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GreeleyTribune TUESDAY

MAY 13, 2014

Serving Greeley and Weld County greeleytribune.com

GREELEY, COLORADO ONE DOLLAR VOL. 143 NO. 182

OIL AND GAS

Forum focuses on regulations Experts agree collaboration is key to finding solutions that benefit all sides By Analisa Romano aromano@greeleytribune.com

A state regulator, an environmentalist, an oil and gas operator and a

county attorney sat down at a table Monday night and found they could agree on a few things regarding regulations for oil and gas development in Colorado. At the final forum in a Fracking-

SENSE series, hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Center for the American West, all four experts told the several hundred gathered in the Northridge High School auditorium in Greeley that regulation is toughest in the gray areas where local and state authority overlaps. All touted the benefits of collaboration — finding solutions unique to local entities and specific opera-

tors that address public concerns — and found a few solutions they said would help all sides. The four discussed a website that geographically maps well sites to help with notification issues, a well site application process that uses the same template for all levels of regulation to ensure consistency and reliability for both sides, and an opportunity not used enough in which the industry and government offi-

« VOLUNTEERING AT Eldergarden rewarding for injured truck driver

cials can plan out the spacing and timing of development. Matt Lepore, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said the state does have a “bigger piece of the pie” where regulation is concerned. But local entities have a number

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CONTINUED A3: Forum

Similar cities could learn from each other Greeley leaders head to Kalamazoo, Mich. to learn something new By Analisa Romano aromano@greeleytribune.com

Greeley leaders this morning are headed to Kalamazoo. There, they said, they hope to learn something new. It may sound like a place out of a Dr. Seuss book, but the city of Kalamazoo, Mich. is real. It’s similar to Greeley — eerily so in some ways — which is why Greeley officials and community leaders are eager for a four-day trip this week to meet with their Kalamazoo counterparts. Kalamazoo, a city of about 75,000 people, will host an annual leadership summit Wednesday and

PHOTOS BY DAN ENGLAND/dengland@greeleytribune.com

RJ CHARLES SMILES AS he helps Mary and Jan, clients of Eldergarden, 910 27th Ave., Greeley, with their breakfast.

Charles hurt his knee while driving a truck hauling crude oil for Gazelle Transportation, and rather than sit at home, the company paid him to volunteer at the adult day care facility.

‘I’M MUCH HAPPIER HERE’

O

n the first day RJ Charles started volunteering for Eldergarden, he walked through the front doors and right into Judy VanEgdom’s office, rather than left toward the clients there for the day. Charles had a confession. Dan He was scared. ENGLAND VanEgdom understood, as The Tribune Eldergarden is an adult day care facility, a place that watches mostly people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, and they tend to make people unfamiliar with their conditions nervous. But Charles was too familiar. He had grandparents who had Alzheimer’s. His grandmother was docile as long as music was on, but his grandfather would occasionally turn violent. Both of them lived in lockdown facilities in Sterling, which could feel like a prison. Whenever Charles would bring his son for a visit, they thought he was Charles. They didn’t know Charles at all. Charles loved his grandparents until they died — his grandfather died eight years ago, his grandmother four — but there were a lot of painful memories because of the disease. Charles didn’t want to dig them up again. “It was really, really hard,” Charles said while choking back a tear.

» Eldergarden of Greeley The nonprofit adult day care agency is located at 910 27th Ave. in Greeley. The agency watches clients who require daily care and can’t be left alone for more than a couple hours. The agency helps caregivers keep a job or get a break. Fees are charged on a sliding scale based on income. For more information, go to www.eldergarden.org or call (970) 353-5003.

VanEgdom urged him to try. People assume Eldergarden is a sad place, she said, but the clients sing songs, play games and talk over the newspaper, cereal and coffee in the morning. They dance and do arts and crafts and go on field trips. It’s much easier for the Eldergarden staff to spend time with clients because they know their history. Family members understandably mourn that history, but Eldergarden staff see their clients for who they are now. The truth was, Eldergarden needed Charles. His aunt, Jo Huey, wrote books for caregivers for family members with Alzheimer’s based on her experiences with Charles’ grandparents and founded the Alzheimer’s Caregivers Institute. And even if they were painful, Charles’ own experiences would give him a head start. Eldergarden had more than 100 volunteers, but Charles

Eaton pitchers impressed with each other’s performance in tournament. B1

Coloradans with mental illnesses struggle to find services By Kristin Jones Rocky Mountain PBS I-News

BARB, CENTER, A CLIENT of Eldergarden, grimaces as she gets to the dregs of her hot chocolate while June, left, laughs and RJ Charles, right, offers to get her some more. Charles volunteers at the adult day care facility 40 hours a week after hurting his knee, and he spends most of his time visiting the clients. Many of the clients have dementia or Alzheimer’s, and Eldergarden cares for them during the day to give their caregivers a break or to allow them to keep a job. would be there 40 hours a week. He would be a great resource. Plus, Eldergarden already had to reduce its staff after nearly closing last year. Times are better now, but the additional manpower would be welcome. What Charles, 50, would discover was that he needed Eldergarden, too. Charles was there because he hurt his knee, although destroyed may be a better word. Charles works for Gazelle Transportation as a truck driver who hauled crude oil, a byproduct of natural gas drilling. He slipped on an icy patch on sandy ground while on a job, and his left knee took the brunt of the fall. That sent Charles to his rural LaSalle home, where he sat,

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CONTINUED A7: Kalamazoo

bored and in pain. Charles was a medical equipment technician for many years before he moved to truck driving the last couple of years, and so he’s a tinkerer. He eased the boredom, and the pain, by moving things around, such as the furniture, and taking stuff apart. His wife, Tammy, “encouraged” him to go back to work, so he applied for light jobs. Rather than pay him to stay home and drive his wife crazy, Gazelle, through its community worker program, suggested he volunteer at Eldergarden. VanEgdom was thrilled. “I’d never heard of anything like

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« WHAT’S NEWS TODAY Mostly sunny, north northwest wind 10 to 17 mph

High 55 Low 32 WEATHER, XX

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Mostly sunny, winds 10-17 mph High 55 Low 32

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WEATHER

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Danielle Nordeen had to drive 300 miles across Colorado to visit her 7-year-old son in a psychiatric ward after he lashed out at school and later threatened to kill himself and others. Across the state, the same story plays out. A shortage of treatment options for people with mental illnesses means waiting months to see a psychiatrist, or driving hundreds of miles for a psychiatric bed. Police and emergency rooms bear the brunt of a splintered system that juggles crises but falls short on treatment. In Weld County, North Range Behavioral Health offers walkin crisis counseling for kids and adults during weekdays. North Range also operates a 16-bed Acute Treatment Unit for people ages 18 and over that is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The unit offers crisis-counseling services, medication services and can work with a patient to plan for outpatient support services after their discharge. “It’s a place where people can CONTINUED A8: Mental illness

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