to e Kaiser Family Foundation.
“We collect this data but it hasn’t been organized,” Coleman said. “We will use this information to help determine what policies we can run in the future. We want policies that are data-driven and data-informed. e goal is to also share this information broadly for any other projects,” he said of the study’s potential ndings. 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.
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Empower Retirement, LLC is seeking the following pos's in Greenwood Village, CO (may work remote from anywhere in the US):
Developer Java: Assist in the dsgn, build, implem, troubleshooting & tstng of highly scalable s/w prdcts aligned w/ Empower Retirement’s Biz, Tech & Architecture strats. Reqs: Bach's deg (or frgn equiv) in CS, IT or rltd; 3 yrs of exp as a Java Dvlpr, S/w Dvlpr or a rltd pos. Ref 1245. Salary $115k & Std Benefits.
Lead Developer Mobile: Respsbl for serving as a lead in dvlpng fin svcs mobile apps. Reqs: Mstr’s deg* (or frgn equiv) in CS, Info Sys or rltd; 3 yrs of exp as a Sr Dvlpr or a rltd pos. Will accept a Bach’s + 5 yrs exp in lieu of Mstr’s deg + 3 yrs exp. Ref 1280. Salary: $165k & Std Benefits.
Senior Software Engineer: Work on many initiatives, integrations, innovations, while always trying to scale it more, improve perfrmnc & keep the sys secure. Reqs: Mstr’s deg* (or frgn equiv) in CS, Mgmt Info Sys or rltd; 3 yrs of exp as a S/w Engineer or a rltd pos. Will accept a Bach’s + 5 yrs exp in lieu of Mstr’s deg + 3 yrs exp. Ref 1248. Salary: $175K & Std Benefits.
Senior Developer: Dsgn, implmnt, & test highly scalable s/w prdcts aligned w/ Empower Retirement's Biz, Tech & Architecture strategies. Reqs: Mstr’s deg* (or frgn equiv) in CS, Elctrncs Engg or rltd; 3 yrs of exp as a Dvlpr or a rltd pos. Will accept a Bach’s + 5 yrs exp in lieu of Mstr’s deg + 3 yrs exp. Ref 1250. Salary: $152,069 & Std Benefits.
Principal Software Engineer: Dsgn, implmnt, deploy, & spprt new web-based microservices using server techs stacks that incl Java, MySQL, & AWS svcs. Reqs: Mstr’s deg* (or frgn equiv) in CS, S/w Engg or rltd; 3 yrs of exp as a Sr S/w Engineer or a rltd pos. Will accept a Bach’s + 5 yrs exp in lieu of Mstr’s deg + 3 yrs exp. Ref 1234. Salary: $186k & Std Benefits.
To apply, email res w/ ref# to Tony Medaris, tony.medaris@empower.com
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Special Education Paraprofessional
Full-Time Special Education Paraprofessional needed for 2024-25 School Year in our West Area Center-Based Learning Programs located in Strasburg
• Competitive pay and benefits including individual health insurance . $16-$19 per hour depending on experience
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• To apply for this position, please visit our website ecboces.org and click on the "Jobs" page, click on the job you are interested in & then click on the green button "Apply Online" at the bottom of the job listing. EOE
Software Development Engineer, Sr
CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Software Development Engineer, Sr. in Englewood, CO to research, design, and develop computer and network software or specialized utility programs. Telecommuting is permitted 100%. Position reports to company headquarters in Englewood, CO. Requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related field. $119,667.41 to $129,667.41 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.70.3.
Operational Engineer Senior
CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Operational Engineer Senior in Englewood, CO to research, design, and develop computer software. Position allows for 100% telecommuting. Position reports to company HQ in Englewood, CO. Position requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Programming, Information Technology, or related field. $152,069.00 to $162,069.00 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.68.2
Help Wanted
Sr. Software Engineer
CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Sr. Software Engineer to design, develop, test, implement, and support scalable software solutions. Telecommuting is permitted 100%. Reports to company HQ in Englewood, CO. Position requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field. $126,181.44 to $136,181.44 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.66.2.
Software Development Engineer Senior
CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Software Development Engineer Senior to research, design, and develop computer and network software or specialized utility programs. Position is fully remote and reports to company headquarters in Englewood, CO. Requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field. $118,628.00 to $128,628.00 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.61.4
Test Engr Sr.
CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Test Engr Sr in Englewood, CO to develop and maintain automated tests. Telecommuting is permitted 100%. Position reports to company HQ in Englewood, CO. Requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology and Computing, or a related field. $128,398.00 to $138,398.00 per year, including standard company benefits. To apply, send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.75.3.
Help Wanted
Operational Engineer II
CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Operational Engineer II in Englewood, CO to participate on DevOps Engineering team within Scrum environment. Telecommuting is permitted 100%. Position reports directly to company HQ in Englewood, CO. Requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, or related field. $130,520.00 to $140,520.00 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.8.1
Senior Software
Development Engineer
CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Senior Software Development Engineer in Englewood, CO to lead the design, analysis, creation, and debugging of CSG's customer facing applications. Position allows for remote work and reports to company headquarters in Englewood, CO. Requires a Master’s or Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field. $152,069.00 to $162,069.00 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.15.3
Architect
Intec Billing Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Architect in Englewood, CO to research, design, and develop software. Telecommuting is permitted 100%. Position reports to company HQ in Englewood, CO. Position requires a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer information systems, or related field. $152,069.00 to $162,069.00 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.39.5.
Help Wanted
Software Dev. Engr II
CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Software Dev Engr II in Englewood, CO to research and develop computer software. Telecommuting is permitted 100%. Position reports to company HQ in Englewood, CO. Position requires a Master’s degree or Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field. $108,992.00 to $118,992.00 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.11.1
Senior RPA Developer
Open Technology Solutions, LLC, seeks Senior RPA Developer in Englewood, CO to design, build & develop RPA solutions to create automations that integrate into existing OTS tech framework. Req. MS in comp sci. or rltd fld (will accpt foreign ed equiv) & 3 yrs RPA developing exp. Must also possess: Azure DevOps, Team Foundation Server, Visual Krum, Agile Methodologies, Business Requirements design, Orchestrator Certification, UI Path Certification. This position is 100% telecommute and can be performed from anywhere in the U.S. $125,000/yr. Submit app to mnavarrete@open-techs.com and refer to this ad in cover letter.
DevOps Engineer
Open Technology Solutions, LLC seeks a DevOps Engineer in Englewood, CO to ensure adherence to the organization's SDLC development process & assist Devlpmnt teams with source code mngmnt. Requires: B.S. in eng., com. sci., or related field (will accept foreign ed equiv) & 5 yrs DevOps Eng. exp. Must also possess: Azure DevOps; Team Foundation Server; Octopus Deploy; Kubernetes Admin; Powershell; Server Configuration Management –Puppet Enterprise; IIS (Internet Information Services); Security TestingVeracode; Azure Cloud. Salary: $139,838/yr. This position is 40% telecommute and employee must live within commuting distance to company headquarters. Submit app to mnavarrete@open-techs.com and refer to this ad in cover letter.
Software Development Engineer Senior CSG Systems Inc. d/b/a CSG has an opening for Software Development Engineer Senior in Englewood, CO to research, design, and develop computer software. Telecommuting is permitted 100%. Position reports to company HQ in Englewood, CO. Position requires a Master’s degree or Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field. $152,069.00 to $162,069.00 per year, including standard company benefits. Send resume to USIRecruitment@csgi.com. Must reference job 21890.9.1. Need to get the word out?
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