Olde Town Shindig contest winner completes sprawling mural
Arvada City Council upholds ban on concealed carry firearms at city hall
Contentious meeting ends with 4-3 decision by council not to opt out of Colorado Senate Bill 131
BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
After a lengthy public comment period, two failed motions and quite a bit of deliberation on the dais, Arvada’s City Council decided not to opt out of Colorado Senate Bill 131 — meaning that concealed carry permit holders are barred from bringing rearms into Arvada City Hall.
e vote was prompted by SB24131, which prohibits carrying rearms in “sensitive spaces” such as local government facilities, going into e ect on July 1.
For two weeks, Bobby MaGee Lopez waited for nightfall to paint an enormous, stunning mural on the side of one of Olde Town Arvada’s historic buildings. Under the moonlight, he worked for hours until the large brick wall was brought to life with animals, insects and owers. Now, visitors to the historic district can see his work on the side
of the Nutrition erapy Institute building, whose mission of running a holistic nutrition institute is re ected in the mural’s depiction of a food cycle.
Lopez, a resident of Denver and Miami, Florida, was chosen from 25 entrants in last year’s Olde Town Shindig mural contest, where he painted a wild ower he came across in Crested Butte — a snap decision, according to Lopez, that earned him the grand prize of an
entire mural commission from the Olde Town Arvada Business Improvement District.
“ e funny thing is, I had a whole di erent idea ready to go that morning, and I woke up that morning and completely changed my concept,” Lopez said. “I just really wanted to paint this ower. And it worked out! Just following your intuition leads you to these amazing things.”
Members of the city team drafted an opt-out ordinance that — if passed — would have allowed Arvada to continue to allow concealed carry inside city hall. About 40 community members attended the Aug. 19 city council meeting, with the majority speaking out against opting out of the legislation.
City Attorney Rachel Morris said that an internal sta survey saw city team members split on whether to opt-out or not.
After a long period of discussion by the councilmembers, Councilmember Lisa Feret made the motion to reject the opt-out ordinance, which passed by a 4-3 vote. Councilmembers
New mural on side of Nutrition Therapy Institute building depicts food cycle
SEE MURAL, P4
Artist Bobby MaGee Lopez with his mural in Olde Town Arvada.
PHOTO BY RYLEE DUNN
FIREARMS
John Marriott, Bob Fifer and Sharon Davis were the dissenting votes, while Feret, Councilmember Shawna Ambrose, Mayor Pro Tem Randy Moorman and Mayor Lauren Simpson supported the motion.
Moorman said he felt that the rules for city hall should be the same at every portion of the building — concealed carry weapons are barred from Arvada municipal court and the police headquarters, which are all located on the city hall campus.
“We don’t allow concealed carry in our municipal court, we don’t allow it in our police building,” Moorman said. “I don’t see why this chamber should be any di erent… we should be consistent throughout the whole building.”
On the dissenting side, Marriott said that it has been lawful to carry a concealed weapon at city hall for roughly three decades, and there have been no incidents in that time.
He cited data from David Kopel, the research director at the Independence Institute, that supports the claim that concealed carry permit holders have fewer arrests per capita amongst their population versus the general population.
“ ese are not the people to fear,” Marriott said of concealed carry permit holders. “ ese are people we should want around.”
Marriott then cited the 2021 Olde Town shooting, which saw a concealed carry permit holder — Johnny Hurley — take down the wouldbe mass shooter who had taken aim on the historic district.
“ ere is no doubt in my mind that Johnny Hurley prevented additional bloodshed in Arvada as a lawful concealed carry weapons holder,” Marriott said. “And obviously well trained, and did what he thought was right and stopped more innocent people from being killed.”
Simpson said she was torn on how to vote, but ultimately sought to prioritize the feelings of community members who spoke out against the opt-out ordinance. Simpson voiced her leanings last, which likely made her the deciding vote.
“We haven’t had any signi cant issues at our city hall,” Simpson said. “If someone comes into this building aiming to do real harm, they’re not going to be dissuaded by any kind of ordinance about a concealed carry…
and then I have to go to the psychological safety, which is what many of our residents voiced tonight.”
Prior to the nal vote, Simpson proposed an amendment to the ordinance that would have allowed city employees to continue to conceal carry. at amendment was voted down 6-1, with Simpson as the only supporting vote.
Moorman cited the 1978 assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk by a former supervisor,
Dan White, as a reason for not supporting Simpson’s amendment.
“I’m old enough to remember 1978, when San Francisco Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by a fellow supervisor who was carrying a concealed weapon,” Moorman said. “So, while again there are employees that can be law-abiding, there’s that one bad apple that we need to watch out for.”
Before that amendment was brought up, Councilmember Bob
Fifer suggested a motion to continue the hearing until Sept. 16, as Morris did not have a list of cities and counties that had opted out of the legislation yet. at motion failed by a 4-3 vote, as Ambrose, Feret, Moorman and Marriott dissented.
Other cities and counties, including Mesa County, Douglas County, Montrose County, Mo at County, Delta County, Morgan County, the City of Woodland Park, the Town of Palmer Lake and the City of Aurora have already opted out of SB24-131.
Arvada City Attorney Rachel Morris advised council that city sta were split on an internal survey regarding the proposed ordinance.
PHOTOS BY RYLEE DUNN
SB24-131 prohibits concealed carry permit holders from carrying weapons in “sensitive spaces” such as Arvada City Hall.
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Here Are the Work-Arounds That Will Keep Sellers Paying Buyer Agents’ Commission
The biggest work-around is Section 29 of the state-approved (and mandated) Contract to Buy & Sell, shown at right.
As shown below in this week’s (and last week’s) featured new listing, many ads, brochures and websites for listings will now contain the notice that “Seller offers __% compensation to buyer brokers.”
Absent that offer, however, the buyer can use Sec. 29.1 of their purchase contract to specify the compensation paid by the seller to their agent. This is where the offered compensation, such as for the listing below, is to be inserted — or, if none is offered, the buyer’s demand for compensation is inserted.
amendment to their buyer agency agreement setting the commission rate at 2% and writing that amount in Sec. 29.1 of the purchase contract. Or, they could decide to write 2.5% in Sec. 29.1 anyway and see if the seller will sign it. If the seller counters the offer, changing it to 2.0%, if the seller wants to accept the counterproposal, they can still amend the buyer agency agreement before signing the counterproposal.
Of course, the buyer might like his broker so much, that he or she will offer to pay the extra 0.5%, although that would be unusual. As I wrote last week, I’ll be surprised if many (or any) buyers end up paying anything to their broker.
The opposite scenario could be true.
wants to sell her or his home is going to deny any compensation to buyer brokers and that you can defer the conversation about adjusting the buyer compensation until the buyer is ready to make an offer of a house they want.
One complication of this strategy is that the buyer will have already signed a buyer agency agreement with his or her broker, stating the commission amount, if any, that the buyer is willing to pay, and if the seller falls short of that percentage or dollar amount, the buyer must make up the difference.
But, not to worry — there’s a simple workaround for that. At any time during the term of the buyer agent agreement (called the “Exclusive Right-to-Buy Listing Contract”), it can be amended by mutual agreement of the buyer and his or her broker.
Let’s say, for example, that the buyer has signed a buyer agency agreement with 2.5% as the promised compensation to their broker. A seller has offered 2.0%. In discussion prior to writing the offer, the buyer might negotiate an
The buyer may have signed a buyer agency agreement in which the rate is 2.5%, but the seller has advertised that they will pay 2.8%. The rule is that the buyer’s broker can’t accept more than is specified in their signed agreement with their buyer. No problem — amend the buyer agency agreement to 2.8% before writing the offer. However, if there’s a bidding war, the buyer and broker might decide to write 2.5% into their offer, hoping that competing offers will include 2.8% for their buyers’ brokers.
Buyers will likely say upfront that they don’t want to pay a dime (or more than a nominal amount) to the broker representing them in their home search.
The smart broker (which, of course, includes all Golden Real Estate brokers) will point out Sec. 29.1 and quote this article saying that it has become a “buyer’s market” and that no seller who
Meanwhile, a broker wanting to represent a buyer needs to be confident enough of the value he or she provides to the buyer to say that they won’t work with that buyer unless they agree to some minimum compensation for that value. For me personally, I would put that minimum at a minimum of 2.0%, given the value every buyer gets from
me — knowledgeable, experienced representation and negotiating skill, use of our free moving truck, free moving boxes and packing materials, and team members at their disposal from our inhouse handyman, cleaning personnel, loan officers, inspectors and more. All of us at Golden Real Estate are aware of the value we provide to our clients, both buyers and sellers, and we look forward to serving both with the skill that we know we have. If you want proof, click on the “Testimonials” tab at www.GoldenRealEstate.com. We look forward to earning your good review!
Broker Associate Austin Pottorff Specializes in Land
Personally, I prefer to work one-onone with buyers and sellers, as do most of my broker associates. But Austin Pottorff is different. He loves to find owners of larger parcels of land and help them sell to one of his many buyers, some of whom are developers looking for sites to build multi-family neighborhoods.
Earlier this year, with a little help from me, Austin sold a commercial property in Golden (Mountain Muffler, at 2200 Ford Street) to a developer. He currently has three land parcels under contract, one in Pleasant View, and two in Arvada, and he has three
active listings, including a veterinary hospital on three acres at 9251 N. Wadsworth Ave. for $2,490,000, an 8acre parcel on the I-70 south frontage road in Wheat Ridge for $6,000,000, and another land parcel elsewhere in Jefferson County.
If you have land you’d like to sell or are looking to buy land, give Austin a call at 970-281-9071, or email him at Austin@GoldenRealEstate.com. Austin’s fellow associates and I are impressed at the quality of his work identifying such land opportunities and even creating aerial videos of them as part of his marketing strategy.
This Column Is Now Published on Substack
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Everything you read in this ad each week is published in blog form (with extra content and active hyperlinks) at http://RealEstateToday.Substack.com and comes to you by email automatically each Wednesday.
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Lopez said the mural depicts the whole process of the food cycle; from the bees to the owers to the cows. But while he was working with a speci c vision in mind, not all of the parts of the mural depict speci c things; some are more abstract in nature.
“I have a harvest of a bunch of different fruits, vegetables, foods and processes that all kind of coexist harmoniously,” Lopez said. “It’s a lot of pumpkins and squash and citrus fruits and leafy greens and kale and lettuce and arugula and but it’s also fun because, as an artist, while I have references for a lot of these realistic things, I’m kind of just like playing with the shapes and forms.
“I’m just making up food as I go,” Lopez continued. “It’s like, I don’t know what it is. It could be a mango or a peach. I mean, it could just be like some unnamed leafy green vegetable that, when you see it, you know that it’s gonna be tasty, right? And then the cow is also part of that process.”
As to why Lopez painted at night, the artist said that he works on such a large space by projecting a sketch onto the “canvas” by using a movie projector and a computer. For that to work, Lopez had to trim down the overhanging tree and work when the sun was low enough that
he could see the projection.
“Because of this big tree, I couldn’t project the whole thing simultaneously,” Lopez said. “We got rid of a couple branches to give it a broader view. And then I projected
the design from the rooftop over there and the rooftop over here. So logistically, it took a couple hours to get each one set up and get it in the right scale.
“And so that took a couple of days, couple of nights, really, as I come out after sunset and then project that,” Lopez continued. Lopez’s mural is up on the wall in the alley between the Nutrition erapy Institute and Sock.
PHOTOS BY RYLEE DUNN
JCPH o ers tips and resources on navigating school vaccines
STAFF REPORT
Back-to-school is a busy time of year at the Je erson County Health Department Clinics. Parents across the county use JCPH clinics to ensure their school-aged kids are updated on their immunizations.
It’s also a busy time for vaccine misinformation. Dana Schaumberg, Jefferson County Public Health nurse supervisor, wants to arm parents with resources and tips to help navigate the misinformation ooding social media.
According to Schaumberg, social media is not a trustworthy place for
vaccine information. Parents should know ve things as they navigate misinformation.
1. Turn to evidence-based sources.
Schaumberg urged parents looking online to seek factual information backed by science and o cial channels.
“My recommendation is to turn to sources that are really evidence-based, whether that’s your child’s pediatrician, Immunize Colorado,immunize.org,CDPHE (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment), or us at JCPH,” Schaumberg said.
us/2104/Immunizations us/2100/Clinic-Services nizecolorado.org/ cines: cdphe.colorado.gov/schoolrequiredvaccines
2. Ask an immunization nurse.
Schaumberg welcomed parents and anyone seeking information to visit a JCPH clinic for questions about immunizations.
“ at’s something that our immunization nurses are very familiar with,” Schaumberg said. “ ey know the CDC schedules and also the ACIP recommended schedules backward and forward. e JCPH nurses are very well versed in screening those records.”
According to Schaumberg, the nurses are there to perform immunizations and educate the public about them. is includes answering public questions in the clinic and over the phone.
3. Seek out sources familiar with the law.
Schaumberg said vaccine requirements vary by state, so parents must seek information from sources familiar with Colorado’s immunization requirements.
“I think drawing from those sourc-
es that are really aware of the Colorado law around school-required vaccines and the recommendations is really important,” Schaumberg said.
Schaumberg revealed that she used to be a school nurse. She said it’s a part of the job to answer parent questions about everything, including immunizations.
“ at is one of their responsibilities, is just being aware of what’s required for school and making sure that kids are up to date in order to attend school,” Schaumberg said.
5. Check out the “parent-friendly” immunization schedules.
Schaumberg said plenty of resources are available for parents who want to do research.
“JCPH has some information on what we recommend, what’s required, along with schedules and Colorado law,” Schaumberg said. She said parents who decline immunizations can visit the CDPHE page “School Required Vaccine Exemptions.” e JCPH nurse supervisor also urged parents to check out the CDC’s parent-friendly vaccination schedules.
Go to the “Immunizations” page at Je co.us for more accurate information and credible resources on immunization.
Parents across the county use JCPH clinics to ensure their school-aged kids are updated on their immunizations. STOCK IMAGE
Americans are leery of book bans, survey says
But respondents don’t oppose all restrictions
BY ERICA MELTZER CHALKBEAT COLORADO
A majority of Americans worry more about children losing access to books that could teach them something about the world than they do about children being exposed to potentially inappropriate material. And most trust teachers and school librarians to make good choices about the books they stock at school. But they also think age appropriateness is a legitimate reason to restrict book access, especially for elementary students. And there are big di erences on the issue between liberals and conservatives, between LGBTQ adults and others, and between parents and non-parents.
at’s all according to new polling from the Knight Foundation that examines public attitudes toward book restrictions in public schools. Knight talked to more than 4,500 adults, including 1,413 parents of children aged 18 or younger, and oversampled parents of color to better capture their perspectives.
e picture that emerges is “nuanced,” said Kyla Gabriel, director of learning and impact for the Knight Foundation, which has done research on free expression issues for decades.
For example, 88% of parents of public school children say they feel con dent that their local public schools choose appropriate books, compared with 76% of non-parents. But more public school parents say they support some e orts to restrict book access than do non-parents — 40% to 32%. And more than half of parents whose children don’t attend public school support efforts to restrict book access, re ecting the greater representation of religious conservatives among private school and homeschooling parents.
“ is is much more complex than ‘a majority of adults oppose book restrictions’,” Gabriel said. “When they have a child in the public school system, they are not necessarily supportive of book restrictions, but they might see some reasons to restrict books.”
Re ecting similarly con icted views, a survey last year by the Every Library Institute found that large majorities of parents trust librarians and believe their children are safe using
the school library — even as smaller majorities supported the idea of restricting book access in some cases, requiring parents to sign permission slips for library use, and allowing parents to opt their child out of using the school library.
And an Ipsos poll found that Democrats had more concerns about book bans, but voters of both parties said they would be less likely to support a candidate who supported restricting book access. e issue continues to resonate politically: In a July speech shortly after she became the likely Democratic nominee for president, Vice President Kamala Harris contrasted her party with Republicans: “We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.”
Uncertainty over who should decide on appropriate books
In the Knight survey results released Wednesday, majorities of conservatives, Republicans, and white evangelical Protestants support restricting books in public schools.
But even some conservative respondents worried that works considered classics could be banned in liberal communities because they touch on ideas or use language now considered outmoded or o ensive.
“Books like ‘Huckleberry Finn,’ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ ‘Catcher in the Rye’ all need to be made available to students,” one respondent told Knight. “Just because the far-left liberals think all things not woke need to be banned, the students will miss out
BY ELAINE CROMIE/CHALKBEAT
on learning about the culture and history of this country.”
“ ey just better not restrict access to the Bible,” said another.
While most Hispanic respondents did not support restricting books, they were more likely to support some restrictions than other ethnic or racial groups, while Black respondents were the least likely ethnic or racial group to support restrictions.
Just 12% of LGBTQ adults told Knight they support book restrictions in school. Many LGBTQ youth report feeling unsafe at school even as many states have adopted restrictions on talking about gender and sexuality and some schools have removed books that mention LGBTQ topics.
SEE BOOK BANS, P11
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A large majority of Americans trust school librarians to stock appropriate books for their students.
PHOTO
MSU Denver program boosts retention
‘Pathways to Possible’
o ers a resource to help students stay in college
BY JASON GONZALES CHALKBEAT COLORADO
Elijah Anderson o ered some tips to incoming rst-year Metropolitan State University students during their visit to Denver’s Auraria Campus: Familiarize yourself with the campus buildings before your rst day, organize your schedule efciently, and take advantage of campus events.
e students are part of a pandemic-era program called Pathways to Possible that has proven so successful the college will continue funding it through the university’s budget after federal COVID relief money runs out.
“It was really nice being able to give them advice,” said Anderson, 19, a second-year student who spoke to the incoming students as part of a ve-person welcome week panel. “I remember being in their shoes.”
Leaders at MSU Denver say P2P, as the program is called, has been invaluable since the pandemic in helping students with the most challenges — such as students of color, those from lower-income backgrounds, and rst-generation college students — stay in college and some day graduate.
About 80% of students in P2P have
stayed in college from one year to the next, said Melissa Cleaver, the program director. at rate is well above the school’s and national average of about 67% and 68%, respectively.
Originally launched in 2021 with $2.38 million from Gov. Jared Polis’ Response, Innovation and Student Equity fund, the program’s success in helping students has earned it a permanent spot in MSU Denver’s offerings — which doesn’t always happen with grant-funded programs.
However, due to the expiration of the federal money, the school has tapered down to only 125 students selected this year – down from about 200 last year – as it funds the program on its own, said Cleaver. ere’s more
year, she said.
e program now costs about $1.1 million to operate annually, according to a school spokesman.
“I would like to see it grow. I don’t know what the next steps are or how the model will change,” Cleaver said. “I know it’s helping our students.”
P2P functions as a coaching network with a small scholarship incentive. e program also provides support in ways that are di erent from some scholarships.
ere are few application requirements. Students must have recently graduated from a Colorado high school, been accepted to MSU Den-
ver, and face more challenges than
Students can earn up to $500 a semester by participating in the program, but the success of students depends most on success coaches, or sta that help advise students, Cleaver said.
e coaches act as a guide to answer questions such as how to structure their schedules, manage time, pick a major, or what to do if they fail a class. Students are required to meet with coaches at least twice per semester and attend a career event. ey also get leadership development opportunities.
Elijah Anderson, center right, classmates and MSU Denver sta talk to incoming first-year students on Aug. 7.
PHOTO COURTESY OF POLINA SARANA/MSU
Adams County distributing bug repellant
E orts to stem West Nile virus spread are ongoing
BY STAFF REPORT
As more communities across the Front Range report instances of West Nile virus, Adams County is stepping up e orts to help residents avoid the disease and the mosquitos that help spread it.
e Adams County Health Department will be distributing free cans of insect repellent that contain Picaridin at its clinics beginning Aug. 28. e o ces are located at 1401 W. 122nd Ave. #200, in Westminster, and at 7000 Broadway Suite 400, in Denver.
Picaridin is an odorless, nongreasy insect repellant developed as an alternative to DEET, which can be harmful to plastic items such as sunglasses and clothing. Picaridin doesn’t irritate the skin or damage plastics, according to the county, and can be used on children older than two months old.
e health department also plans to give out the repellant at community outreach events throughout the end of summer and into the early fall. More information is available at the health department’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X pages.
Colorado reported its rst human case of West Nile virus in 2024, a woman in Arapahoe County, in June. Since then, the disease has been reported in Denver and Colorado Springs. Boulder County reported its rst human case of West Nile virus in Longmont on Aug. 20.
e virus was rst detected in mosquitoes in Adams County in July.
August and September are traditionally the two months with the highest number of people catching West Nile Virus from bites of infected mosquitoes. In 2023, Colorado had 634 reported human cases, including 45 in Adams County. Colorado had 51 deaths in 2023.
West Nile virus can strike healthy people of any age and can cause neurological impairments and swelling in the brain for those who get a severe case. People should
seek medical attention if they notice symptoms, including fever, headache, body aches, tiredness, rash, confusion, nausea and vomiting.
Adams County Health also urges anyone outside to take several precautions, such as limiting activities outdoors at dawn and dusk when the mosquitoes are most active.
ey should also wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and socks and should spray their clothing with insect repellent.
Homeowners should install or repair screens on windows and doors and empty standing water around their homes at least once a week. at includes bird baths, portable pools, tires, planters and pet water dishes.
Standing water that cannot be drained— including ponds, ditches, clogged rain gutters, and puddles— should be treated with larvicide “doughnuts” that can be purchased at hardware stores.
More information about West Nile Virus can be found on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s West Nile virus webpage.
Infected mosquitoes carry the West Nile virus and Colorado residents are encouraged to take preventative measures this summer as it gets hotter.
Pettersen, Caraveo, Weiser and Chopra o er ways to avoid getting ripped o
O cials warn of AI cloning of voices and faces, hidden fees and hospitals serving up surprise charges
veo and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra at the Westminster City Council chamber to talk to residents about junk fees, credit reporting, medical debt and other nancial issues.
Outside the council chambers, several groups provided literature to residents as part of a Consumer Protection Resource Fair.
e worst move consumers can make when they have been ripped o is to slink into a corner and pretend it did not happen, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser told a Westminster audience ursday.
“Please tell us if something happened to you,” Weiser said. “Let people know…you have rights and others have rights.”
Weiser was joined by U.S. Reps Brittany Pettersen and Yadira Cara-
All four public o cials said that advanced technology – including AI – has produced new traps that companies and scammers have developed to separate consumers from their money.
New methods are seemingly produced every day, Weiser said. “It’s like an arms race out there,” Weiser said.
Pettersen echoed Weiser and said that people must set aside their emotions and quickly report if they have been tricked out of their money. “I know the embarrassment peo-
VEHICLES & EQUIPMENT
AUCTION
ple feel,” Pettersen said. “We must go through this process. Trust me, you are not alone.”
Voice bots and junk fees
AI voice cloning is one of the newest developments in scamming, ofcials said. People can produce the exact voice of a grandson who calls a grandparent and asks for money to get out of a foreign prison. ese types of rip-o s often involve several people who were able to get a victim’s phone number and someone’s voice to pull o the scheme, Weiser said. “ ey reason why people are getting these scams is that people are making money o of it.”
So-called voice bot phone calls should be quickly veri ed by consumers, Chopra said. “If you are ever in doubt about a call from a bank, call that bank to make sure the call is legitimate,” he said.
Junk fees, or surprise or hidden fees, are a persistent problem for
people who are signing a lease or mortgage, Chopra said. His o ce says junk fees can be excessive, undisclosed or mandatory, and they can mask the true price of a product or service. Junk fees can add up quickly for households, making it more di cult to pay bills and save for future unnecessary charges that are not disclosed, according to Chopra’s o ce.
Banks and other institutions also sometimes excessively charge overdraft fees, he said. “ ey charge three overdraft fees instead of one,” Chopra said. “We have put into rules that ban some of these junk fee practices.”
Schools that require parents to use a payment card for school lunches and other expenses are another subtle way of hurting consumers, Chopra said. “ ere are all sorts of way consumers are being mistreated on fees,” he said.
Residents at Westminster City Council chambers listen to consumer tips to avoid being ripped o .
PHOTO BY MONTE WHALEY
BOOK BAN
Large majorities said students should have access to books that might contradict their parents’ political, religious, or moral beliefs. Some respondents cast e orts to restrict book access as “censorship.”
“ ese e orts sound like the actions of right-wing extremists who want to restrict education and access to information in order to inhibit students’ critical thinking so they will more easily conform to the extremist ideology,” one respondent said.
Still, 61% said age appropriateness would be a legitimate reason to restrict access to certain books, with some comparing this to TV and movie ratings systems. ere was less consensus about
who should decide whether books were appropriate. About half said they trusted librarians and teachers to make the call, but those school professionals scored higher than other groups. Fewer than a third said the school board should decide, and just 21% said the state government or non-parents in the community could be trusted with the decision.
While a majority of respondents said books that portray or discuss racism should be available to all students, fewer than half thought elementary school students should have access to books that mention sexual orientation or the existence of non-traditional gender identities. is aligns with other polls about people’s comfort levels with discussions of race and American history at school versus discussions of sexuality or gender in the classroom.
In contrast, 70% of LGBTQ re-
spondents — many of whom were once LGBTQ students themselves — said that books touching on sexuality and gender identity should be available even to elementary students. Many advocates say seeing themselves represented in books and other media is valuable for LGBTQ children who may feel isolated or unsafe in their schools.
Nearly a quarter of respondents were aware of e orts to restrict books in their community, and of those, more than half said the efforts had been successful. One in ve respondents from the South said they were aware of successful e orts to restrict books in their community, compared with 6% of respondents in the Northeast.
While six in 10 respondents said the issue of book access was important, just 3% said they had gotten involved personally — 2% to prevent a book from being restricted and 1% to restrict a book.
A large majority of respondents said that parents should be able to raise concerns about particular books, but far fewer thought that community members who didn’t have children in the schools should be able to raise concerns. Respondents also thought that books should not be removed or restricted based on a single complaint.
Studies by PEN America have found that most book bans are instigated by a relatively small number of people. Florida — where a large share of book challenges occur — adopted a law this year that limits people who don’t have children in the school system to one challenge per month.
is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with Chalkbeat Colorado, a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.
REVERSE MORTGAGES MADE EASY
Student testing improves after pandemic setbacks
Some gaps remain as results come in from last spring
BY ERICA BREUNLIN THE COLORADO SUN
Colorado students in many grades made promising gains in math, English language arts and science on state standardized tests last spring, according to results released by the Colorado Department of Education. e outcomes mark a forward step in students’ academy recovery coming out of the pandemic after many kids su ered learning setbacks while bouncing between remote and inperson learning.
Still, 2024 results from the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, PSAT and SAT exams show there is more progress to be made. High schoolers, for instance, hit notable de cits with math scores on the PSAT and SAT while fourth grade students experienced the biggest decline of any grade on the CMAS English language arts test. Echoing test results from previous years, students of color, children with disabilities, kids from low-income families and students learning English continue to signi cantly trail their peers.
Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova painted an optimistic picture of student progress during a media conference Tuesday morning while also doubling down on the need to address chronic achievement gaps.
Figuring out how to close those gaps is among the most pressing and daunting challenges hanging over educators, Córdova said.
“ at probably is the question that weighs most heavily on both the minds and hearts of educators in Colorado,” she said. “I think we all
come into this profession with a real focus on ensuring that students who are some of the most vulnerable kids in our systems have the kinds of supports that they need to be successful in school.”
e state conducts standardized tests each spring to measure both student pro ciency — whether students are meeting state standards in subject areas — and student growth, which gauges how much progress students demonstrate from one school year to another compared to their classmates.
While kids in grades three through eight take CMAS exams in math and English language arts, students in fth, eighth and 11th grades take CMAS tests in science.
Data released re ects statewide test results broken down by individ-
ci c groups of students. School- and district-level test results will be made public Aug. 29.
Some grades’ test results surpassed pre-pandemic scores, the state education department noted. Student growth has also largely taken a turn for the better, reaching growth levels recorded before the pandemic. But that growth must be “sustained to rebound fully,” according to CDE ofcials.About 500,000 students took state exams in April. Participation rates among some sets of students on CMAS exams in the spring were similar to participation rates in 2023. Other groups of students participated at slightly lower rates, according to CDE data.
Participation rates still lag behind participation in 2019 before the pandemic, CDE noted.
In a select set of grades and subjects, participation was so low in the spring that state education o cials caution drawing conclusions from the test data. About half of 11th graders took the science CMAS exams in the spring, for instance.
“Interpreting our 11th grade data is di cult, and we encourage caution when doing so,” said Joyce Zurkowski, chief assessment o cer for the state education department.
ERICA
ent student demographics
Overall test results revealed that more students met expectations on CMAS assessments this year than in 2023. However, for most of the tests, the percentage of kids who met or exceeded expectations remained lower than scores from 2019, Córdova said.
On some exams, test-takers in 2024 outperformed students in 2019, including on CMAS English language arts exams, in which a higher percentage of students in both third and sixth grades met or surpassed expectations this year than right before the pandemic.
Among some other highlights of test outcomes, in third, sixth, seventh and eighth grades, a slightly higher percentage of kids met or exceeded expectations in English language arts compared with results from 2023.
Every grade except eighth showed a higher percentage of students meeting or surpassing expectations on CMAS math exams compared with 2023. And student growth in math re ected “sustained improvement” within all grades compared with pre-pandemic gures.
Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova talks to a group of third graders at Westview Elementary School in Northglenn on Aug. 24, 2023, before announcing a statewide grant aimed at covering the cost of classroom supplies for individual teachers.
PHOTO BY
BREUNLIN/THE COLORADO SUN
IMPROVES
However, stubborn achievement gaps that continue to put students with additional challenges behind in school tempered the bright outcomes. Zurkowski described some of the gaps as “extremely large.”
When comparing the percentage of white students who met or exceeded expectations on standardized tests with the percentage of Black and Hispanic students who met or exceeded expectations on exams, gaps ranged from about 26 percentage points to 33 percentage points.
When comparing the percentage of more a uent students who met or exceeded expectations on assessments with the percentage of low-income students who met or exceeded the same expectations — using kids who qualify for free and reduced lunch as an indicator — gaps were between 31 and 33.5 percentage points.
And when comparing the percentage of students without disabilities who met or exceeded expectations on exams with the percentage of students with disabilities who met or exceeded expectations, gaps in performance varied from 33 to about 41 percentage points.
Once the state released schooland district-level data later this month, Córdova said, “we’ll have more opportunity to nd some of the positive outliers that we can learn from.”
e state education department also pulls together groups of districts into what it calls “learning cohorts” that dive more deeply into serving di erent groups of students. One cluster of districts works together to better understand how to serve students with learning disabilities. Another band of districts who rst came together last year are exchanging ideas on ways to help migrant students.
“We de nitely want to make sure that we’re providing the kinds of supports that bring people together to both show challenges but also some of the successful strategies at addressing some of the barriers that are getting in the way of kids being able to learn,” Córdova said. Additionally, test results gave insight into how high schoolers
performed on the PSAT and SAT, with scores pointing to a mix of improvements and stumbles among students. e percentage of ninth and 10th graders at or above the college readiness benchmark jumped in reading and writing on the PSAT compared with results from last year. Eleventh grade results showed students dropping by 1.3 percentage points in reading and writing on the SAT.
Students also struggled more with math on the PSAT and SAT, with scores dipping among ninth, 10th and 11th graders from 2023. ose shortfalls in student performance might be driven, in part, by changes to PSAT and SAT testing in the spring, when the test shifted from being administered on paper to being fully online and when those exams introduced di erent content from previous years.
“All of those, I would suggest, are indeed having impact on our scores as well as true changes in student performance,” Zurkowski said. “At this point, we can’t disentangle those two factors. As we move forward, I expect that next year when we look at our results for both reading and writing and for math, when we see changes we’ll be able to attribute those changes to true changes in student achievement as opposed to this test that really looks at things di erently and assesses skills di erently than what we had in the past.”
State education leaders plan to continue assessing academic recovery among students following the height of the pandemic while also focusing on pushing students to meet bolder goals.
“We know that prior to the pandemic we still weren’t at the place where we would want to be,” Córdova said, “and it is incredibly important that we are both looking at how are we making progress from frankly some of the lowest points that we’ve had in our state history since we’ve had achievement tests as well as setting signi cantly more aspirational goals and talking about the kinds of supports that it’s going to require for all teachers, for all schools, for all school leaders to be able to help their students meet those ambitious goals.”
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.
High school English teacher Jennifer Long instructs sophomore students on pronouns and antecedents on Dec. 12, 2023, at Highlands Ranch High School.
PHOTO BY OLIVIA SUN/THE COLORADO SUN VIA REPORT FOR AMERICA
Isuppose it’s the human thing on a hiking trail to acknowledge one another when passing. But on a well-used trail, the same comments come up time and time again.
“Good Morning.” As an introvert I don’t understand why I have to say “Good Morning” to every member of a 30-person group. Nor does “Good Afternoon” roll o the tongue as nicely. Too many plosives and fricatives. Yesterday I got yelled at for not saying a cheery enough “Good Morning” to a passing hiker. I did not realize I was at a Downton Abbey garden party.
en there’s the consoling “You’re Almost ere” hello. For one thing, I am almost never almost there when assured that I am. Volunteers at 10Ks or marathons are warned to never, ever, tell someone they are almost there. Almost there is when you can see the parking lot.
An annoying question is “Everything OK?” Why are they asking this? Admittedly I have more gray hair than brown, but do I look so decrepit that they are concerned about my well being? What would they do if I said, “It would really be OK if you
In my July 2023 essay “Like I Used To,” I wrote about how even though I can’t do many of the activities like I could when I was a spry 50- or even a 60-something, I still can do them, just not as quickly, as fast or as hard. e point was that we seniors don’t necessarily need to give up the ghost on activities we enjoyed in our younger years. Instead, we just need to acknowledge the vehicle that carried us to where we are now is inexorably wearing out and breaking down.
Twenty- rst-century technological and medical advancements have provided replacement parts and xes for many of the mechanistic aspects of our bodies—e.g., knees, hips, stents, prostheses—
VOICES
Grumpy talk on the trail
WRITERS
ON THE RANGE
took my pack!”
“How you doing?” Do they really want to know that my trick hip is acting up, and my pack irritates that weird spot on my scapula? Probably not.
“Good Luck.” Again, why? Is the only thing that will assure my success a whim of fate? I used to answer, “In the words of the immortal solo climber of Mount Everest, Reinhold Messner, ‘I do not believe in luck.’” at usually gets me a blank look.
“Where did you start and how long did it take you?” People usually ask me this while hiking in Grand Canyon. But why ask a random stranger how they did? I’m not racing. One woman asked me this at Bryce Canyon National Park because she and her boyfriend were attempting a loop. She thought they were on the wrong trail, but her boyfriend thought she was wrong. Turned out he was the one who was wrong, and
he wasn’t happy about nding that out.
“Is it really harder hiking uphill?” Is this a trick question?
“Where are you going?” at seems a deep philosophical question to pose to a complete stranger.
“How was it?” I guess I could answer on a scale of one to ten…
“Was it worth it?” I’m always tempted to reply, “No, turn around now.”
“Does this trail go anywhere?” “No,” I want to say, “it just kind of sits there.”
“If I hike down this trail, is there another way out?” Not really: Walk in, walk out, is usually the case.
Sometimes a joker will ask, “Are we there yet?” I sometimes answer, “Buddha would say, ‘We are always there.’ at gets me a laugh now and then.”
Several times I have been asked where the next shuttle bus stop is. If this is asked while on a trail in the Grand Canyon, the answer is “A mile back and a thousand feet up the way you came.” Poleaxed stare. “ e bus doesn’t come down here?” “No,” I want to say, “they tend to stick to the paved road.”
One young man told me, “I hope I can do this.” I said, “It looks as though you are.” “No, I mean when I am as old as you.” I guess I can take that as a compliment. en there is the compliment: “I hope I’m as t as you when I’m your age.” I want to reply: “I might be as t as your age!”
A friend who let her hair go gray during COVID told me that she gets a lot more positive comments than she used to: “Young hikers used to mutter under their breath when I passed them. Now they tend to do a thumbs up and say, ‘Good for you.’”
I was hiking one day with a group of women who have hiked the West on trails for years, when a man stepped to the side to let us pass. He beamed at us as he said, “You ladies look radiant.” Now that is the kind of trail talk I like.
Marjorie “Slim” Woodru is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonpro t dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. She is an educator at the bottom of Grand Canyon.
Exiting with dignity
JERRY FABYANIC Columnist
but they haven’t produced the elixir for the vital rest. Sclerosis sets in, muscles, even if regularly exercised, lose strength, and the brain’s neuroplasticity declines.
While that’s true overall, it’s important to keep in mind that everyone ages di erently. For some, the mind declines rst, and for others, the body. Regardless, the reality is we all age. ere are no exceptions. No one gets out alive. It’s nature’s way of clearing out the old to make way for the new.
One of my late-life blessings is consorting with active friends who pursue a range of interests and skills. It’s uplifting to see how to a one they don’t lose sight they have plenty of life in them despite their aches and pains. ey don’t need to be exhorted to “carpe diem” because they’ve already seized the day they have. Perhaps it’s because they recognize their remaining days are dwindling and their next one might not only be as good as the day they have now, it might be their last.
And it’s inspirational to watch octogenarians and nonagenarians pursuing unrelentingly their life’s work. Warren Bu et and multiple great performers, like the late Betty White, readily come to mind. It’s
important to understand, however, their work doesn’t entail life-anddeath consequences for the public writ large, like ensuring the security of the nation.
en there are those who seemingly believe they’re exceptions to the immutable law of nature that says that which lives must die, and its corollary that says if it’s reached a ripened age, it’ll become feeble. ey muddle on and embarrass themselves by bragging how they can still do something like they used to, like keeping their golf game’s handicap.
e political realm seems to be the major one in which age deniers hang on well past their prime.
Marjorie Woodru
FABYANIC
ey convince themselves they’re indispensable, that no one else can ll their shoes. It’s a form of denialism, delusionary self-aggrandizement, and egocentrism. What’s crazy is that they don’t seem to grasp that at some point in the not-too-distant future they’ll be dead and gone and another will take their place. Nature’s kind of funny that way.
e topic of aging was thrust front and center into our national conversation because of the potential of the two dominant political parties nominating for president two men well into their advanced years. One nally faced reality and exited the race with his dignity intact. e other dodders on.
Acceptance is the nal step in Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s process of coming to terms with loss. She delineated it in relation to the endof-life scenario, but it’s applicable to much more. Loss involves pretty much every aspect of our lives, from career to physical and mental abilities.
When forced to give something up or if it’s taken away, a healthy,
balanced mind nds and engages in worthwhile, ful lling activities. e less-so clings to whatever they held close or de ned them. ey do so for fear their new garb will pale in comparison to the golden ring, eece, or crown they’re currently wearing and that they’ll no longer be considered relevant and be in the spotlight.
In “As You Like It,” William Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances.” Entrances are the easy part. Exits not so much.
In the theater, there’s a wisecrack line about an actor who refuses to exit the stage: “Get the hook!” It comes to mind when watching and listening to long-in-the-tooth elderlies trumpet they’re as t as the ddles they once were when it’s clearly evident they’re not.
Great character includes a plethora of noble attributes. One is accepting one has aged out and it’s high time to exit the stage while they have their dignity and before the audience yells, “Get the hook!”
Jerry Fabyanic is the author of “Sisyphus Wins” and “Food for ought: Essays on Mind and Spirit.” He lives in Georgetown.
working on federal legislation to prevent medical debt from being included on a person’s credit report.
Chopra noted that 15% of Westminster residents are struggling in some fashion with medical debt and that consumers often get stuck in a tangle of bureaucracy to pay if o .
Too often, former patients and their families are shocked by “surprise billing,” or medical procedures that were not initially disclosed to them by a hospital, said Caraveo, a pediatrician.
Parents are left with the nancial toll of huge medical debt, she said. “You are wondering about your ability to pay your rent, pay for food,” Caraveo said.
She said clinics try to avoid sending their patients to collection for a medical bill.
“But the insurance companies are not wringing their hands to send you to collection,” she said. She and Pettersen said they are
Weiser pointed out that in Colorado a new law, House Bill 23-1126, protects consumers with medical debt from credit harm by prohibiting the inclusion of medical debt information on credit reports. Colorado is the rst state in the country to enact such legislation, according to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, which championed the legislation in coalition with partners. e group has created resources in English and Spanish to educate Colorado consumers about their rights under the new law.
A fact sheet and know-your-rights guide are available on CCLP’s website at copolicy.org/resource/meddebt-credit-reports.
Weiser told the audience that if they have any questions or concerns about consumer fraud they should contact: https://stopfraudcolorado.gov/.
OBITUARIES
MADSON
Ruby Hariette (Mork) Madson May 5, 1924 - August 13, 2024
Ruby passed away in her sleep August 13. She was predeceased by her husband, Lawrence, and son, David. She is survived by daughters, Cindy DeLong and Gini Krattenmaker; 4 grandchildren, and
6 great grandchildren. A service will be held at Arvada United Methodist Church September 8 at 1pm. Donations can be made to AUMC or Community Table.
obituaries@coloradocommunitymedia.com
HIGH STAKES
What it takes to perform a mountain rescue
BY CHRIS KOEBERL CKOEBERL@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Colorado’s mountains are nature’s playgrounds. Tourists from all over the world and Colorado residents alike escape to the extreme terrain for skiing, hiking, climbing, biking and more — but what happens when something goes wrong?
Several specialized and highly trained mountain emergency response teams — many of them volunteers — constantly work and train together to be ready to perform a mountain rescue.
Alpine Rescue, Central City Fire, Clear Creek EMS, Clear Creek Fire Authority, Flight for Life and Evergreen Fire/Rescue are a few of the agencies that respond when the worst happens in the unforgiving terrain west of Denver.
As a group they must be ready for anything, anywhere, anytime. And they are, according to Field Director for the Alpine Rescue Team Herb Dorn.
Georgetown, Idaho Springs, Silver Plume and the unincorporated lands of Clear Creek County.
“We love what we do. It’s crazy. Almost half our members are probably tenured for over 20 years. So there’s a deep love for what we do and the mission that we try to accomplish and we’re all volunteers,” Dorn said during a recent multi-jurisdictional exercise in Idaho Springs.
Based in Evergreen, Alpine Rescue has been providing search and rescue to Gilpin, Je erson and Clear Creek County since 1959.
“Search and rescue” is a very simpli ed term for what Alpine’s 50-70 highly trained mountain rescuer volunteers are capable of accomplishing, according to its mission statement.
In a vehicle crash, re or rollover, CCFA members are rst responders and assist EMS with preserving and saving lives.
It has been providing swift water rescue for 51 years and was one of the rst of its kind in Colorado, according to Jones.
“Life safety is our rst priority; victim life safety and your own,” Clear Creek Training Captain Don Koogle told a training crew in Dumont recently.
CCFA covers the municipalities of Empire, Georgetown, Idaho Springs, and Silver Plume and the unincorporated lands of Clear Creek County.
Helicopters play crucial role
According to the national Mountain Rescue Association, Alpine is one of 13 state agencies accredited in several rescue types including technical rock, avalanche, technical rope, helicopter and wilderness search.
“We do everything; we do avalanches, we do ski … 14ers, we help with swift water, search and rescue, a little bit of everything,” 15-year veteran/volunteer Dawn Wilson said after assisting in pulling a crash cart and live “victim” from a 500-foot ravine o Center City Parkway during training in Idaho Springs.
At Wilson’s side were several members of the Clear Creek Fire Authority and EMS who routinely train with Alpine and other agencies to draw on each other’s specialties, capabilities and equipment. In the moment, a cohesive response saves seconds and lives, according to CCFA assistant chief Jeremy Jones.
“We gure out what works and what doesn’t in training so we can x it so we don’t experience those hiccups or delays when it’s time critical,” Jones said.
On average, CCFA responds to more than 1,400 emergency calls from eight re stations throughout 347.5 square miles of Clear Creek County every year with 55 volunteers,16 full-time re ghters and at least four seasonal wildland re ghters, according to department statistics.
It serves the municipalities of Empire,
Bright orange and yellow Flight for Life helicopters are often seen at some of the most critical scenes where the helicopter, its onboard paramedic and ight nurse can bring life-saving equipment and supplies to the backcountry or at altitude to e ect rapid extrication, according to parent company Air Methods.
e air crews often work and train side-byside with other mountain rescue teams like CCFA and Alpine, according to Flight Nurse Libby Brewster.
“We participate in the trajectory of care in a di erent way. EMS or Alpine makes contact with the person initially, they call us, we participate in the transport, then they get to the hospital,” Brewster said during a recent training exercise in Clear Creek County.
“We bring critical care to the patient. ere’s a lot of stu we can do that maybe the ambulance can’t, and we’re also able to y in a bunch of stu (equipment) so these guys don’t have to hike in as much stu , I mean they’re still going to because they like it,” Flight for Life Paramedic Jace Mullen said, laughing.
Mullen and Brewster were standing sideby-side with at least four other rescue crews during a recent training exercise. No matter the agency, no matter the speci c skill sets, everyone has a common goal to protect life, Brewster said.
gurney waits as rescuers pull a “victim” in a crash cart up the side of a mountain during multi-jurisdictional training in Idaho Springs.
RESCUE
“When we have really, really sick patients and we’re all able to take really great care of them and bring them an advanced level of care to the scene and start doing the things a hospital would do in the rst two minutes and the patient has a really good outcome, it’s impactful,” Brewster said.
Relatively new to the “combined e ort approach to recovery/rescue,” the Clear Creek Sheri ’s Department said new agreements with other agencies will change the way the department trains and it expects to be working closely with Alpine Rescue.
“Recently we’ve rewritten our policies and agreements with Alpine, EMS and the re authority. Before they didn’t really work all that well together and weren’t on the same agreement, but now EMS has trained backcountry personnel that they can send in and so we’re all working a lot more cohesive than we did prior,” Special Services Commander Seth Marquardt said.
e sheri ’s department is in charge of overseeing all backcountry rescue operations, including avalanche, search and rescue or injured hikers in the county, according to Seth Marquardt.
“ e sooner we can get on scene and get a team into the eld the better because these rescues can last hours. Time is of the
essence when they’re in the backcountry whether it’s an avalanche or an injured hiker whatever the case is,” Marquardt said.
e changes in attitude toward multi-jurisdictional assistance and cooperation between agencies started when incoming Clear Creek County Sheri Matt Harris took ofce in January, according to Marquardt.
Volunteers are the critical key to success
Nearly every area emergency service relies heavily on trained volunteers, as most are manned with signi cantly more volunteers than paid sta , and Evergreen Fire/Rescue is no exception, according to Evergreen Risk Reduction Coordinator Einar Jensen.
“Our volunteer re ghters live in Evergreen,” Einar said.
Evergreen Fire/Rescue covers both Je erson and Clear Creek counties and currently has only 75 of the 100 volunteers needed to run operations e ciently, according to Einar.
“When we talk about wanting more volunteer re ghters we also need to make sure the people that are applying know that they will be trained and equipped at a professional level, they just won’t be getting paid for it. at’s the di erence,” Einar said.
Volunteers in Evergreen receive 10 months of training and classroom work, largely on Mondays and Saturdays. After the successful end of training and state testing, the volunteer candidate will be certi ed as a
Level 1 re ghter in Colorado.
“We’re asking you to put yourself at some risk to serve your community, and if that appeals to you, it’s probably one of the most rewarding activities that you’ll ever encounter,” Einar said.
“We are always ready,” Wilson said about volunteering, and “after a while it becomes like a family, you just depend on each other.”
It’s a di cult job to do and see. Rescuers say they see the worst of bad, but at times some good can make it worthwhile.
“It becomes taxing sometimes, (but) the worst of the worst which is o set a little bit by seeing the good things in life,” Jones said.
Relying on and communicating with teammates or other rescue crews who experience and witness the same tragedies is critical for your own mental health, Jones said.
“ ere is a lot of e ort on the part of responders to properly manage those images and experiences to avoid long-term PTSD issues,” Jones said.
Most rescuers said there’s an important reason to do this taxing, dangerous and sometimes ugly job. ey are there to help the injured, the same way they hope someone will be there for the people they love.
“Everybody goes into this eld to help people you’ve never met in your entire life and may never see again because we always hope if it’s someone we love who is in danger or at risk, somebody will come help them,” Jones concluded.
Alpine Rescue’s Dawn Wilson assists in a rescue training exercise in Clear Creek County.
PHOTO BY CHRIS KOEBERL
A
PHOTO BY CHRIS KOEBERL
‘Discovering Teen Rex’ shows power of exploration
The story of the “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is in many ways a dream come true for many young dinosaur fans all over the world. ree such young fans — eightyear-old Liam and 11-year-old Jessin, and their 10-year-old cousin Kaiden Madsen — were fossil-hunting in the Badlands near Marmarth, North Dakota, when they found some large bones in a sedimentary rock formation, according to provided information. ey then reached out to their father’s highschool classmate, DMNS paleontologist Dr. Tyler Lyson, who had grown up in the same area.
Lyson and a team from the museum came out in the summer of 2023 and discovered the bones were from a juvenile Tyrannosaurs Rex. After a long and careful excavation process, the bones were removed from the rock and brought to the museum at 2001 Colorado Blvd., and became the focus of the “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibit, which runs through Jan. 31, 2025.
“ e museum has collected a handful of miscellaneous T. rex fossils over the years, but this will be the most complete fossil in the collection,” said Natalie Toth, chief fossil preparator at DMNS and part of the excavation team. “It’s so special
COMING ATTRACTIONS
that these almost teenaged boys found this teenage
e story was captured on lm and featured in the new 40-minute documentary “T. REX,” showing on the Museum’s giant-screen In nity eater.
For the exhibit, visitors will get a look at the fossil prep lab, where they can watch as a team of paleontologists clean, preserve and study the T. rex fossil.
ey’ll see discoveries being made as more and more of the remains are unearthed and studied.
“I love paleontology so much, so to be able to share it with kids and see it through their eyes is just great,” Toth said. “ at enthusiasm the kids have is shared with everyone on our team as we work on this. Any time we can pull back the curtain and show how we work on fossils is a great opportunity.”
In addition to the fossil prep lab, the exhibit features a wide array of dinosaur fossils, including Triceratops and Edmontosaurus, from the Museum’s collection that add some context to the work going on and to the animal the paleontologists are studying.
What makes the nd particularly exciting is that so few adolescent T. rex fossils have ever been discovered. By studying the young T. Rex, scientists have the opportunity to learn how the animals grew and developed.
While there’s still a lot of learning ahead, the aim of “Discovering Teen Rex” is to get people of all ages, but especially children, interested in exploring the landscape around them. You never know what you might stumble upon.
“We hope it inspires kids to put down cell phones and dig around,” Toth said. “Denver and the American West provide access to such amazing landscapes that are worth exploring.”
For more information, visit https://www.dmns.org/visit/exhibitions/discovering-teen-rex/.
Children dive deep with ‘The Little Mermaid’
With all the great adult theater offered in the Denver area, it’s easy to forget that children also have a bevy of options where they can learn a love of the stage. One of the best places to go is Golden’s Miners Alley Playhouse, 1100 Miners Alley, which is currently showing “ e Little Mermaid.”
been encouraged to embrace new ways of thinking by TED Talks on YouTube. Now, people can get inspired in person by new and exciting ideas at TEDxCherryCreekHS’ second annual TEDx event, “ e Digital Age.”
Held at e Schoolhouse, 19650 E. Mainstreet in Parker, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31, the TED-like experience features 10 original thinkers, including high school students, authors and engineers.
e event is an exciting opportunity to be challenged and energized. Details and tickets are available at www.parkerarts.org.
Clarke’s Concert of the Week — Hozier at Fiddler’s Green Ireland’s Hozier is a rare thing in the modern pop landscape—a singer/songwriter who connects with audiences because of his simplicity. Ever since his breakthrough single, “Take Me to Church,” he’s placed a premium on songwriting and connecting with listeners, rather than reworks and spectacle. Recently, he’s had another huge moment with 2023’s, “Unreal Unearth,” and the new single “Too Sweet.”
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Running through Saturday, Sept. 14, with performances at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturdays, the show is written and directed by Rory Pierce. It’s an original adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale and was created to delight children of all ages.
Buy tickets for the production at www.minersalley.com.
Get your brain working at TEDxCherryCreekHS event
Over the years, millions of people
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In support of the album, Hozier will be performing at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, 6350 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. in Englewood, at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30. He’ll be joined by Allison Russell, a fantastic musician in her own right, who blends folk, blues and spirituals to stunning e ect.
Get tickets for what should be a great show at www.axs.com.
Clarke Reader’s column on culture appears on a weekly basis. He can be reached at Clarke.Reader@ hotmail.com.
for publication in the following week’s newspaper.
• Letters should be exclusively submitted to Colorado Community Media and should not be submitted to other outlets or previously posted on websites or social media. Submitted letters become the property of CCM and should not be republished elsewhere.
Clarke Reader
Thu 9/05
The Jauntee @ 6pm
New Terrain Brewing Company, 16401 Table Mountain Pkwy, Golden
Morgan St. Jean @ 8pm
Lost Lake Lounge, 3602 E Colfax Ave, Denver
Sat 9/07
The Sweet Lillies @ 6pm
Levitt Pavilion Denver, 1380 W Florida Ave, Denver
Native Daughters @ 9pm
Meow Wolf Denver Convergence Station, Denver
Sun 9/08
Finn O'Sullivan: Lost Lake @ 5pm
Incubus @ 7:30pm Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver
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Changeline @ 8pm
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Tue 9/10
Keith Hicks @ 4pm
Wed 9/11
Fred again.. @ 7pm Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Cir, Denver
Lost Lake Lounge, 3602 E Colfax Ave, Denver
Mon 9/09
Coheed and Cambria @ 6pm
Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Cir, Denver
Renaissance Downtown City Center, Den‐ver
Lauren Frihauf at Harry’s @ 4pm
Harry's at Magnolia Hotel Denver, 818 17th St, Denver
Avatar The Last Airbender In Concert @ 7:30pm
Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, 1400 Curtis Street, Denver
Robert Jon & the Wreck @ 7:30pm Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St, Denver
Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening @ 8pm
Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glen‐arm Place, Denver
Rowan Drake @ 8pm Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St, Denver
Colorado to seal more than 100,000 criminal records
New law is called the Clean Slate Act
BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN
Colorado is sealing more than 100,000 court records, the result of a new law that applies to nonviolent o enses and is intended to help people with criminal pasts pass background checks for jobs and housing.
Most of the crimes are misdemeanors and petty o enses, and many involved drugs or theft. Colorado for years has allowed people to petition to seal their arrests and convictions, a process that requires legal guidance and possibly a hearing before a judge. But the
new Clean the Slate Act directs the state judicial system to automatically seal records that are eligible.
e Colorado Judicial Department’s rst data scrape required under the law, which went into effect July 1, identi ed more than 140,000 cases that were eligible.
While the government, including prosecutors, can still see the records, they will no longer appear in the background checks that are required by landlords, businesses and schools.
Who is eligible
Nonviolent crimes, including some felonies, are eligible — with lots of exceptions. A small fraction — 1.4% — of the more than 140,000 identi ed records were felonies; the rest were misdemeanors and petty o enses. Arrests that did not
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Misdemeanors and petty o enses must be at least seven years old. Felonies must be 10 years in the past.
Crimes cannot involve domestic violence, child abuse, sexual violence or sexual exploitation. e exemptions are complex, and under the previous system of petitioning to get records sealed, typically require the help of a lawyer. e worst kinds of felonies, those rated Class 1, 2 or 3, are not eligible. at includes murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, aggravated robbery, tra cking children and many others.
Other exemptions include tra c o enses, driving under the in uence of alcohol or drugs, bodily injury, animal cruelty, identity theft, selling drugs, assault, menacing, indecent exposure, robbery and some burglaries.
How it works
e law requires that the Colorado Judicial Department produce a list four times per year of all records that are eligible to be automatically sealed, then pass that list along to district attorneys across the state.
District attorneys in Colorado’s 22 judicial districts have 45 days to object to records in their regions. e rst round, which began in February, had some bumps — the state computer system included thousands of domestic violence records, even though those are not eligible. ey xed the error and created a new list in March. e list of eligible crimes dropped to about 141,000 from 148,000 after objections from district attorneys and the removal of domestic violence cases.
After the records are sealed in the judicial system, which is still in process, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has to remove them from background checks.
If a person whose record is sealed commits another crime, the record is unsealed and prosecutors can use it in court.
e petition system, the only option before the new law, is complex, time-consuming, and for some clients, traumatic, said Abbey Mo tt, a criminal defense attorney and co-founder of Expunge Colorado, a nonpro t that helps people seal their records.
The Robert A. Christensen Justice Center in the Castle Rock area, pictured in August 2023.
PHOTO BY ELLIS ARNOLD
RECORDS
charges, as well as theft and trespassing records. Services are free and Expunge covers the court fees.
“ is is a huge deal,” she said. “It allows people to move on, to have that
and restore their
Mo tt in 2018 helped start Expunge Colorado, which has helped more than 600 people who have attended annual clinics to ask if they can seal their records. So far, the nonpro t has sealed more than 200 records. Many people come to clinics and nd out their criminal cases are not eligible.
At e Sun’s request, Mo tt researched 45 conviction records that Expunge Colorado helped seal and found that 16 were felonies. Of those, 11 were drug o enses. e nonpro t’s 15 volunteer attorneys most often are able to seal drug
Despite the new law, Mo tt expects people will still seek out the nonpro t because they want their cases sealed as soon as possible. People can petition a court to seal records after three years, or wait seven to 10 years from the day they were convicted for the state to seal them automatically under the new law.
“A lot of people need the relief right away,” Mo tt said. “ ey want to apply for this job now. ey need housing now.”
e legislation in 2022 had bipartisan support, including from some in the business community who saw it as a way to widen the eligible workforce.
Why it matters
Marcus Weaver’s criminal past kept him from lling out the appli-
cation to volunteer at his daughter’s private school, even though he wanted to pitch in like other parents. He just didn’t want school ocials to run a background check and discover that in 2008 he spent time locked up for conspiracy to commit theft.
“When you look at me you would never think I was ever in trouble,” said Weaver, who since then has started a nonpro t that provides job training for people in jail and prison.
Weaver also opened a pickle company and hires people who are on parole. After they help him deliver pickles for a while, he helps them get hired by other businesses. “I work with guys getting out and they don’t know they got stu on their record that won’t let them get a job, even though they paid their time,” he said.
Employers, meanwhile, often just want someone dependable, but aren’t allowed to hire them if they
can’t pass the background check.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that,” Weaver said.
For years, he has advocated for a change in state law that would help people who messed up in the past rebuild their lives, as he has done.
“ e whole time I was in jail I was helping people with their resumes,” he said. “I was listening to guys talk about the fears of restarting their lives.”
ree out of 10 Colorado residents have an arrest or conviction on their record, according to the Clean Slate Colorado coalition. When Colorado passed the law in 2022, it was the seventh state to do so since 2018, after Pennsylvania, Utah, Michigan, Connecticut, Delaware and Oklahoma.
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.
After successful pilot seasons, growing sport takes the field
BY DENNIS PLEUSS
SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
It was a historical day for high school sports on Saturday, Aug. 17.
After two pilot seasons of girls ag football with Chat eld and Arvada West — both Je co Public School teams — capturing state titles, Saturday marked the opening day for the rst season as a Colorado High School Activities Association-sanctioned sport for the highly popular and growing sport of girls ag football.
“I’m so excited. When I heard Colorado was the 11th state to sanction girls ag football I was pumped,” said A-West coach Lacey Abell, who is a member of the U.S. Women’s Flag Football National Team. “I think in general that it is amazing to have this sport available to girls. We see these girls just balling out here in a sport. I can’t be more excited about the growth of this sport.”
Abell takes over the Wildcats’ program, which returns most of its state championship squad, which had a perfect 25-0 record last year. e Wildcats opened the season No. 1 in the CHSAA coaches poll preseason rankings.
“With the preseason rankings there is a bit of a target on us,” Abell said. “I think we are ready to defend it.”
A-West looked ready Saturday morning with a dominating 35-0 victory over Legend in the rst games of the season at Trailblazer Stadium.
Senior quarterback Saylor Swanson threw ve touchdown passes in the win. Sophomore Katie Hufford and senior Sara Walker both had touchdown catches on fourthdown plays in the rst half to give the Wildcats a 13-0 lead.
e larger eld dimensions and rule changes that allow the defense to bring multiple rushers make the
SPORTS
Inaugural flag football season kicks o
in a while we can go for that deep shot.”
Swanson had a second touchdown pass to Walker early in the third quarter to push the lead to 210. Juniors Santana Pena and Alyssa Alberts both had fourth-quarter touchdown catches to induce a running clock with a 30-point advantage in the nal quarter.
“She (Swanson) is an athlete,” Abell said. “She is also making the smart calls of what she should and shouldn’t do. She has that high (football) IQ and it just gets better and better.”
Arvada West senior Sara Walker (21) celebrates her first of two touchdowns during the Wildcats’ 35-0 victory over Legend on Saturday, Aug. 17, at Trailblazer Stadium.
Arvada West junior Alyssa Alberts (3) closes in on Legend quarterback Madi Smolen (18) during the first half Saturday, Aug. 17, at Trailblazer Stadium. The Wildcats took a 35-0 victory over Legend, but su ered a 25-13 loss to Mountain Vista later in the day.
Fairmount Cemetery to hold ‘Fur-Ever Pet Fest’
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Losing a family pet can be dicult, which is why Fairmount Funeral Home is holding its annual “Fur-Ever Pet Fest” for a second year in a row as a way to help families grieve and honor their beloved dogs, cats and other pets.
“ e loss of an animal companion and pet family member is a very emotional time,” said Karna O’Neil, manager of Fairmount Family Pet Loss Care.
e free three-hour event – starting at 9 a.m. on Sept. 8 – will include food, dog boutiques, crafts and a pet blessing.
ere will be double the amount of vendors at the pet fest compared with last year. e 30 vendors will have everything from treats to custom bow ties on display.
O’Neil said the event is a way to bring the community together as well as businesses that support the animal community.
Along with a non-denominational blessing for pets, the event will also include a craft tent.
“We’ll be doing paw prints on the dogs that come and even cats that come,” said O’Neil.
Although Shelby, the Denver police’s rst therapy dog can’t be at the event due to her training, stu ed animals of her will be available.
“She’s a support animal for kids and
Cemetery and Crematory in Denver on Sept. 8 for its second annual “Fur-Ever Pet Fest.”
they wanted to give the kids something to go home with,” said O’Neil.
Since Fairmount Funeral Home, Cemetery and Crematory opened a pet loss care service last year, the funeral home has added several community partners such as PAWsitive Recovery, Pooch Cafe and Buddy Scrub Pet. Another partner is Chewy’s Bonetique, a small local business that provides a variety of food products and toys.
helped him especially when he wanted to declare a minor and on the days where he felt less motivated.
e funeral home also holds monthly pet walks where a pet can get a treat and take a walk with their owner around the cemetery.
Fairmount provides pet cremation, personalized memorialization, pet loss grief support and memorial ceremony options for pets ranging from ferrets to dogs.
“We’re excited to be able to provide the service for the community and be able to now serve the entire family,” said O’Neil. “We’ll be able to help you with your fur-baby.”
More: e event will be held at 430 S. Quebec St., Denver. For information, call 303-399-0032 or email at petlosscare@fairmountcemetery.net.
e program does not require students to maintain a certain GPA level, Cleaver said. She wants students to turn to their coaches when they need help instead of being embarrassed that they’re struggling. e majority of the students might have other life challenges going on that keep them from being successful, she said, such as needing food and transportation or balancing multiple jobs and school.
“We’re not going to shame you,” she said. “We’re going to keep working with you.”
Anderson said his rst year went smoothly thanks to P2P. Coaches
Anderson wants to get a degree in business management, and his coaches helped him decide on a minor in computer information systems with a concentration on human resources management.
He said he’s learned a lot thanks to the support, and hopes incoming rst-year students know that going to college is a “learning journey.”
Some days might be easier than others, but thanks to P2P, the hard ones aren’t so bad.
is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with Chalkbeat Colorado, a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.
Pet owners can bring their friendly dogs and cats to Fairmount Funeral Home,
COURTESY OF KARNA O’NEIL
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FOOTBALL
A-West’s defense was just as impressive shutting out Legend. Junior Linley McReynolds got a defense score with a safety in the second quarter, sacking Legend quarterback Madi Smolen in the end zone.
“I’ve been excited all season,” McReynolds said. “We played club season with other girls on this team. It has been really exciting with all the new rules.”
A-West also got a pair of interceptions with senior Molly Schellpepper and freshman Harper Tillman grabbing picks.
“O ense wins games and defense wins championships,” Abell said of the Wildcats’ shutout win over the Titans.
Legend did bounce back with a 7-0 shutout win over Pomona in the second of four games played at Trailblazer Stadium. Pomona came in as the topranked 4A team in the preseason coaches poll.
Mountain Vista — No. 5 in the 5A preseason rankings — did prove in the third game that A-West will face a tough road to defending that state title. e Golden Eagles stunned the Wildcats with a 2513 victory.
e long day of girls ag football ended with Mountain Vista scoring a 26-0 shutout victory over Pomona.
Dennis Pleuss is the Sports Information Director for Je co Public Schools. For more Je co coverage, go to ColoradoPreps.com and CHSAANow.com.
Arvada West junior Linley McReynolds, left, chases after Legend quarterback Madi Smolen (18) during the first half Saturday, Aug. 17, at Trailblazer Stadium. McReynolds sacked Smolen in the second quarter for a safety on the way to a 35-0 victory for A-West.
PHOTO BY DENNIS PLEUSS / JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
