How does Colorado keep noncitizens and dead people from voting?
Protections involve everything from the DMV database to what’s known as the ‘death list’
BY CAITLYN KIM CPR NEWS
As the election draws nearer, Coloradans have a lot of questions around voting — about how the process works, and also, what protections are there to ensure ineligible people aren’t casting ballots.
It’s a perennial concern in every election, but one that has heated up this year, that somehow large numbers of non-citizens — and the dead — will manage to cast ballots.
Weld County Clerk and Recorder Carly Koppes has been elding versions of these fears since she rst started working in the o ce in 2004. e Republican, who was rst elected Clerk in 2014, is on her 6th presidential cycle.
“ is isn’t the rst presidential election that we’ve got a lot of voters asking, ‘what about the illegals?’” she said.
Douglas County school resource o cers train with FBI about online threats
BY HALEY LENA
When an FBI special agent asked a room full of Douglas County school resource o cers if they had dealt with sextortion, only a couple of them raised their hands.
But it’s not only sextortion that today’s school resource o cers may have to face, there’s also violent extremism and human tra cking.
“ e school system has now become the epicenter of that nationally,” said Mark Michalek, special agent in charge of the FBI Denver Field O ce. “Our school resource o cers and our school administrators are on the front lines.”
Sextortion is the solicitation and enticement of someone to engage in photographed sexual acts. Violent extremism involves using violence to support a goal, and human tra cking refers to the buying and selling of people.
e FBI has seen a rise in human trafcking and violent threats involving youth throughout Colorado, mirroring national
trends, and is focused on lone o enders and small groups that are “radicalized” online.
In September, roughly 50 school resource o cers got national-level training at the Legacy Campus in Lone Tree on how to recognize signs of vi`olent behavior, sextortion and human tra cking.
Jonny Grusing, the school district’s security director, knows what level of training the FBI o ers, as he was in the FBI for 25 years. He said the partnership for the training provides local school resource o cers with extra tools to recognize concerning behaviors and prevent victimization.
National trends seen at state level
From October 2023 to August of this year, Michalek said the national threat operations center had received more than 4,500 threats against schools nationwide, including hoax bomb threats, fentanyl cases and swatting, similar to what Colorado is receiving.
Before becoming the school district’s
security director, Grusing led lectures on pathways to violence at schools in Douglas County, identifying warning signs of how an individual can escalate to violence and how to stop violence before it happens.
“(Students’) brains are still developing and so they are subject to grooming,” said Michalek. “ ey’re subject to extremist views.”
Violent extremism is on the rise as offenders are targeting and recruiting children and teens online in the county, according to Grusing and Michalek. Michalek cited the teen from Castle Rock who last summer was indicted on charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
“We’re not talking about political perspectives or political ideology,” said Douglas County Sheri Darren Weekly. “We’re talking about when that rises to the level of violence and hurting people.”
Despite no widespread evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election, an NPR poll shows that a majority of Americans are concerned that there will be fraud this time around, in large part due to former President Donald Trump’s false statements. A majority of respondents in that survey said they believe noncitizens will be able to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
A number of audits, investigations and studies con rmed the results of the 2020 election, which President Joe Biden won. e checks to ensure only eligible voters end up on the voter rolls start with the rst question asked of anyone registering to vote in Colorado.
“On the form it says, ‘Are you a citizen of the United State? Yes or No?” Koppes said, pointing to a printed copy of Colorado’s o cial voter registration form. Next to the question, the document says, “if you answered No, do not complete this form.”
“So, it’s a self-a rmation. We are hoping that you are answering that question correctly,” Koppes explained. But “when we start registering you to vote in the voter registration system, we do verify and check.”
In other words: trust, but verify.
Clerks and the Secretary of State’s Office rely on a long list of databases to
Agents from the Denver FBI Division and the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Tra cking Task Force spoke to Douglas County school resource o cers at the Legacy Campus in Lone Tree about the dangers of the internet and how it has played a part in the rise of violence and human tra cking.
PHOTO BY HALEY LENA
Douglas County sheri ’s Trump rally speech
‘had nothing to do with race,’
Weekly says
Darren Weekly talks about immigration and crime at Aurora political event
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
On a stage with the words “Deport Illegals Now” behind him, Douglas County Sheri Darren Weekly spoke at a rally for former President Donald Trump, praising him and emphasizing concerns surrounding migrant people and crime.
“ e Harris-Biden administration have turned their backs on law enforcement. President Donald J. Trump will bring law and order back to America,” Weekly said in his remarks. He added: “We need to make America great again.”
Trump’s rally took place in Aurora, a suburb thrust into the national spotlight amid claims that it had become a “migrant gang war zone” and that areas in the city have been taken over — a narrative that the former president has pushed. e Republican candidate’s rhetoric has continued despite Aurora o cials attempting to combat it.
“I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said at the rally.
In remarks at the event, the Douglas County sheri focused on immigration, standing next to mug shots of alleged gang members printed with the heading: “Occupied America.”
“Some of these migrants are hardened criminals. ey’re sex o enders, they’re murderers and they’re members of transnational criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua,” Weekly said.
Days after the rally, Weekly told the Douglas County News-Press that “it’s critical that people know that my speech and my comments had nothing to do with race.”
“It had everything to do with public safety. I’m the elected sheri , so I go through a primary process,” Weekly said, adding: “ e Republican Party elected me to be the sheri of Douglas County. (But) you will not nd a (social media) post from our organization about politics.”
At the rally, Weekly introduced himself as “the proud Republican sheri of Douglas County.” Later, Weekly argued the sheri ’s o ce isn’t a political space.
“I represent all the residents of Douglas County. at has not changed because I gave a speech for President Trump,” Weekly told the News-Press, adding: “We try to stay away from politics at the sheri ’s o ce.”
“My deputies put their lives on the line every day, and they would put their lives on the line for a migrant just as they would for a citizen of this community,” Weekly said.
‘Not suggesting all the migrants are felons’ e Trump campaign reached out to Weekly and asked whether he would be willing to speak, Weekly said.
e former president is known for inammatory rhetoric about immigrants, including about Latino people who come to the United States.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. ey’re not sending you. ey’re not sending you. ey’re
sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. ey’re bringing drugs. ey’re bringing crime. ey’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” Trump said in 2015.
Asked whether the sheri worries that immigrants may be more hesitant about reporting crimes in Douglas County after seeing him speak at a rally for Trump, Weekly said: “I was very careful with my comments … to only comment on migrants who were committing crimes.”
“I’m not suggesting that all the migrants are felons and that they’re members of TdA,” Weekly said, referring to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
He said he’s concerned about what he calls “our open border,” a reference to the Biden administration’s handling of people entering the country seeking asylum.
Seeking asylum — or safety from persecution — is a legal process. “Seeking asylum is a human right protected under our laws,” the website for the American Civil Liberties Union says.
He’s also concerned that terrorists could come through the border.
“Ask yourself: Could there be a terror plot right now within our borders being planned against the American citizens?”
Weekly said at the rally.
Weekly told the News-Press that law
enforcement has arrested Venezuelan nationals in cases connected to Douglas County.
“Over the last six months, we’ve had an uptick,” Weekly said, adding: “ e number of Venezuelan nationals that we have in custody ebbs and ows.”
“I think the last time I looked, it was nine,” Weekly said in mid-October. e suspects he referred to are undocumented, and they are believed to have residences throughout the Denver metro area, some of which are in Aurora, Weekly said.
“Typically, it’s property crimes,” Weekly said of the situations in his jurisdiction. “Typically, it is car theft and burglary (charges).”
He said he couldn’t comment on whether they’re gang related.
“We have ongoing investigations about their gang a liations,” Weekly said.
Eye on Aurora
A recent viral video that shows armed men in the hallway of an apartment complex in Aurora has helped fuel controversy over claims about gang activity in the city.
Aurora Mayor Mike Co man, a Republican, released a statement in response to Trump’s rally.
“ ere were thousands of people who attended the rally today, some of whom might have visited Aurora for the rst
time, who were able to see rsthand the mischaracterizations of our great community,” Co man’s statement said. “I am disappointed that the former president did not get to experience more of our city for himself.”
“I cannot overstate enough that nothing was said today that has not been said before and for which the city has not responded with the facts,” the Oct. 11 statement said.
“Again, the reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity in our city — and our state — have been grossly exaggerated and have unfairly hurt the city’s identity and sense of safety,” the statement continued. “ e city and state have not been ‘taken over’ or ‘invaded’ or ‘occupied’ by migrant gangs. e incidents that have occurred in Aurora, a city of 400,000 people, have been limited to a handful of speci c apartment complexes, and our dedicated police o cers have acted on those concerns and will continue to do so.”
e Aurora Police Department announced in September that one suspect is in custody and others have been identi ed in connection with the August viral video. For more on that and information on gang concerns, see the city’s webpage at tinyurl.com/AuroraPoliceInfo.
Douglas County Sheri Darren Weekly stands on stage at a rally for former President Donald Trump on Oct. 11 in Aurora. Weekly spoke about concerns surrounding crime and immigration. SCREENSHOT OF VIDEO FROM RIGHT SIDE BROADCASTING NETWORK ON YOUTUBE
VOTE 4 BOB MARSHALL!
Informed readers voted Bob the “Best Government Official –Highlands Ranch” for a reason. Bob is:
Accessible – Fifteen Town Halls since elected, more than all Douglas County’s other legislators combined
Moderate – Republican Party’s own “Liberty Scorecard” rates Bob as the most moderate of Colorado’s sixty-nine Democratic legislators
Effective – Seven of Bob’s eight bills last session passed committees unanimously (the 8th passed with bipartisan support); Bob also was the individual prime sponsor who brought Amendment G to the ballot for a constitutional change which passed the House, Senate, and all its committee votes UNANIMOUSLY
Independent – Bob represents Highlands Ranch, not an ideology and not special interests; he often stood alone for what he believed was right or was in the best interest of Highlands Ranch or his constituents, even against his own party
What does it mean to have a bond measure on your ballot?
BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When voters go to ll out their 2024 ballots, there’s a good chance they’ll be asked to decide on a bond measure, whether for parks, schools or libraries.
In an e ort to help inform voters, Colorado Community Media spoke with Byron Isaak – a bond broker and dealer at Lakewood-based Isaak Bond Investments who has worked in the industry for more than 40 years – about how bonds work.
Bonds are a way for municipalities or special districts, like school districts or library districts, to take on debt to fund infrastructure and capital investments, such as buildings, sidewalks, roads, parks and water and sewer lines.
A popular kind of bond used by municipalities and special districts is a general obligation bond, which Isaak said works similarly to a homeowner’s mortgage, where debt repayments can be spaced out over a long period of time with interest.
“ ey can issue a large amount of debt and put it in a ladder form, so there are
SECURITY
ensure their voter lists are clean, something even the right wing Heritage Foundation agrees Colorado does a good job on; it ranked the state third in the nation for accuracy of voter registration lists. When it comes to preventing non-
bonds that will mature from one to 30 years and spread out the payment requirement,” Isaak said.
Municipalities and special districts rely on property taxes to repay their debt in a general obligation bond, and Colorado requires that voters approve that debt.
Sometimes a bond measure will require a tax increase to cover the debt, but not always. Isaak said a bond could be tax neutral if the municipality is getting enough revenue from existing taxes to cover the payments, which might happen when a municipality has paid o older bonds, renanced debt or grown its tax base.
“What I would look for is what the anticipated annual requirement for the debt service will be and their projected revenue,” Isaak said. “If those numbers match up, you don’t have a tax increase.”
Once a general obligation bond is issued, if the municipality or special district doesn’t receive the revenue needed to pay it back, it can raise taxes to make the payment. Isaak said that can happen if the municipality overestimated the growth in its tax base.
“ ey are required and obligated to levy a tax on all taxable property (in the dis-
citizens in particular from voting, the veri cation process starts with two other pieces of information on that form – your drivers’ license number or, if you don’t have that, the last four of your Social Security number.
By double-checking those, “we will be able to know if it is a valid U.S. citizenissued Colorado ID or driver’s license or Social Security number,” Koppes said. While Colorado is a state that allows
trict) in order to make the debt service,” Isaak said.
Another type of bond voters might see is a revenue bond, where a municipality or special district is paying o debt with service fees instead of taxes. Isaak said this is a common bond for water and sew-
non-citizens, including people without legal status, to get a driver’s license, there are guard rails in place for them.
“ ere’s a nice big old black bar that’s actually put onto those issued IDs that clearly states this is not used for federal identi cation or voting purposes,” she explained. “Because they’re already agged within the Department of Revenue system, if they do try to get used as a voter registration, when we hit that system, it’s going to go ‘nope’ and (that) stops it right there.”
Koppes said with all these di erent checks and veri cations, it’s exceedingly rare for a non-citizen to get onto a voter list. And if a non-citizen does actually manage to vote, the consequences can be severe: a ne, jail time and deportation.
“I’ve known people and I’ve grown up with some people who have not been U.S. citizens and the last thing that they want to do is put that ability to eventually become a U.S. citizen in jeopardy,” Koppes said.
It might not sound sexy, but voter list maintenance is a big part of the job of clerks and the Secretary of State’s o ce. e databases they turn to don’t just allow o cials to check for noncitizens and keep track of deaths, there are many, many more that help clerks, such as ensuring people aren’t voting in two locations and spotting when people move out of state.
is work does not just happen in the months leading up to an election, but year-round.
“We update our voter lists daily using information about driver’s license and address updates from the Colorado Department of Revenue. And (we get) incarceration updates from the Colorado Department of Corrections,” explained Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold (Colorado bans people from voting while they’re serving a felony sentence).
e state also gets federal information from the SAVE database to see if someone previously issued a non-citizen driver’s license has obtained their citizenship and is now eligible to vote.
As for dead people voting, Griswold quipped, “a dead person is dead.”
“But in all seriousness,” she went on, “we get information when Coloradans pass away from two spots… the Department of Public Health and Environment
age providers.
In general, Isaak said bonds are a very secure way for entities to take on debt to nance infrastructure.
“Municipal bonds as a whole have a great deal of history of very low default ratios,” Isaak said.
and also the Social Security Administration.”
Clerk Koppes said the Social Security list is aptly named the Death List.
“When I worked in the elections department every day doing data entry, I would always make the joke, I see dead people,” she said, citing the lm “ e Sixth Sense.” And like the movie, the issue of dead people voting comes with a bit of a twist: some of the ballots counted on Election Day may legitimately belong to people who’ve died.
“Under Colorado law, if a voter casts a ballot during the early voting period and then passes away before Election Day, that vote will count,” explained Koppes. Here again there is a veri cation process — in this case, with the signature on the ballot envelope.
Every voter has to sign the envelope when they return their ballot and if you’ve been voting in Colorado for a while, your clerk’s o ce has all those signatures on le.
“It is extremely rare that somebody is going to be – even a family member – is going to able to duplicate your signature,” Koppes said. “Because even if you sat down right now and did your signature ve times in a row, you’re going to notice there’s ve di erent little nuances every single time.”
Elections judges have extensive training on signature veri cation. And here’s the thing, they’ve caught people who tried to cast another person’s ballot.
“We actually, in the 2016 election, did catch an ex-husband trying to vote his exwife’s ballot,” Koppes recalled.
In that case, the o ender, a former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, was sentenced to four years of probation.
Even if you don’t trust traditional media, election o cials urge you not to take your questions to Google or social media. Both Koppes and Griswold had the same advice: call your county clerk’s o ce. “We’re the ones that do this and know and understand the responsibility that we have. It’s a huge responsibility,” said Koppes.
One they take extremely seriously. is article comes courtesy of the Colorado News Collaborative and the statewide project, “Voter Voices,” which Colorado Community Media is a part of.
SHUTTERSTOCK
Are unchecked opinions in Colorado’s local TABOR books misleading voters?
SUZIE GLASSMAN
As voters sit down to ll out their ballots, they often refer to their local TABOR book, commonly known as the “gray book,” for more information about local ballot initiatives. Whether it’s a school bond measure, like in Douglas and Arapahoe counties, or an elimination of a TABOR limit in Je erson County, the gray book provides voters with information to decide whether to vote for or against a proposal.
However, many may not realize that the public comments included in these guides are not fact-checked, according to the Colorado Legislative Council’s TABOR Blue Book guidelines. ese guidelines note that arguments for and against ballot measures are submitted by proponents and opponents and are not veri ed for accuracy.
According to reporting by Colorado Community Media two years ago, misinformation in Douglas County’s booklet regarding the school district had its administrators up in arms. e district’s Superintendent, Erin Kane, spoke out against comments opposing the district’s mill levy override and bond measures, calling them “untrue” and “misrepresentative.”
is year, a statement opposing proposition 1A in Je erson County claims a “yes” vote would eliminate the property tax cap from TABOR.
However, a “yes” vote would allow the county to keep its share of property tax funds “without increasing any tax rate or mill levy rate,” according to the ballot language. e mill levy rate, which varies by coun-
Local guidebooks explicitly state that comments aren’t verified.
ty, determines the amount taxpayers owe in property taxes.
According to state law, any registered voter within a local jurisdiction can submit comments for or against a ballot issue. However, the government entity is not responsible for fact-checking or verifying the accuracy of the submitted comments.
Local guidebooks explicitly state that comments aren’t veri ed, but readers may skip over this information as they ip to the issues.
“We include an explanation in the pack-
et that my o ce isn’t able to warrant the accuracy or truth of the contents of the notices, but we do provide the contact information for the designated election o cial,” said Je erson County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez. “ is allows voters to reach out if they need more information about the content in their city, county or district booklet.”
Gonzalez said it’s important to remember that the TABOR book is one of many good resources for learning more about what’s on your ballot.
Voters can also look to county election websites, local news reporting or nonpartisan organizations like the League of Women Voters, which produces voter guides without endorsements or political bias.
In a time of heightened awareness of misinformation in our elections, sorting fact from opinion may seem more important than ever. State law makes it clear that the responsibility for evaluating the accuracy of the information ultimately falls on the voters themselves.
Lone Tree police close 2023 homicide investigation
Suspect accepts plea deal to serve 60 years in prison
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNTIYMEDIA.COM
Nearly a year after a 73-year-old Centennial man was found dead in his vehicle, the suspect has been sentenced to 60 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
At about 12:25 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2023, local law enforcement found Michael David Lohmeier deceased in a car parked
in the parking lot of a retail shopping center in Lone Tree. He appeared to have died from a gunshot wound, according to police. Lone Tree patrol ofcers, the investigations team and the Lone Tree/Parker CSI team all responded to the scene.
Surveillance cameras in the area helped authorities identify the suspect, James Matthew Neal, who was recorded driving a stolen vehicle.
e Lone Tree police sought help to nd Neal, who was 23 at the time of the incident, as he had ed the scene. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Nov. 10, 2023.
Lone Tree detectives partnered with other agencies across the state, including the Colorado Springs Police Department, the El Paso County Sheri ’s Ofce, the Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce, the Colorado DOC Parole and the Professional Security Consultants.
About two weeks later, on Nov. 22, 2023, Wyoming State Troopers captured Neal after a crime spree and a highspeed chase near Lusk, Wyoming.
Neal, originally from Calhan, Colorado, which is in El Paso County, was extradited back to Douglas County where he was held on rst-degree murder charges and a $20 million cash only bond.
e plea deal that occurred late October this year, which closes the investigation into the case, was made between the Douglas County District Attorney’s O ce, the victim’s family and the defense, according to the release. Neal has been sentenced to 48 years for seconddegree murder, meaning he committed an intentional homicide but that it was not premeditated.
Additionally, Neal was sentenced to six years for motor vehicle theft and six years for being a previous o ender in possession of a rearm. His sentences were ordered to be served consecutively.
Compare hospital costs for specific procedures, insurance plans
BY JOHN INGOLD THE COLORADO SUN
If you have a medical procedure on the horizon in Colorado, there’s a new way to shop around for the best price.
Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday announced a new website —ColoradoHospitalPrices. com— where people can look up various procedures performed at a hospital and see a list of prices based on insurance carrier. e tool, then, potentially allows people with upcoming medical care to shop around and see which hospitals available in their insurance network can o er the lowest price.
At a news conference, Polis said he hopes the website is the rst step in an effort to apply market pressure to hospitals to reduce their prices. With health insurance premium prices set to rise for many next year, lowering what patients — and insurers — pay for health care is vital to reducing overall health care spending
“One of the key failings of the market is the lack of pricing transparency that doesn’t allow for the competition to work as it does in any normal market, to bring down costs,” he said.
e website was launched in partnership with the national organization PatientRightsAdvocate.org. Colorado’s website is the rst of what the organization hopes will be a nationwide network of price transparency tools for patients.
e new website also adds to the list of local tools in Colorado that give patients the ability to search for hospital prices based on their insurance carrier — that last part is crucial because the prices that di erent insurers pay at the same hospital for the same procedure can vary widely, while not all hospitals will be covered under a speci c insurance plan.
Just last month, the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing launched its price-lookup site, which relies on the same data as the website announced Tuesday but o ers a di erent search experience. e data comes from prices that hospitals are required to report under state and federal law. Polis said the connection to a national network of price-transparency sites made it worthwhile to launch a second website.
“ e more ways to make it easier for people to access that information, the better,” he said.
e Center for Improving Value in Health Care, a nonpro t that administers a state database for insurance claims in-
formation in Colorado, also has a shopfor-care tool. Unlike the other two websites, the CIVHC tool allows users to see quality and patient-experience scores for particular hospitals.
But all of these tools — as well as various other e orts to get hospitals to reveal their prices — come with challenges that may limit their value to consumers.
Hospital prices are not a basic menu. ere are thousands of billing codes for various procedures, and some procedures could be billed under di erent codes, depending on the hospital’s operating standards. For instance, there are over 70 di erent billing codes for an X-ray, depending on the body part being scanned and the number of views needed.
Insurance companies, too, o er multiple plans, which may have di erent negotiated prices. So it’s not enough to know your carrier — you have to know the speci c plan name, too.
And, on top of that, di erent hospitals may use di erent names for things. As a portion of an instructional video Polis showed Tuesday explaining how to use the new website put it: “Remember the descriptions may be di erent as you shop across hospitals, because descriptions vary according to the hospital. Now look for your payer from the list. Payer names can also vary according to the hospital.”
Even more confusing, the prices presented for a speci c procedure may not be the “all-in” cost. In other words, there
may be other charges for scans, anesthesia, medications and services not included in the procedure price.
Depending on the hospital and how they sta their doctors, patients may also receive a separate bill for physician charges that are not included in the hospital’s posted procedure price.
Polis acknowledged the complexities but said it’s important to start somewhere in making health care prices more transparent.
“It starts with saying, ‘Hey, why is my lung X-ray $600 at this hospital and $1,500 at this other hospital? e plan I have is paying twice as much as another plan,’” Polis said. “ at’s the kind of pressure we need to bring down rates.”
Polis said insurance companies may also use the sites to see what their competitors are being charged and then use that as leverage in future negotiations with hospitals.
Cynthia Fisher, the founder of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, echoed Polis, saying the website is a rst step toward “the great reveal of the absurdity of price variation that’s going on across Colorado and across the country.”
“No one should have this level of price variation,” she said.
A patient room in Lutheran Hospital, as showin during a July 20 open house.
PHOTO BY CORINNE WESTEMAN
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Program helps residents appreciate Highlands Ranch
Applications for the Highlands Ranch Citizen’s Academy engagement program open
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNTIYMEDIA.COM
After 25 years of being a homeowner in Highlands Ranch, Al Duff now fully appreciates what the community has to offer.
This is thanks to Duff’s participation in the Highlands Ranch Citizen’s Academy engagement program.
“I found that I fell more in love with my community as my experiences with the Citizens Academy just really made clear how special Highlands Ranch is,” said Duff.
Duff and his wife moved to Highlands Ranch in 1999, built a home and raised their children in the community. His work took him out of the state for a time, but when he came back in 2021, he felt it was time to get more involved in the community.
Duff graduated from the Highlands Ranch Citizen’s Academy in 2023 and encourages everyone interested in learning about how the local government works and how residents’ money is spent, to take part in the program.
The Highlands Ranch Metro District is offering the program to Highlands Ranch residents who are 18 years or
TRAINING
Hiding in plain sight
Instagram, Snapchat, Google Hangouts, Tik Tok, Roblox and Omegele are some of the ways students are being sexually exploited, according to the FBI.
“It’s something that parents need to be concerned about,” said Weekly.
Sextortion involves coercing a minor by using or threatening to use previously obtained sexualized images or videos. However, it can start by the subject gathering information from public pro les, initiating contact with a simple “hi” and asking for non-graphic images.
e Denver FBI Division saw a large increase in nancially-motivated sextortion reports between 2021 and 2022. ey have also found boys ages 13-17 are most at risk to become victims.
Additionally, sextortion and child ex-
older and willing to commit to attending eight evening sessions in the first two months of 2025.
The academy, which was established in 2020, aims to build civic capacity of residents. Participants are introduced to key topics and issues in the community such as local government and public safety.
“From the water treatment facilities that we have here to fire rescue, the county commissioners — all of those
ploitation can lead to human tra cking.
In 2023, Colorado had the 10th highest overall number of human tra cking incidents nationwide, according to a recent Common Sense Institute Colorado report. e FBI de nes human tra cking as the illegal exploitation of people, and in the U.S., both residents and foreign nationals are bought and sold.
With an average entry age between 12 and 14, the National Human Tra cking Hotline 2021 polaris review states that becoming a victim stems from factors such as runaways, truancy, delinquency, family dysfunction and homelessness.
Other facts:
• e average life expectancy after entry is about seven years.
• About 82% of victims are physically assaulted.
• About 83% of victims are threatened by a deadly weapon.
• Two percent of victims are recruited from school and 11% are recruited from the street.
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entities meld together,” said Duff.
Other topics include local services such as parks, recreation and open space, public works, financial stability and the history of Highlands Ranch.
Fascinated by the water and wastewater system provided by Centennial Water and Sanitation, Duff ran for a seat on the water board following his time at the academy.
provided by the Highlands Ranch Community Association and community partners.
Learning about the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office also left a lasting impression on Duff.
“That really opened my eyes to the amount of work they do in keeping the community safe and ensuring that crime is kept at bay,” said Duff.
He also enjoyed learning about what the Metro District does, such as keeping the walking paths clear and cleaning up graffiti around the community.
Sessions will take place from 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday nights in January and February at locations throughout Highlands Ranch. Each will focus on a different topic while engaging in a variety of activities — Q&As with local subject matter experts, presentations, networking with local leaders and more.
Participants who attend all eight sessions will receive recognition at a graduation ceremony.
There is no cost to participate in the program as it is funded by the Metro District and its community partners. As the class size is limited, the metro district will be accepting applications through Friday, Nov. 15.
The application can be found on the Highlands Ranch Metro District’s website at https://tinyurl.com/2mrn7sst. Contact Sherry Eppers at seppers@ highlandsranch.org with questions
• Sixty-seven percent of recruiting comes from social media.
Compared to Arapahoe, Je erson and Adams counties, the Common Sense Institute report indicates Douglas County had the lowest number of victims in 2023.
no telephone inquiries - but email us at:
However, Randy Allen, a detective with the Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce, said that human tra cking is a crime that hides in plain sight, including in Douglas County.
Craig Tangeman, an Arapahoe County Sheri ’s O ce investigator, added it may not be common to see human tra cking in places like Highlands Ranch.
“But it’s occurring,” he said.
Both Allen and Tangman are part of the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafcking Task Force which includes multiple police agencies across the Denver area and the Colorado State Patrol. Since its inception in 2012, the task force has recovered about 700 minors.
While Michalek said this is a government and “all of community response” issue, he and local law enforcement agencies encourage parents to be more involved in what their children are doing online.
“As a parent myself, it’s hard to know what your kids are into,” said Michalek. “But you’ve got to be engaged.”
Highlands Ranch residents taking part in a previous Highlands Ranch Citizens Academy engagement program. COURTESY OF ANNE RICE
Jonny Grusing, Douglas County School District security director, speaks about the FBI initiative to engage with more school districts and their school resources o cers to learn more about identifying concerning behaviors that might lead students to violence or become a victim.
PHOTO BY HALEY LENA
Local car registration fees possible
Colorado bill could let local governments collect fees for bike lanes, crosswalks
BY SARA WILSON COLORADO NEWSLINE
e Colorado Legislature could consider a bill next year that would enable local governments to impose additional vehicle registration fees to pay for infrastructure proven to make streets safer for non-drivers.
at bill advanced through the Transportation Legislation Review Committee on a 12-5 vote as one of its interim bills to be introduced during the regular session.
It would let cities and counties charge registration fees on light trucks and passenger vehicles beginning in 2026 to fund so-called “vulnerable road user protection strategies,” which are road features to make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. at includes bike lanes, street medians, crosswalk visibility enhancements, rumble strips and tra c circles designed to manage speed, which are all features that the Federal Highway Administration recommends.
“We want to convince folks to hop on the bus, get on their bike or to walk to the market. But we recognize that our members need to feel safe doing so,” said Anita Seitz, the advocacy director for Colorado Communities for Climate Action.
“In 2023, Colorado saw cyclist deaths
WEEKLY
Weekly said he thinks “any individual making comments should do their best to be accurate.”
“Obviously, the City of Aurora has not been taken over by gang members,” Weekly said.
His sta has been working on transparency in Douglas County’s jail demographics, he said, so the public will be able to see the numbers of Douglas County residents and nonresidents, a breakdown of gender, and country of origin for inmates on the sheri ’s o ce website.
“I don’t want misinformation being out there either,” Weekly said, adding: “It’s my way of being transparent with the public.”
increase and pedestrian deaths reach an all-time high. Bike and pedestrian friendly infrastructure investments help to protect our residents and save lives, but there’s simply limited dollars dedicated to this purpose.”
e fees could be higher on heavier and less fuel e cient vehicles. According to draft bill text, a car between 3,500 and 4,499 pounds could have a maximum fee of $3.60. at is about the weight of a
‘We have people from all backgrounds’
Safety and the border “shouldn’t be a racial issue,” said Weekly, who said he comes from mixed heritage.
“I’ve got Irish, Welsh, but yeah, on my father’s side, it’s Hispanic, it’s Mexican,” Weekly said. “ ey migrated here legally.”
His sta are from “all political backgrounds,” Weekly said.
“We don’t discriminate on people here. If we did, I’d re them,” Weekly said. “We have people from all backgrounds, cultures (and) sexual orientations.”
“And what I said at the rally is: e most important role of the U.S. government is to protect the lives of their citizens,” Weekly said. “I do not believe the HarrisBiden administration has the best interests of citizens in mind.”
Talking fentanyl
At the rally, Weekly also touched on the topic of drug deaths, saying: “Hundreds
Subaru Outback. e highest fee would be $52 for a truck over 9,500 pounds.
A similar bill came before the Legislature this year to create an enterprise fund for these projects, but it died in committee. is version gives the fee collection power to local governments instead.
Ridgway Mayor John Clark told the committee that while mass public transit is not totally feasible in his rural community, pedestrian and bike transportation
of thousands of Americans have died across the country, and that is because of fentanyl that has made it across our open border because of the Harris-Biden policies.”
e world of drug smuggling at the border is more complex than it may appear.
Data obtained by the libertarian Cato Institute think tank via a Freedom of Information Act request shows that U.S. citizens comprised 80% of individuals caught with fentanyl during border crossings at ports of entry from 2019 to 2024.
U.S. citizens “are people who have the ability to cross but also are going to be able to slip under the radar,” said Tara McGrath, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, in a story by news outlet KPBS.
McGrath dismissed the idea that migrants and asylum seekers eeing violence are the ones primarily bringing fentanyl into the country.
is an opportunity to meet climate goals and reduce car use.
“We can’t expect our residents to get out of their cars until biking and walking becomes reliably safe,” he said.
e bill will be sponsored by Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat, Rep. Stephanie Vigil, a Colorado Springs Democrat, Sen. Faith Winter, a Westminster Democrat, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Littleton Democrat.
Republicans on the committee said they were concerned that a local government would be able to charge a new fee without voter approval.
“I can’t be supportive of the bill today, but the concept of trying to get the consent of the voters would certainly move me to be supportive, and we can work on that if the bill moves forward,” said Sen. Cleave Simpson, an Alamosa Republican.
Republican Rep. Matt Soper of Delta said the bill seemed to be in contrast to the Colorado tradition of taking similar scal matters to a vote.
e committee advanced a handful of other bills for the full Legislature to consider when it reconvenes in January. at includes a bill to bolster public transit options for people with disabilities, a bill criminalizing vehicular document piracy and a bill to repeal the con dentiality requirement for railroad investigative reports.
is story is from Colorado Newsline. Used by permission. For more, and to support the news organization, visit coloradonewsline.com
Some may wonder: What about the possibility of smuggling drugs through places between o cial entry points?
Some portion of migrants enter the country illegally and are not detected by the Border Patrol, but the percentage of migrants who do so appears to have declined in recent decades amid both expansions of barriers on the border undertaken in the administrations of George W. Bush and Trump and improved surveillance tools deployed at the border, according to Washington Post reporting in 2022.
On top of that, many migrants want to be stopped by government o cials, in order to make an asylum claim that might allow them to remain in the country legally for some time, the Post wrote.
Months ago, President Joe Biden put forth a policy change at the southern border, a move to limit claims for asylum at the border.
A bicyclist travels on a protected bike lane on 13th Street in Boulder on Aug. 14, 2021.
PHOTO BY QUENTIN YOUNG COLORADO NEWSLINE
Cash
Colorado’s naloxone fund is drying up
running out even as opioid settlement money rolls in
BY CLAIRE CLEVELAND KFF HEALTH NEWS
On a bustling street corner one recent afternoon outside the o ces of the Harm Reduction Action Center, employees of the education and advocacy nonpro t handed out free naloxone kits to passersby.
Distributing the opioid reversal medication is essential to the center’s work to reduce fatal overdoses in the community. But how long the group can continue doing so is in question. e center depends on Colorado’s Opioid Antagonist Bulk Purchase Fund, also known as the Naloxone Bulk Purchase Fund, which now lacks a recurring source of money — despite hundreds of millions of dollars in national opioid lawsuit settlement cash owing into the state.
“Our concern is that we won’t have access to naloxone, and that means that more people will die of a very preventable overdose,” said Lisa Raville, executive director of the center.
e bulk fund was created in 2019 to provide free naloxone to organizations like the Harm Reduction Action Center.
e fund’s annual budget grew from just over $300,000 in scal year 2019 to more than $8.5 million in scal 2022, according to legislative reports by the state’s Overdose Prevention Unit.
e fund has boosted the availability of the medication throughout Colorado, which passed a law in 2013 that gives legal immunity to medical providers who prescribe the drug and to any person who administers it to someone su ering an overdose. e fund currently provides more than $550,000 worth of naloxone kits to various entities each month.
Despite the increased availability of naloxone, fatal opioid overdoses continued to rise. In 2023, 1,292 people in Colorado died of an opioid overdose, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. at was 132 more people than the year before.
And now, one of the fund’s major money sources, the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in response to the covid-19 pandemic, is set to expire next year. As of September, the Colorado fund had $8.6 million left, according to Vanessa Bernal, a spokesperson for the state health department.
e fund got a boost in September when the state’s Behavioral Health Administration provided it with $3 million from a one-time Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant and nearly $850,000 through a State Opioid Response Grant. Colorado
Attorney General Phil Weiser said his ofce will “ensure that the necessary budget remains in place for the next year.”
e amount of that funding and where it will come from has yet to be determined, and long-term solutions are still being weighed, as well. One option to shore up the fund beyond the next year is to use Colorado’s share of settlement funds from the national opioid lawsuits, said Mary Sylla, former director of overdose prevention policy and strategy at the National Harm Reduction Coalition.
“It’s just completely ironic that something that addresses the opioid overdose crisis is underfunded at the very same time that these settlement funds are owing,” Sylla said. “ ere couldn’t be a better use for them.”
As of July, Colorado had received and distributed more than $110 million in opioid settlement money to regions, local governments, state entities, and infrastructure projects, according to the Colorado attorney general’s o ce, and the total is expected to reach more than $750 million by 2038.
However, more than half of the settlement money Colorado has received thus far has already been disbursed to its 19 Regional Opioid Abatement Councils, which have created their own plans to distribute money to programs such as substance abuse treatment centers, public education campaigns, and training for emergency providers.
For example, Denver’s council, which has received more than $18 million since 2022, has disbursed money to organizations in two- and three-year contracts, the majority not including the purchase of naloxone.
“We thought we could all continue to get [naloxone] from the state health department and the Naloxone Bulk Purchase Fund,” Raville said.
e Denver council is working on a plan for the coming years, expected to come out in mid-2025, and is considering the bulk fund’s dwindling money, said Marie Curran, program coordinator for Denver’s opioid abatement funds.
Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s o ce, which manages 10% of the state’s opioid settlement dollars, said the o ce “is working on options to ensure that this lifesaving medication can continue to be part of the state’s e ort to abate the opioid crisis.”
ose options have not yet been made public.
California, where Sylla works, has used settlement money for a distribution program that’s similar to Colorado’s. In Washington and Kentucky, as part of the states’ settlements with Teva Pharmaceuticals, tens of thousands of free naloxone kits will be available to residents. Each state uses its opioid settlement funds di erently, and while many provide naloxone to residents in some man-
ner, including via vending machines, there is no central tracking of naloxone distribution programs.
Over the past ve years, Colorado’s fund has distributed more than half a million doses of the opioid reversal drug to hundreds of organizations and schools across the state. Last year, the Harm Reduction Action Center received 7,284 doses from the fund, which Raville estimates helped save more than 4,500 lives.
Unless additional money is found, the bulk fund runs the risk of having to further limit distribution, leaving the hundreds of organizations that rely on it with little or no access to free naloxone. While the medication became available over the counter nationally last fall, the $45 price tag per two-dose package means it can remain out of reach for some who need it most.
tently provide naloxone for people who use drugs and who are at the highest risk of experiencing overdose,” said Rachael Duncan, associate director of e Naloxone Project.
e group, which has chapters in 12 states, provides nasal and injectable forms of naloxone to more than 90% of Colorado’s hospitals, to give to patients before they are discharged from the emergency department or from labor and delivery units. More than half of the 12,000 naloxone kits the project has distributed to Colorado medical entities have come from the bulk fund.
Another organization, UCHealth’s Center for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation, known as CeDAR, which o ers residential, outpatient, and telehealth treatment, is no longer eligible to receive free naloxone, because its patients typically are insured or can pay out-of-pocket.
In May, the state announced a plan for prioritizing which groups get the medication from the bulk fund, with four categories, from “essential” to “low need,” based on how frequently an entity directly encounters people who are most at risk of experiencing or witnessing an overdose. e Harm Reduction Action Center has been classi ed in the “essential” category. School districts, as well as colleges and universities, are in the nexthighest category.
Another organization, e Naloxone Project, said it was misclassi ed by not being put at the highest priority level. As a result, it said, it received just 1,200 naloxone doses from the fund this year, instead of the 6,000 it requested.
“We would argue that we would fall under ‘essential’ because many of our programs are public-facing and consis-
Karli Yarnell, a CeDAR physician assistant, said that even when someone can pay for it, that doesn’t mean they can get to a pharmacy to pick up the medicine. And Duncan is concerned about what the loss of doses will mean for organizations like e Naloxone Project and CeDAR.
“What I fear will happen is a scarcity mindset of organizations competing for funding,” Duncan said. “But I also worry about places that are used to getting it so reliably running out.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.
Doses of the opioid reversal medication naloxone are displayed for distribution by the Harm Reduction Action Center in August outside the nonprofit’s Denver o ces. Last year, the center received 7,284 doses from Colorado’s Naloxone Bulk Purchase Fund, which now lacks a recurring source of revenue.
PHOTO BY CLAIRE CLEVELAND FOR KFF HEALTH NEWS
Colorado lacks tracking for foster care runaways
Child Protection
Ombudsman says state needs ‘meaningful analysis’
BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN
Colorado should keep track of basic information about foster children who run away, including their age and race, how they were able to run, and why, according to a state task force set up to help protect them.
e task force that met for two years said the state lacks such basic, extractable data about runaways that it’s hard to conduct “any meaningful analysis.” e creation of such a database was among one of several recommendations released Oct. 1 as the task force came out with its nal report.
When a child in foster care goes missing, the county child welfare division is required to report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children immediately, or within 24 hours. Foster parents and sta who run residential centers also are required to tell local law enforcement when they realize a child is gone.
But Colorado has no “standard, statewide system that e ectively collects information and data regarding instances of children and youth running away from care, nor is there a current system that allows for the extrapolation of data in a way that would allow for meaningful analysis,” said the nal report from task force, organized by the O ce of the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman.
Without more data, Colorado will struggle to get at the root causes of why children run away and how to stop it. e task force is named after Timothy Montoya, a 12-year-old boy who ran away from Tennyson Center for Children in Denver and was struck by a vehicle and killed. He was one of two boys who died after leaving Denver-area centers and being hit by cars. e other was 15-year-old Andrew Potter.
A Colorado Sun/9 News investigation into their deaths found police were summoned to residential centers hundreds of times each month to deal with runaways. e data captured for a future database should include: how long a child was missing, how many times they have run away, the reasons they say they ed, the services they were provided when they were found and whether any physical restraints were used to try to prevent them from running, the report said.
By looking at data collected in other states, the task force found that children who are removed from their homes at an older age are more likely to run away and that children of color, and especially Black children, are more likely to run. rough interviews with foster youth who have run away, the task force found that many referred to a “triggering event” that included a phone call from home or news that they were missing out on events at home. ey said they ed while they were in a “state of emergency” that interfered with their ability to consider the consequences of running.
Sta are confused about when they can prevent kids from leaving Colorado has about 3,500 children living in foster families, residential treatment centers and other placements. In the past year, 34 children ran away from these placements and were not returned,
according to Colorado Department of Human Services data. e state does not track how many foster youth are missing on a daily basis.
e task force’s report also called on Colorado to create a runaway prevention curriculum that would be required for all foster parents and residential centers. And the group said Colorado needs to consider adding safety measures at residential treatment centers that would prevent children and teens from leaving the property. While some facilities have locks, fencing and alarms, others do not because they do not think it’s allowed.
“ is has led to a situation where youth are often able to simply walk away from care without any barriers,” the report said.
Colorado law is too ambiguous about a facility’s ability to prevent a child or teen from walking away, the task force found. “Youth are often allowed to leave the premises without any intervention by facility sta ,” the report says.
Sta at the facilities reported in one study that they’re regularly confused and paralyzed by what’s known as the Colorado “Restraint and Seclusion Act,” which says they cannot physically prevent a child from leaving a residential treatment center unless the child is in imminent danger. In one case, a worker watched as a 13-year-old boy ran from a center in the middle of a blizzard wearing only sweats and ip- ops. Instead of trying to catch him, she kept an eye on the boy from her car until the child returned to the facility on his own.
e task force also recommended that after runaways are returned, they should have access to a short-term stabilization
center to deal with the trauma that occurred while they were on the run.
Lawmakers created and funded the task force, including research assistance from the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the University of Denver. e panel’s report now goes to lawmakers, who can
decide whether to propose changes in law based on the recommendations.
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.
Elizabeth Montoya’s 12-year-old son, Timmy, was killed after running away from Tennyson Center for Children and being struck by a car.
PHOTO BY ANNA HEWSON, 9NEWS
Seniors’ Council explores holiday activities
Older adults and those who support them are invited to a Seniors’ Council of Douglas County (SCDC) meeting on ursday, Nov. 7 from 10-11:30 a.m., which will include a panel presentation outlining fun Douglas County holiday activities with a special appeal to older adults.
e meeting is scheduled at the Douglas County Library in Parker, Event Hall, 20108 E. Mainstreet. We will start with announcements at 10 a.m., the panel discussion will begin at 10:15 a.m., and the meeting will conclude with community discussion from 11:1511:30 a.m. e meeting is free and open to the public.
The perfect imperfection of a 5-year-old’s playroom
In today’s world of fastidiousness and perfectionism, it’s easy to get swept up in the idea that every space, even a child’s playroom, should be pristine, everything in its place, every toy neatly stored. For many of us, there’s a sense of satisfaction in organization, a belief that tidy spaces promote tidy minds. But there’s a delicate balance to strike, especially regarding the space of a 5-year-old. Children are naturally chaotic in the best possible way, their creativity and curiosity spilling into their surroundings. As adults, we must ask ourselves: Should their playroom re ect the organized world we strive for, or should it be a canvas for their boundless imagination?
WINNING
My grandson’s playroom, which we share as part of our “o ce,” is a perfect example of this tension between order and the joy of childhood. Just the other day, as I walked through his side of the room to get to my desk, I noticed a few Hot Wheels cars scattered across the oor. His room wasn’t a mess, not by any stretch, but those minor signs of play, those tiny cars on the ground, warmed my heart. It reminded me of my childhood, the rooms I used to play in, and the way toys seemed to be a part of my world, rather than something to be stored away when I was done. My daughter came down shortly after, concerned by the stray toys, and tried to clean them up quickly. I stopped her. “Leave it,” I said. ere was something so comfort-
ing, so genuine about those scattered toys. ey reected his world, his creativity in action, and his freedom to just be a child. e room wasn’t chaotic; it was alive with the essence of a 5-year-old’s spirit. Of course, we want to instill good habits in children from a young age. We want them to learn the value of cleanliness and to understand that everything has a place. But as I stood in that playroom, looking at the handful of cars and blocks, I realized there is a difference between fostering good habits and enforcing perfectionism. Kids, especially at the tender age of ve, are just learning about the world around them. eir play is their work, their toys are their tools, and their spaces are an extension of their minds. By expecting rigid tidiness, we risk sti ing that creativity.
ere’s a certain magic in a 5-year-old’s playroom. It’s not meant to be a showroom but a space where they can dream, build, and imagine. Sure, they must learn to pick up after themselves, but that doesn’t mean their room must be perfect every moment. Sometimes, those scattered toys tell the story of an adventure in progress, one that will continue when school is over
when the day winds down, and when they return to their world of make-believe.
As I sit at my desk, writing this, I can still see those few cars spread out on the oor, waiting for my grandson to return from kindergarten. I know that later, when my workday is done, I’ll lie down on that oor with him, and together, we’ll push those cars around, maybe build a city with his blocks or race the cars along some imaginary track. If you can even call it that, the mess will be part of the joy we share in that moment.
Children need space to express themselves; sometimes, that expression comes in mid-play toys, waiting for the next spark of imagination. e perfectionist in us may want to tidy everything up to create an environment that feels controlled and orderly, but that’s not what childhood is. Childhood is messy, creative, and beautifully imperfect.
Embracing the balance is the key, and I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when we can remember what Dr. Maryann Rosenthal said, “Strive for excellence and not perfection,” it really will be 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.
LIVING & AGING WELL
According to Ti any Curtain, SCDC Education Chair and Adult Literacy Specialist with Douglas County Libraries, “Panelists will share ideas for activities and connections during the holiday season. Panelists from Douglas County Libraries, Aging Resources of Douglas County, and the Parker Arts, Culture & Events Center (PACE) will discuss opportunities and ways to enjoy the wonder of the season that Douglas County o ers.”
Circle your calendar for the last of 2024 on ursday, Dec. 5 in Lone Tree when we will Celebrate 2024 and Look Ahead to 2025. Tasty treats and joyful music will be part of the meeting scheduled from 10-11:30 a.m. Check for details and updates on the SCDC website at www. douglas.co.us — search for Seniors’ Council.
is column was written by Jean Spahr, publicity chair for the Seniors’ Council of Douglas County, which promotes Living Well/Aging Well. SCDC is dedicated to advocacy, education, and collaboration. SCDC consists of interested older adults and volunteers; it is supported by Douglas County Community Services. Details and updates are available at www.douglas. co.us — search for Seniors’ Council or call Douglas County Community Services at 303-660-7460.
Do yourself a favor and get a watch that counts your steps
As someone who admittedly hates going to the gym and needs my workouts to be fun, I highly recommend a watch that counts your steps. After my ance surprised me with one for my birthday in September, I’ve been hooked, and determined to get my daily average up since.
Take advantage of the beautiful Colorado weather and simply take more walks. Whether you step away from your desk for 10 minutes or take the dog out on a longer trek after work, you’ll soon nd chasing those step counts is infectious.
REPORTER COLUMN
the physical health e ects can’t be denied.
Personally, this bene t has been undeniable for
Not only will it boost your mental health (walking has been proven to boost mood by increasing blood ow and circulation to your brain and body), but
I don’t want to preach. Sometimes you just don’t want to do anything. I get it completely. But try taking a brief walk every day for just three days and see how you feel. Plus, get yourself a motivator, like a watch that counts your steps, mileage, calories and more. It’s addicting to try to get to that round number each day
5 tips for choosing your health benefits for 2025
As millions of Americans now evaluate their health plan options during this fall’s open enrollment season, a new survey nds that 3 in 5 Americans incorrectly de ned key health care terms. is knowledge gap may result in less-thanideal selections, which could cause you to miss out on plans that might better suit your needs and o er potential cost savings.
Enrollment timing: For people with coverage from their employer, open enrollment typically happens during a two- or three-week period between September and December. For those eligible for Medicare, the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 each year. Coverage selections made during the fall will take e ect on Jan. 1, 2025. For people shopping for individual plans on the Health Insurance Marketplace, open enrollment begins Nov. 1, 2024, and ends Jan. 15, 2025, in most states. Enroll by Dec. 15, for active coverage on Jan. 1, 2025.
GUEST COLUMN
tions will be covered next year by the plan you choose.And consider lling your prescriptions at an in-network pharmacy or with home delivery – more cost-e cient options.
Medicare members and caregivers: Original Medicare doesn’t generally cover prescription drugs. Consider enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage to help keep medication costs in check.
Explore mental health coverage. Beyond in-person mental health care, you may have access to a virtual network of therapists and psychiatrists, along with advocates to help nd the right behavioral health care or resources.
Here are a few tips to consider when choosing a plan that may help lead you to better health and cost savings: Plan ahead. Take time to understand the bene ts, services and costs of plans available – including what might have changed with your current coverage. Pay attention to more than just the monthly premium, also understanding what out-of-pocket costs like deductibles, copays and coinsurance you may be responsible for.
Medicare members and caregivers: As you weigh your options, assess the di erences between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage Visit MedicareEducation.com to nd answers to questions about eligibility, plan choices, prescription coverage and more.
Help prevent unexpected costs. Check if your doctor is in your plan’s provider network, since visiting in-network providers can help reduce out-ofpocket costs. Make sure your medica-
RENFROW
and inch your daily average up. Use milestones like 2,000, 4,000 or 10,000 steps per day and you’ll surprise yourself with how much distance you’re tackling. Getting to 2,000 steps is equal to about a mile. So, 10,000 steps spread throughout the day in varying increments get you to about ve miles per day. You’ve probably heard the 10,000 steps thing before and with good reason. According to the Mayo Clinic, the average American walks 3,000 to 4,000 steps per day. But getting closer to 10,000 can help boost your overall physical health, including reducing your risk for heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and depression.
But everyone’s goals shouldn’t be the same. It’s all about nding ways to be more active than you were before. Depending on your age, body type and a plethora of other factors, 10,000 steps might not make sense for you.
Try setting more achievable goals to
Medicare members and caregivers: Look for plans that o er virtual mental health care with a $0 copay. Look into specialty bene ts. Additional bene ts, such as dental, vision, hearing, or critical illness insurance, are often available and may contribute to overall well-being.
Medicare members and caregivers: Original Medicare doesn’t cover most dental, vision and hearing services, but many Medicare Advantage plans do.
Consider wellness programs. Many health plans o er incentives for taking healthier actions, like completing a health survey or exercising. Others providepersonalized support to those living with common chronic conditions like Type 2 diabetes.
Medicare members and caregivers: Many Medicare Advantage plans o er gym memberships and wellness programs for members at no additional cost.
Marc Neely is CEO of UnitedHealthcare in Colorado and Wyoming.
start and slowly build from there. Also, keep in mind you’ll need more water per day as you stack your steps.
To increase your step count, try these easy ways below:
• Take the stairs — skip the elevator and take the steps more often
• Give the dog a bonus walk — they’ll thank you for it
• Try standing as you work or taking more breaks to get brief walks in during the workday
• Save your favorite podcast, playlist or sports show - this will give you something to look forward to on your next walk
• Park farther away
• Take your phone calls or meetings on your walk if you can
• Schedule a weekly park day or hike
• Before you know it, you’ll be a walking machine. Take my word for it: it’s so satisfying to get that daily average up and it’ll be as big of a mental boost as a physical bene t.
OBITUARIES
William
June 26, 1928 - October 21, 2024
William S. Gripman, Sr. of Highlands Ranch, and formerly of Parker, passed away on 21 October after a short illness. Bill was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1928. He carried the depression experience his whole life, always careful to live below his means. Bill attended the University of Michigan on the Holloway Plan, a post-war program to train Naval o cers. On the morning of his graduation, he was also commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy and later that afternoon married his wife and helpmate of 64 years, Nancycarol Williams. Together, they raised: John B (Deborah) of Raleigh NC, Suzanne Pletcher (Tim) of Ukiah CA, William, Jr. (Kathleen) of Canton MI and omas H. of Panama (Jacqui). Bill had 6 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren.
heavy truck engines. He pioneered their expansion into diesel-powered generator sets and in short order was made a company vice president. He and a partner then purchased a Cummins dealership in the Boston area and operated successfully until the late 1970’s, when they sold it. He moved to Denver, Colorado and became vice president of sales and marketing for the Wagner Equipment Co. He retired from Wagner in 1995.
After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, Bill embarked on a successful business career in technical sales. Bill was hired in 1962 by Cummins Engine Co. to expand their engine o erings beyond
After retirement Bill and Nancy founded the Parker Task Force. He was a ve-time awardee of the Paul Harris Award, in Rotary International. He was a member of the Parker United Methodist Church and sang tenor in the choir and later, a liated with St. Andrews United Methodist Church in Highland Ranch. After Nancy’s passing in 2015, he traveled frequently with his constant and loving companion, Eleanor Moller.
A funeral service will be held at St Andrews in Highlands Ranch on 9 November at 10:00.
S “Bill” Gripman
John Renfrow covers sports for Colorado Community Media. Check out his newsletter
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Why thousands of trees at Chatfield State Park are being cut down
The long-planned removal of popular cottonwoods with their bases flooded by rising waters will improve safety and keep dam from clogging
BY
ousands of ooded cottonwood snags poking out of the reservoir at Chat eld State Park are popular with anglers and paddleboarders, but they must come out for boater safety and to keep dam outlets from clogging. Fans of the much-visited lake park southwest of Denver will see nearly 3,000 trees with their bases currently underwater cut down and trucked away in coming months. ousands more trees will get the fateful blue paint marks for removal next year.
Why do the cottonwoods and willows have to go?
Rising water levels for the past couple of years (more about that below) have ooded and eventually killed thousands of cottonwoods and willows that were previously offering shade at the waterline. State and federal o cials knew this would happen when a planned reservoir-expansion project began in 2014.
trunks, while paddleboarders nd them a steering challenge and an exploration opportunity.
“We have enjoyed having the cottonwood and willow trees in the reservoir for the past two years and been pleased by the new recreating opportunities the trees provided our visitors,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Chateld Park Manager Kris Wahlers said. “We explored all options to keep the trees, but since they did not survive, we have to do what’s best for our visitors.”
Why has the water been rising at Chatfield?
Colorado’s growing Front Range cities and water agencies are always looking for new reservoirs or expanded, innovative storage ideas for water rights satisfying local demands.
Chat eld was nished in 1975 as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tri-Lakes ood control project that includes Cherry Creek State Park and Bear Creek Lake reservoirs. Chat eld can hold 350,000 acre-feet of water but past water levels have always been a small part of the overall basin. e Chat eld Storage Reallocation agreement in 2014 allows local agencies to store up to 20,600 acre-feet in the ood control pool for municipal uses.
Water at 1,600 acre-feet; and Castle Pines North district at 1,000 acre-feet.
Does losing the trees hurt the park overall?
Losing thousands of highly visible tree trunks from the northern boat ramp all the way down the western shoreline of the reservoir will certainly make an aesthetic di erence for parkgoers. But the mitigation for this year’s big tree cutting began years ago, with plans to replace the shoreline shade and wildlife habitat with thousands of new trees and shrubs. at planting work began as early as 2018, state parks o cials say, with more than 100,000 new trees and shrubs now in the ground. e state says many of those new groves are already thriving and creating cottonwood habitat.
Tree snags at the waterline can be popular with eagles and other nesting birds, but state o cials say there were no eagle nests established in the areas that must be cut down.
Will the state park stay open during all the lumberjack work?
Yes. e state says impact on visitation and use will be minimal. About 2,700 tree trunks will be removed over the next six months, followed by a second phase in winter of 2025 with about 2,300 more cottonwoods needing to go. Work will begin this fall at the north boat ramp and move south down the western shore of the reservoir.
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After letting the public play in and around the dead trunks for a few years, it’s now time for them to go. High winds can easily topple trees made unstable by ooded, rotting roots, endangering boaters or people walking the shoreline. In winter, the trunks get frozen into ice oes and further destabilized when wind moves the ice.
e fallen trunks, limbs and roots also drift northeast toward the dam and clog outlets for the South Platte River heading into Littleton and Englewood.
Fishing boats love cruising the shadows and cover provided by the dead trees and fallen
Favorable snow and rain in the spring of 2023 nally allowed the partners to store enough basin runo to reach the extra 20,600 acre-foot level. (An acre-foot can supply the water needs of two to four metro households for a year.) More precipitation in 2023 and 2024, as well as relatively cool weather during key water use seasons, has left the Chat eld pool at or near the maximum levels, keeping the trees ooded.
Who owns the water at Chatfield?
e Army Corps controls the ood-prevention pool. Various water agencies and farm ditch companies see their South Platte River Basin water rights ow through Chat eld. e primary entities taking advantage of the new storage available at Chat eld include Centennial, with nearly 7,000 acre-feet; the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, a farming district, at nearly 4,300 acre-feet; Denver
Helicopters will be used to grab trees that can’t be reached by workers wearing waders, and for winter tree removal for trunks surrounded by ice.
“To lessen impact to park visitors, one dayuse area will be closed at a time while ground crews complete their work. Helicopter work is expected to start after anksgiving,” a parks release said. Visitors looking to use a particular area can keep up on closures at the park’s website or social media channels.
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.
MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN
Cottonwood and willow trees will be cut down and removed in coming months at Chatfield State Park reservoir, part of a culling of nearly 3,000 now-flooded trunks that died after a planned reservoir-level increase.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL BOOTH/THE COLORADO SUN
Millions of aging Americans are facing dementia by themselves
BY JUDITH GRAHAM KFF HEALTH NEWS
Sociologist Elena Portacolone was taken aback. Many of the older adults in San Francisco she visited at home for a research project were confused when she came to the door. ey’d forgotten the appointment or couldn’t remember speaking to her.
It seemed clear they had some type of cognitive impairment. Yet they were living alone.
Portacolone, an associate professor at the University of California-San Francisco, wondered how common this was. Had anyone examined this group? How were they managing?
When she reviewed the research literature more than a decade ago, there was little there. “I realized this is a largely invisible population,” she said.
Portacolone got to work and now leads the Living Alone With Cognitive Impairment Project at UCSF. e project estimates that that at least 4.3 million people 55 or older who have cognitive impairment or dementia live alone in the United States.
About half have trouble with daily activities such as bathing, eating, cooking, shopping, taking medications, and managing money, according to their research. But only 1 in 3 received help with at least one such activity.
Compared with other older adults who live by themselves, people living alone with cognitive impairment are older, more likely to be women, and disproportionately Black or Latino, with lower levels of education, wealth, and homeownership. Yet only 21% qualify for publicly funded programs such as Medicaid that pay for aides to provide services in the home.
In a health care system that assumes older adults have family caregivers to help them, “we realized this population is destined to fall through the cracks,” Portacolone said.
Imagine what this means. As memory and thinking problems accelerate, these seniors can lose track of bills, have their electricity shut o , or be threatened with eviction. ey might stop shopping (it’s too overwhelming) or cooking (it’s too hard to follow recipes). Or they might be unable to communicate clearly or navigate automated phone systems.
A variety of other problems can ensue, including social isolation, malnutrition, self-neglect, and susceptibility to scams. Without someone to watch over them, older adults on their own may experience worsening health without anyone noticing or struggle with dementia without ever being diagnosed.
Should vulnerable seniors live this way?
For years, Portacolone and her collaborators nationwide have followed nearly 100 older adults with cognitive impairment who live alone. She listed some concerns people told researchers they worried most about: “Who do I trust? When is the next time I’m going to forget? If I think I need more help, where do I nd it? How do I hide my forgetfulness?”
Jane Lowers, an assistant professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, has been studying “kinless” adults in the early stages of dementia — those without a livein partner or children nearby. eir top priority, she told me, is “remaining independent for as long as possible.”
Seeking to learn more about these seniors’ experiences, I contacted the National Council of Dementia Minds. e organization last year started a biweekly online group for people living alone with dementia. Its sta ers arranged a Zoom
conversation with ve people, all with early-to-moderate dementia.
One was Kathleen Healy, 60, who has signi cant memory problems and lives alone in Fresno, California.
“One of the biggest challenges is that people don’t really see what’s going on with you,” she said. “Let’s say my house is a mess or I’m sick or I’m losing track of my bills. If I can get myself together, I can walk out the door and nobody knows what’s going on.”
An administrator with the city of Fresno for 28 years, Healy said she had to retire in 2019 “because my brain stopped working.”
With her pension, she’s able to cover her expenses, but she doesn’t have signi cant savings or assets.
Healy said she can’t rely on family members who have troubles of their own. (Her 83-year-old mother has dementia and lives with Healy’s sister.) e person who checks on her most frequently is an exboyfriend.
“I don’t really have anybody,” she said, choking up.
David West, 62, is a divorced former social worker with Lewy body dementia, which can impair thinking and concentration and cause hallucinations. He lives alone in an apartment in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.
“I will not survive this in the end — I know that — but I’m going to meet this with resilience,” he said when I spoke with him by phone in June.
Since his diagnosis nearly three years ago, West has lled his life with exercise and joined three dementia support groups. He spends up to 20 hours a week volun-
teering, at a restaurant, a food bank, a museum, and Dementia Friendly Fort Worth.
Still, West knows that his illness will progress and that this period of relative independence is limited. What will he do then? Although he has three adult children, he said, he can’t expect them to take him in and become dementia caregivers — an extraordinarily stressful, time-intensive, nancially draining commitment.
“I don’t know how it’s going to work out,” he said.
Denise Baker, 80, a former CIA analyst, lives in a 100-year-old house in Asheville, North Carolina, with her dog, Yolo. She has cognitive problems related to a stroke 28 years ago, Alzheimer’s disease, and serious vision impairment that prevents her from driving. Her adult daughters live in Massachusetts and Colorado.
“I’m a very independent person, and I nd that I want to do everything I possibly can for myself,” Baker told me, months before Asheville was ravaged by severe ooding. “It makes me feel better about myself.”
She was lucky in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene: Baker lives on a hill in West Asheville that was untouched by oodwaters. In the week immediately after the storm, she lled water jugs every day at an old well near her house and brought them back in a wheelbarrow. ough her power was out, she had plenty of food and neighbors looked in on her.
“I’m absolutely ne,” she told me on the phone in early October after a member of Dementia Friendly Western North Carolina drove to Baker’s house to check in on her, upon my request. Baker is on the steering committee of that organization.
Baker once found it hard to ask for assistance, but these days she relies routinely on friends and hired help. A few examples: Elaine takes her grocery shopping every Monday. Roberta comes once a month to help with her mail and nances. Jack mows her lawn. Helen o ers care management advice. Tom, a cab driver she connected with through Buncombe County’s transportation program for seniors, is her go-to guy for errands.
Her daughter Karen in Boston has the authority to make legal and health care decisions when Baker can no longer do so. When that day comes — and Baker knows it will — she expects her long-term care insurance policy to pay for home aides or memory care. Until then, “I plan to do as much as I can in the state I’m in,” she said. Much can be done to better assist older adults with dementia who are on their own, said Elizabeth Gould, co-director of the National Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Center at RTI International, a nonpro t research institute. “If health care providers would just ask ‘Who do you live with?’” she said, “that could open the door to identifying who might need more help.” We’re eager to hear from readers about questions you’d like answered, problems you’ve been having with your care, and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit k healthnews.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.
Denise Baker, a former CIA analyst, lives alone in a 100-year-old house in Asheville, North Carolina. She has cognitive problems related to a stroke 28 years ago, Alzheimer’s disease, and serious vision impairment. With help from a few artist friends, she throws ceramic pots about six days a week. “I’m a very independent person and I find that I want to do everything I possibly can for myself,” Baker says. “It makes me feel better about myself.” LORENA RUSSELL FOR KFF
Dress to e x p r e s s
Denver-area costume shops foster community of creativity
BY ELISABETH SLAY
Acolorful array of Denver-area costume shops intertwines creativity and camaraderie, with each shop revealing its own distinct charm. From elaborate corsetry to an immersive haunted house and engaging games and puzzles, these shops go beyond competition and collaborate to foster a community centered on self-expression and oneof-a-kind experiences.
The Wizard’s Chest: ‘An experience’ Kevin Pohle, co-owner of the Wizard’s Chest in Denver, describes his shop as “an experience.”
Pohle said the store at 451 Broadway, which is decked out from top to bottom with magical trinkets, towering skeletons
and quirky long-bearded wizards, is always changing and has something for everyone.
“It’s not supposed to be a retail store,” Pohle said. “It’s supposed to be a place to come and hang out and see cool things and pick up cool things and then feel the need to take something home that you didn’t know you needed until you saw it.”
For 20 years, Pohle and his partners David Boyce and Brad Brickley have owned and operated Wizard’s Chest, which originally opened in 1983.
Wizard’s Chest is divided into two oors. e rst oor contains costumes, accessories, decorations and more, while the bottom oor provides a plethora of puzzles and games for people of all ages.
Over the years, Pohle said, the store has leaned into providing clothing that people can wear in their regular wardrobe.
“So it’s not just a costume, it’s a piece
that has more than one use,” Pohle said. “It’s a piece that’s versatile.”
When comparing Wizard’s Chest to other local shops, Pohle said his store has its own unique aspects, as do others in the community.
“ e thing about costume stores in Denver is we’re all cooperatively competitive,” Pohle said. “We don’t really compete with each other. We try to send people to each other. Disguises in Lakewood does rentals, which we don’t do. Reinke Brothers in Littleton does a haunted house, which we don’t do.”
It’s their di erences that allow the shops to work together.
“So there’s no need for us to ght with each other,” Pohle said. “We keep it as a local community.”
For more information about the shop, visit wizardschest.com.
Crimson Rose Masquerade: ‘Out of a fairy tale’
Also on Broadway in Denver is Crimson Rose Masquerade, a “high-end costume boutique that treats dressing up as an expression of self-love,” said owner Kitty Krell.
e frocks that her clientele chooses to express themselves look as though they’ve “stepped out of a fairy tale” and include Renaissance dresses, pirate coats and more.
“It’s alternative chic, Ren faire chic … it’s for anyone who ever felt like they didn’t quite t in,” Krell said.
Also among the garments in the shop at 1456 S. Broadway are Krell’s own creations, including intricate corsets for many occasions. She began her craft at the age of 15 after needing a corset for her costume during her rst job at a Renaissance festival.
“So I went, ‘How hard can it be to make one?’” Krell said. “I had just recently started sewing, and I think because I didn’t know what I was trying to do was impossible, I did it, and since then, I’ve continued to make corsets.”
Krell said she also makes corsets for those with certain medical needs after starting to wear them for herself about eight years ago, to address a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
“It’s great for scoliosis, for EhlersDanlos, for anxiety, because it can act as a human thunder jacket,” Krell said. “I do a lot of work with people who have very physical jobs and are constantly lifting and messing up their backs.”
For Krell, one of the best aspects of her job is knowing that her pieces are making people happy.
“It’s one of my favorite feelings to know that I contributed something that makes someone’s quality of life better,” Krell said.
Krell said she enjoys being a part of the costume shop community in Denver because of its collaborative nature.
“It’s a bunch of weirdos who found this world, or found each other in this world that doesn’t really want us to,” Krell said. “Denver is especially great for that because Denver is very live-andlet-live.”
For more information about the shop, visit crimsonrosemasquerade.net.
Photo above: Denver resident Anthony Coularelli tries on a rabbit hat and sunglasses at Wizard’s Chest. Coularelli needed a quick costume for an Alice in Wonderland themed event and said Wizard’s Chest is a great local place for costumes.
PHOTO BY ELISABETH SLAY
Reinke Brothers Store: A haunted house
From aliens greeting people at the door to skeletons serenading customers, Reinke Brothers Store sells experiences, said Greg Reinke, who co-owns the store with his brother Chris Reinke.
Located at 5663 S. Prince St. in Littleton, Reinke Brothers contains a long and immersive haunted house lled with di erent scenes and animatronics concocted by Greg Reinke and his sta .
Originally, Reinke said his haunted houses — which he and his brother began when they were young — were gory and quite scary for children, but as time went on, he realized that wasn’t the best way to intrigue them.
“People that get the living tar scared out of them when they’re little don’t enjoy my particular venue when they get older,” Reinke said. “So I said, ‘How can we correct this?’ And that’s when we stopped doing chainsaws and knives and blood and guts and torsos ripped in half and we made it more of an entertainment haunted house.”
e Reinke Brothers Store now o ers tours of the house with the lights on for children and others who have a hard time going through the attraction when it’s in full swing.
Along with the haunted house, Reinke’s shop is also jam-packed with wigs, masks, makeup, props, decorations and anything else one might need to create the perfect costume or their own spooky experiences.
While he has a plethora of items, Reinke said his shop also takes part in the camaraderie of similar establishments in the Denver area.
“If we’re out of something, I’ll call over at (Disguises), or I’ll call over at Wizard’s Chest and ask that, and then I send my customers there,” Reinke said. “And I think the customers appreciate that also. ese are local guys. So we protect each other.”
Going forward, Reinke hopes to continue making people happy with costumes and haunted houses for as long as possible.
“I plan to be dead back there someday, just draped over a gravestone or a prop or something,” the 65-yearold said. “A lot of people want to retire to enjoy the end or whatever. What would I retire to? I’d make monsters for a living and most people retire to do what I’m doing.”
For more information about the Reinke Brothers shop, visit reinkebrothers.com.
Disguises: ‘Three to four businesses under one roof’ Disguises in Lakewood is another costume shop in the area that o ers a multitude of costume options, including makeup, wigs and more.
“We also have the other side of our retail store, which is our Et Cetera boutique,” co-owner Todd Belanger said. “ is has formal wear, retro dresses, Renaissance dresses, stockings, sexy wear, corsets, shoes, goth clothing, steampunk, clothing, festival and rave wear. Many people in the community shop for everyday clothing here all year.”
Belanger said his store at 10500 W. Colfax Ave. in Lakewood also has one of the largest stocks of rental clothes in the nation.
Belanger owns the store with his wife, Michelle Belanger.
“ e store was started by another individual in the mid-’90s and it was successful and grew out of its original location and moved into a larger location,” Belanger said. “I actually was a nurse by training and so is my wife and we began buying small rental houses, but after owning a few of those, I quickly realized that I wanted to replace my income as a nurse.”
Belanger and his wife were able to purchase their business, which they love.
“We currently have over 200 active vendors that we purchase products from represented in the store. It does make the store very unique and it makes shopping here like a treasure hunt because you’re never quite sure what you’re going to nd,” Belanger said.
Belanger describes the “caddie shack community” in Denver as unique and varied and explained it’s important to have shops such as Disguises because they’re establishments that make “the world a richer and less boring place.”
Going forward, Belanger said he hopes people will continue to visit Disguises throughout the year.
For more information about Disguises, go online to disguisescostumes.com.
Business owner and seamstress Kitty Krell works on a corset in her high-end costuming boutique Crimson Rose Masquerade, which is located on Broadway in Denver.
PHOTOS BY ELISABETH SLAY
Co-owner of Reinke Brothers Store in Littleton Greg Reinke laughs with first-time customers as he shows them one of his favorite animatronics.
Women of steel o er glimpse into America’s transport history
Colorado Railroad Museum’s new exhibit highlights women’s contributions to the railroad industry
BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLOROADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Just as the railroads built the nation as we know it today, so too did the nation build the railroads.
People from all walks of life helped plan, construct and operate the railroads from the early days of locomotives until now. Although not every job was historically available to every person due to discrimination or other factors, the Colorado Railroad Museum is working to ensure the Mexican-American traqueros, the Black railroad workers and other communities are remembered.
Earlier this month, the Golden-area museum opened “Hidden from History: A Century of Women in Railroading,” highlighting women’s work in and for the railroad industry from the 1870s to the 1970s. e exhibit, which is in the sublevel of the main depot/ticket o ce building, will be open through August 2025.
Assistant curator Jasmine Robertson said she got the idea from a book she saw in the museum’s gift shop, “Iron Women: e Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad” by Chris Enss.
Robertson started researching the topic in January, saying it was a challenging topic to study. Women faced prejudice throughout their history working for the
railroad and were often limited in what jobs they could work depending on the era and location, she and Executive Director Paul Hammond said.
Telegraphers were among the rst industry jobs that were open to women, Robertson explained. Many women who worked as telegraphers operated remote stations essentially based in their homes, and had to multitask alongside their responsibilities as wives and mothers.
During the World Wars, Robertson said, more jobs became available to women as millions of men left to serve in the military. However, once they returned, the women were expected to give up their jobs even if they didn’t want to, she continued.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the railroad industry’s hiring practices were challenged
and women’s right to work any job they were quali ed for was upheld. After the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act was passed in 1976, more women became locomotive engineers and conductors, Robertson described.
Among them was Edwina Justus, the rst Black woman engineer, who worked for Union Paci c in Nebraska.
Justus is among the women speci cally highlighted in the exhibit, along with Coloradans like Dr. Susan Anderson and Laura Brakamp.
Anderson graduated from medical school in 1897 and was one of the rst women to practice medicine in Colorado.
Nicknamed “Doc Susie,” she treated railroad workers in Fraser. She was made Grand County Coroner around the time
the Mo at Tunnel was being bored, and her duties included attending to the tunnel workers who were killed or injured in accidents.
Brakamp, a purchasing department employee who was based out of Rio Grande Railroad’s Denver o ce, designed the company’s iconic monogram in 1939-40. She initially submitted it as a design for headrest covers, but it won a companywide design contest and was used on all Rio Grande train cars, stationery and more.
Overall, Robertson and Hammond wanted museum visitors to know the exhibit highlights the facts while showcasing “how far we’ve come, but there’s still room to grow.”
While the exhibit only covers women’s work in the railroad industry through the 1970s, Robertson said she’s contemplated doing a follow-up exhibit that details their work over the last 50 years.
She and Hammond said the museum’s trying to expand its physical collection to facilitate more exhibits like this.
As Robertson was building the “Hidden from History” exhibit, someone coincidentally decided to donate his grandma’s collection of telegraph equipment. Robertson said it was pure luck, but she was grateful to be able to add that equipment to the exhibit and the museum’s general collection.
As the museum prepares to host its popular Polar Express train rides Nov. 8-Dec. 23, Robertson and Hammond hoped all its upcoming visitors would also stop by the exhibit to learn about the women who helped make the railroads possible.
For more information on the exhibit, visit coloradorailroadmuseum.org.
A crew of Black women work on a train in an Oakland, California yard during World War II. During World War II, women took on many railroading jobs typically reserved for men.
Modern Swing Mondays 2024 @ 7pm / $16.51 Stampede, Aurora
Duster @ 8pm Gothic Theatre, Englewood
Dirty Art Club @ 8pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood
Tony Medina Music: The Open Mic Hosted by Tony Medina @ 6:30pm The Alley, 2420 W Main St, Littleton
Wed 11/13
DJ Rockstar Aaron: Forbidden Bingo Wednesdays - 'Bout Time Pub & Grub @ 8pm
Bout Time Pub & Grub, 3580 S Platte River Dr A, Sheridan
Thu 11/14
Zikr Dance Ensemble presents "Secrets" at Highland Ranch's Southridge Recreation Center
November 14 @ 6:30pm / $15-$25
Southridge Recreation Center, 4800 McArthur Ranch Road, Highlands Ranch. info@zikrdance.com
Something wicked on Wadsworth
Westminster’s Frightmare Compound continues to scare people after 40 years
BY MONTE WHALEY MWHALEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Josh Holder doesn’t know exactly how many mutilated, decapitated and mentally diseased bodies are dangling or lurking inside the Frightmare Compound his family has run for the past 41 years.
His best guess is that about 20 or more poor, tortured souls inhabit the site’s wooden barn and other structures on the four-acre site that squats on 108th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard.
“ e bodies are all fake,” the 39-year-old Holder said.
“Mostly,” he added, with a quick smile. An iconic Westminster landmark, the Frightmare Compound was started by his dad, Brad, a Halloween connoisseur and lover of horror movies, Holder said. He built Frightmare on old swamp land and began piecing together a haunted house for the metro area.
When his dad died in 1999, the family kept the compound and poured their creative energy into all things wicked to keep the compound and its terrifying attractions fresh and running.
“We always try and do something di erent than last year,” Holder said. “We want to keep things scary and memorable for everyone.”
e family attends Halloween conventions to keep up with the latest costumes and trends. ey also travel, sometimes to Europe, for ideas. e compound’s haunted church which includes a small portal to hell, is a small replica of a church the family inspected on the British Isles. e compound includes rusted pickups, mining equipment and – Holder’s favorite – old shovels that have done their fair share of digging. “I don’t know, I’ve just always liked shovels,” he said. ere is even an old Cessna, dropped into the compound to simulate an airplane crash.
All have been collected over the years by the Holders to add authenticity to every scene at the compound.
“You can’t just rest on your laurels,” Holder said. “ ere is always something new we can bring in to keep people really scared.”
Highly rated terror
Newcomers often join long-time patrons to the Frightmare site which consistently draws top-notch reviews.
A list published by eScareFactor.com in 2023 highlighted the six great haunted
houses around Colorado, which included e Frightmare Compound.
Rated 8.56 of 10 in e Scare Factor’s 2022 review of the attraction, e Frightmare Compound scored the highest in the ‘customer service’ category of criteria, with the sta described as friendly and helpful, according to the Colorado Gazette.
While customer service was a leading factor in the high rating received by e Frightmare Compound, the haunted house scored well across the board – from costuming to entertainment to immersiveness to value, according to the Gazette.
As many as 50 employees dress as ghouls, ax-wielding maniacs or zombies to harass customers, some of whom don’t even make into the compound, Holder said. “ ey get totally psyched out. But we welcome them back if they want to return.”
Frightmare workers, including high school students and retirees, are schooled by an acting coach who teaches them how to be scary while also preserving their voices.
“If you are screaming at someone for more than three hours, that really puts a strain on your voice box,” Holder said.
Holder, his mom and sisters, along with close friends, spend most of the year com-
ing up with new ideas for the compound. ey also add to the site’s Monster Museum which features costumes and artifacts from classic horror movies, including Freddie Krueger and e Predator.
Holder admits he’s riding a popular
wave around Halloween, with booming sales for costumes and scary movies.
“I guess people just like that adrenaline rush of being scared,” Holder said. “It’s just something built inside our brains. It will be with us forever.”
The Frightmare Compound has terrified people for more than 40 years. Here, a masked driver taunts kids during the 2023 Arvada Harvest Festival parade.
FILE PHOTO
Josh Holder checks on some the masks and costumes his actors wear for their roles in the haunted house.
PHOTO BY BELEN WARD
Mental health voters guide now available
BY MONTE WHALEY MWHALEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Colorado o ce seekers routinely make their stances known on issues like the economy, taxes, energy development and gun control.
But as more people struggle with teen suicides, depression and anxiety, the state’s politicians vying for votes on Nov. 5, also should let voters know how they stand on mental health policy, said Renata Hill, publisher of Moodfuel.
“ ere are just so many Coloradans suffering from unmet mental health needs, and there really hasn’t been a focus on mental health and it should be a focus on mental health in the election,” Hill said.
e on-line Moodfuel serves Coloradans with unmet mental health needs through inclusive, solutions-based articles, resources and diverse content, according to its website.
To let voters know how local candidates
lean on mental health issues, Moodfuel produced the state’s rst-ever Colorado Mental Health Voters’ Guide.
e guide presents fact-checked, nonpartisan information about state legislative candidates and ballot measures through the lens of mental health, according to a Moodfuel news release.
“Now, Colorado voters can better assess the people who will lead and legislate for them and the measures a ecting their ability to achieve mental wellness,” the news release states.
Hill said she sent out 219 emails asking for responses to a three-question survey to all state legislative candidates. She received 24 responses in all. “I actually thought that wasn’t too bad considering it was out rst time at this,” Hill said.
Responses were split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, she said, while third-party and una liated candidates also provided plenty of answers.
Moodfuel summarized the recurring
themes using symbols for easy skimming and highlighted signi cant comments, Hill said. Verbatim responses are included in additional web pages for state senate candidates and state house candidates.
“I appreciated those who took the time to respond in such thoughtful ways,” Hill said. “Some wrote signi cantly long responses, I really appreciate that,” she said.
George Mumma, retired chief of the Morrison Police Department, is a candidate for House District 25 and told Moodfuel, in part, that he was a founder of the Je erson County Juvenile Assessment Center that provides assessment and referrals to appropriate services to the families of teens struggling with mental health issues.
“As a law enforcement o cial, I know that it is di cult to nd mental health agencies and providers that meet the needs of the diverse populations in Colorado, this should be evaluated and we
must work to provide more options for care,” Mumma said.
Cathy Kipp, a Democrat who currently serves as the State House Representative for House District 52, wrote in the survey that she has supported “essentially all legislation to help those living with mental health challenges get the help they need.” Kipp is seeking a seat in the Colorado Senate representing District 14.
“Mental health has impacted some of my close family members and the families of so many others who live in my community and throughout the state,” Kipp told Moodfuel. “I just know that mental health challenges are real and much more prevalent than I knew.”
Caryn Ann Harlos, the Libertarian Party candidate for Senate District 2, told the survey “ e government should let people try alternative therapies. I am a Libertarian anarchist. Other people’s health and choices are not my business,” Harlos wrote.
NEWS BRIEFS
Local artist Courtney Cotton announces studio sale
Artist Courtney Cotton is pleased to announce big changes and a studio sale. Having grown up in North Carolina, Cotton will be moving from Englewood and transitioning back to North Carolina to live and create, expanding her art market to the Southeastern United States.
She will be clearing out inventory from her space at Blue Tile Gallery during the Color Pop show through November, culminating in her annual studio sale on Nov. 23 and 24. is is an opportunity to acquire her abstract paintings at a reduced price while the bulk of her pieces are available locally.
Cotton’s art is inspired by mindfulness and re ection, visually expressing these concepts through painting and collage.
As a professional artist for 27 years, she creates and exhibits artwork, curates shows, mentors artists, and runs Blue Tile Art Space. During her time in Colorado, she has collaborated with Denver Public Schools, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, the Chameleon Art Collective and the Colo-
rado Art Educators.
e Color Pop show was to run 4-8 p.m. Oct. 24 for the opening reception, then 12-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Nov. 24. e moving sale runs 12-4 p.m. on Nov. 23 and 24.
Both events take place at the Blue Tile Gallery at 3944 S. Broadway in Englewood.
Followers can nd her on Instagram @courtneycottonetal and on her website, www.courtneycotton.com.
CSU Global picks leader from Parker area Colorado State University Global has selected Dr. Audra Spicer of Parker to serve as provost and chief academic ofcer e ective Oct. 15.
CSU Global o ers career-relevant bachelor’s and master’s degree programs for working adults and post-traditional learners. It is 100% online and is an institutionally accredited public university.
In her role, Spicer works to support the university’s academic credibility, program administration, and curriculum quality and innovation.
Spicer has served at CSU Global since
2012, stepping in as its provost in June 2023 and as interim chief academic ofcer since June 2024.
Among other accomplishments, since serving as provost, Spicer has overseen the development of 11 new industry programs spanning the elds of health care management, information technology, nance, operations and supply chain management, data analytics, and arti cial intelligence to prepare learners for growing and changing job opportunities.
She earned her Ph.D. and MA in English from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, her MA with distinction in professional writing from Northern Arizona University, and her MBA from Columbia Southern University.
Strikes for Kids to host seventh annual Orange and Blue Bowling Bash
Hosted by Denver Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto, the event brings a night of bowling, arcade games and silent auction items.
Strikes for Kids is a national organization that has been making a positive impact since its inception in 2012. ey have worked with more than 125 top
athletes from various sports to partner with youth organizations in communities nationwide. ey have collaborated with esteemed organizations such as e Boys and Girls Clubs, United Way, Make-A-Wish, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and other nonpro ts. e selected children from the bene ting organization will have unlimited access to arcade games, pizza, and soft drinks while you and your team are bowling. e children will also be gifted with brand new toys or bikes during the event. ese children have enjoyed these events at no cost. is organization has provided more than 15,000 backpacks, 2,500 toys and 350 bikes. Registration is open for $200 per lane, accommodating up to six bowlers. Your registration fee includes two hours of bowling, pizza, soft drinks, an unlimited arcade game card per participant, an event shirt, and a group photo with Bonitto, according to the event website. e event will take place 5-7:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Main Event Entertainment Center, located at 64 Centennial Blvd. in Highlands Ranch. To register your team, please visit www.orangeandbluebowlingbash.
TRIVIA
1. MOVIES: Who was the only actor to receive an Oscar nomination for work in a “Star Wars” movie?
2. GEOGRAPHY: What is a body of land with water on three sides called?
3. U.S. PRESIDENTS: In 1960, which two candidates participated in the rst televised presidential debate in 1960?
4. FOOD & DRINK: What type of ower produces vanilla bean pods?
5. MUSIC: What was the name of blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughn’s rst Fender Stratocaster?
6. SCIENCE: What type of gas is absorbed by plants?
7. LITERATURE: What is the name of the submarine in “Twenty ousand Leagues Under the Seas”?
8. TELEVISION: What is Clair Huxtable’s profession in “ e Cosby Show”?
9. ANATOMY: What is a more common name for the sternum?
10. ART: Which European city houses the Rijksmuseum?
Answers
1. Alec Guinness.
2. A peninsula.
3. John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
4. Orchid.
5. Number One.
6. Carbon dioxide.
7. Nautilus.
8. Lawyer.
9. Breastbone.
10. Amsterdam
(c) 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.
FLASHBACK
1. Which artist released an album titled “Tea for the Tillerman”?
2. Which artist was the rst to release “You’re No Good”? 3. e Swinging Blue Jeans only charted once. What was the song?
4. Which trio released “I’m So Glad at I’m a Woman”?
5. Name the song that contains this lyric: “Strolling along country roads with my baby, It starts to rain, it begins to pour.”
Answers
1. Cat Stevens, in 1970. Stevens, born Steven Demetre Georgiou, changing his name to Yusuf Islam in 1978. In 2006 he began using only Yusuf, and in 2014 began performing as Yusuf / Cat Stevens.
2. Dee Dee Warwick, in 1963. is was followed by several other artists, including Betty Everett and Linda Ronstadt.
3. “Don’t Make Me Over,” in 1966. e song was rst released in 1962 by Dionne Warwick. It was her version that put the
song in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
4. Love Unlimited on their “Love Is Back” album in 1979. Love Unlimited was the backup group for Barry White.
5. “Laughter in the Rain,” by Neil Sedaka, in 1974. e song charted in several places around the globe, including the Netherlands, the U.K., Yugoslavia, Canada, the U.S. and Australia.
(c) 2024 King Features Syndicate
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Cooperative Living Presents an Attractive Alternative for Downsizing Seniors
The first time I heard about Village Cooperatives was a few years ago when I listed the Lakewood home of an elderly couple who had a deposit on an apartment at Village Cooperative Lakewood, near Wadsworth and Jewell, which was then under construction. They ended up canceling their reservation, so I didn’t think more of it, including in March 2020 when Rita and I sold our Golden home and moved into a 55+ rental called Avenida. If I had looked into Village Cooperatives, I think Rita and I might have made a different decision.
pro-rated to the portion of the year, so it wouldn’t actually be 9% unless you bought after exactly 3 years.
There are between 50 and 70 apartments in each of the cooperatives. All but this one are 3 stories with a garage in the basement. There are a few 1-bedroom units, but most are 2 bedrooms, and some of those also have a den. They range from under 900 to over 1,700 square feet, and there are over 20 floor plans. During the tour, I got to see all three types.
Two weeks ago, I got an invitation to visit the Village Cooperative building in Centennial from a reader who had moved there from Avenida the same year we moved in. I attended a 2-hour talk and tour of the facility last week, and learned enough to consider getting on a waiting list for a 2-bedroom unit with a den.
Ten of the 45 Village Cooperatives built so far are in Colorado. Five of the 10 are in the Denver metro area, stretching from Longmont to Centennial, and the only ones that aren’t sold out are in the Columbine area of Littleton and in Longmont. All the others have waiting lists. The company that builds them is based in Minnesota.
The details and numbers I’ll quote below are for the Centennial location, but the other locations are probably comparable.
Buying into a cooperative is not at all like buying a condo. You are buying a share in the ownership of the building. The price of the share is set originally and appreciates by 3% per year, without compounding. For example, in the Centennial cooperative, the original prices ranged from about $160,000 to $240,000 when it opened three years ago. If you could purchase a share which had an original price of $200,000, you’d pay $218,000 (3% increase x 3 years). The 3% per year is
Real estate agents play no role in the purchase. You pay a refundable $500 deposit to get on the waiting list, and you will be notified when shares become available. You can pass on any unit that becomes available and not lose your place on the list.
The monthly fees — it’s not considered “rent” — are about $2,000 per month and consist of four components: your pro-rated share of the monthly payment on the building’s 40-year construction mortgage; your share of the property tax on the building, and a management fee, including your share of the building’s contract with Comcast for internet access, cable TV and a landline. The fourth component is contribution to reserves. Gas and electric are individually metered.
The cooperative is managed by a board of directors consisting of your fellow shareholders. Members also are encouraged to join committees focused on finance, maintenance, and social activities.
One parking spot in the secure basement garage is assigned to each unit. There is a high-pressure car wash bay with vacuum, too.
Amenities include a fitness center, a library, storage rooms, a meeting/game room, and two hotel-style guest rooms that residents can reserve for $50/night.
I was impressed by the sizes of the rooms in each of the apartments. In our current apartment, the master bedroom is
Just Listed: 5-Bedroom Brick Ranch in Wheat Ridge
10’ by 11’ — barely big enough for our king-size bed and one dresser. The master bedrooms in the cooperative’s units are more like 12’x15’, and the smallest guest bedrooms are bigger than the master bedroom in our Golden apartment.
A member can sell their share at any time and get back their investment plus the 3% per annum appreciation paid by the replacement member, minus deduction for repairs, etc. Members can pay for upgrades such as better appliances, countertops, backsplashes, fixtures, flooring, etc. and expect an additional direct payment for those upgrades by the buyer, as negotiated between buyer and seller.
A gas forced-air furnace is in a locked closet accessed from each unit’s balcony. Central hot water is included in the monthly fees.
You can’t finance your purchase with a mortgage, because it’s not real estate. It’s a cash purchase, and you have to demonstrate that you can afford the monthly fees. If you are planning to sell your current home when your wait for a unit is up, one strategy is to borrow the $200,000
via a home equity line of credit (HELOC) that is paid off when your home sells.
The purchase price and the monthly fees for a cooperative are roughly half what a comparable condo purchase and dues would be, making the decision an easy one if you have the liquid funds to buy the share.
Village Cooperative only began in 2011 and has grown impressively. You can learn more and see its many locations at www.VillageCooperative.com. In the posting of this article on my blog, http://RealEstateToday.substack.com, I have links to a few YouTube videos I recorded during my tour.
Some Buyers Pay ‘Admin Fees’
A couple weeks ago I wrote that almost no buyers are paying a commission to their agents, despite the recent NAR settlement. Sellers are still paying buyer agents’ commissions. However, many brokerages have a long-standing practice of charging a 3figure “administrative fee” to buyers — usually around $300. Golden Real Estate does not charge buyers such a fee.
Water Cremation: Going Green in the End
$750,000
The seller has owned and loved this brick ranch at 7085 W. 32nd Place for 43 years! The basement, with two doors to the backyard, includes a large wet bar for entertaining plus a sound-proofed musical studio which could be a bedroom with ensuite bathroom. The home has 500-amp electrical service, with 240-volt outlets in the detached garage/ workshop. There are four separate sheds in the backyard. Well water is used for irrigation. The asphalt driveway was recently seal coated. There’s a fenced dog run and pre-wiring for a hot tub. You’ve got to see this home to believe it! Visit www.WheatRidgeHome.info to see lots of interior and exterior photos and to take a narrated video tour. Kathy Jonke will be holding it open this Saturday from 11 to 1, or call her at 303-990-7428 to request a private showing.
Golden Real Estate’s Broker Associates
David Dlugasch
303-908-4835
Joined us in 2014
Licensed in 2001
Jim Swanson
303-929-2727
Joined us in 2010
Licensed in 2000
Chuck Brown
303-885-7855
Joined us in 2014
Licensed in 2000
Joined us in 2023 Licensed in 2002
I don’t recall how I learned about it, but last week Rita and I visited an open house at Be A Tree, a company which offers water cremation as a green alternative to conventional flame cremation. Conventional flame cremation uses natural gas. Water cremation is what it sounds like. Also known as alkaline hydrolysis, it uses a mixture of 95% water and potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide to dissolve fats and tissues in a body, reducing it to components of liquid and bone. The process takes place over 18 hours in a pressure vessel heated to around 200°F.
The bones are then ground into a powder referred to as ashes, although no flame was used. For an extra fee, those ashes can be molded into white stones which can be shared among loved ones.
The 150 gallons of nutrient rich water generated by the process, called Tree Tea, can be used as fertilizer, hence the
name of the company, Be A Tree. Rita and I had always thought that cremation was the best way to go when we die, but we had done no pre-planning and this approach is much more appealing to us, so we have now pre-planned for water cremation with Be A Tree. If this concept appeals to you, learn more at www.BeATreeCremation.com or call 720-782-2782.
