The Lost Creek Guide July 15, 2020

Volume 13 • Edition 14

July 15, 2020

Serving rural Adams, Morgan, and Weld Counties

“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light” George Washington “If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed” Thomas Jefferson

I Promise to Remember.

June 6, 1944

Memorial day is a day to remember and honor the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who, since April 19th, 1775, have given their lives in the service of our country.

In 2013, my father and I started working on three biographies of paratroopers killed in action on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. In June 2014 I would recite those biographies to visitors at the American Cemetery in Colleville. One of the young men we were writing about was named George Radeka (click here to see the post I made about him). When we first contacted George’s family, we spoke with his niece Judy. She had an excellent memory of her family history, but knew little of “Uncle” George. We asked Judy to speak with other family members to see if anyone had any stories to tell about Uncle George. Sadly, no one else had anything to add. Thanks to Judy’s help, we were able to enrich George’s biography with details about his family life in general. But what we found most upsetting was that when George was killed in June 1944, his family stopped talking about him. In a way, his death made it like he had never existed at all. As Judy put it, “After Uncle George was killed, my grandmother never left the house again. It broke her and it broke my grandfather. So in my family, talking about Uncle George was taboo. It was too heartbreaking, so he was never mentioned again.”

Several years later, I was on the phone This picture, taken in the Normandy Ameri- with Judy at Christmas time and she can Cemetery and Memorial at Collevillebrought up George. She told me that after Sur-Mer, France, on June 5th, 2015, best we had sent her the biography we’d writcaptures the essence, not only of Project ten, she shared it with the family and this Vigil or Memorial Day, but of military had, in a way, resurrected him. It was like service. We’ve named this photo “Shattered for the first time in 70 years he was back in Families.” For anyone who has ever visited any of the 26 American military cemeteries, the family again. George had ceased to be they will tell you that there are few things a taboo subject, and was even honored in a as heartbreaking as the sight of the endless church service. The grieving process, even sea of markers, each representing a fallen generations later... 70 years later... was soldier. Each one of those markers also still going on, but fortunately it had finally represents a life cut short, a heartbroken mother, who never was able to live her life reached the point where George could be the same way again, knowing that her baby talked about openly and remembered fondwould never return to her. It represents a ly. The lesson I learned from this was clear: father, who lost his son or daughter, and will by remembering George, by the simple act never be able to hold that person in his arms, the way he had the day that child was born. of remembering him, maybe we didn’t bring It represents a spouse, who not only endured him back to life, but we brought life back to the demanding life of a military wife or him. While he was in our thoughts; he was husband, but now has to raise a child, or with us... and we were with him. two, or three, without the help of his or her It’s about them significant other. It represents a child, who Memorial day is about George Radeka, might never know who their parent really Stanley Stockins, Phil Germer, Lawrence was, and by that, will never truly know who they are themselves. Each marker represents Roberts, Robert Wolverton... It isn’t about a family, shattered for generations to come. Memorial Day being a federal holiday or Photo by Richard M. McErlean Jr. “the start of summer.” It most certainly isn’t about the Memorial Day Sale at Home Depot, or the best recipes for a Memorial Day barbecue. No. It’s about them. It’s about the sacrifice they made. It’s about what they stood for, and still stand for today: selflessness, humility, doing something for the right reasons, for an ideal, for the freedom of others, for a cause greater than oneself.

Those who have died in the service of our nation have set the example for us to follow, and as long as someone remembers them and what they did, their sacrifice was not made in vain. This is why I do Project Vigil. For to carry their flame is to shine a light on their lives. So please, on this Memorial Day 2020, take time to remember someone who has paid the ultimate sacrifice for something they believed in. Those heroes and their families gave everything they had and they gave it for us. The least we can do, for one day a year, is take some time and give back to them, by remembering them, their families, and the stories they left behind.

Project Vigil I promise to remember.

Morgan County Fair

Dear SEWC Fair Participants and Families,

The SEWC Fair board would like to update you on the progress of the 2020 fair. While it is possible that restrictions could change by August, we have made a few more decisions that will affect fair this year.

1.

As outlined in our previous update, ALL projects, Home Ec, General and Natural and livestock must register online between July 1st and July 15th.

2.

You MUST complete a waiver found on our website to be eligible for fair this year.

3.

You must bring your registration receipt to check in.

4.

There will be a MANDATORY short meeting 30 minutes before each species show, in the show ring.

5.

Since all livestock will leave each night (with the exception of sale hogs on Friday night), our Sale card / check out procedure will be as follows; a.

Sale cards must be turned in to the table in the show barn within 1 hour after the show ends. If you wish to exchange sale cards for a species shown earlier in the week, this still must be done within 1 hour after the show ends. PLEASE ONLY ONE SALE CARD PER EXHIBITOR. b.

All animals nominated for the sale will have a picture taken before leaving. c.

ALL animals will be checked out by the species superintendent. NO ANIMAL MAY LEAVE UNTIL CHECKED OUT BY SPECIES SUPERINTENDENT. 6.

A sale list will be posted on the SEWC Fair website by 7 PM on Friday 8/14/2020.

7.

All sale animals will need to return to the fairgrounds Saturday 8/15 between 6:30 and 8:30 AM to be checked in for the sale. NO ANIMAL IS TO LEAVE THE TRAILER UNTIL CHECKED IN BY THE SPECIES SUPERINTENDENT. THANKS again for your patience as we try and make this year’s fair run as smoothly Sincerely, Mike Crossen, SEWCF Board President

WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE:

Page 2: Way of the World Page 2: Libraries are Open Page 3: Baseline Page 4: Helping Children Cope Page 5: Kids Should Go Back to School Page 6: Trump in Push to Reopen Schools Page 8: Weld County Fair Info Page 10: Wrong to Limit Worship Services Page 11: COVID-19 Cases Rising but Deaths Down Page 16: Capitol Cleanup a Slow Process

Page 2

– Way of the World –

Lost Creek Guide

by Bob Grand June 6th came and went. Did we forget that was the anniversary of the invasion of Europe in WW II ? Our front page today has a piece from Project Vigil, an effort set up by a young man and his dad to never forget. A commendable effort. It was sent to me by my brother-inlaw, whose Dad, a U.S. Army veteran, was at Normandy at that historic time in June of 1944 and then spent the next year of his life marching and fighting thru Europe towards Germany. He was even at the Battle of the Bulge. Ironically, the title of my column, the Way of the World, came from him as he always felt things just cannot be changed because that is just the way of the world. My Dad, a US Navy vet who survived Pearl Harbor, he was on the USS Tennessee on December 7th, 1941, and served on an additional two ships that were sunk by enemy fire. It was a different time, a different perspective. My brother in law texted me when I told him I was going to run the Project Vigil story “. He thanked me for “continuing to wave the flag” especially in an era where most of the media are dragging it in the mud.”

Our history is important, and yes, we, as a country were and are not always perfect, but we are still the best model out there. That does not mean that we cannot listen to our citizens, but we need to listen to all our citizens, not just the ones with the loudest platforms. In life, whether we want to admit or not, we learn every day, or at least we should.

We need to remember our veterans, because, as someone a lot smarter than me has said, we are the land of the free because of the brave. It does not happen by accident.

Well primaries are over. I wish I could say we have the best of the best. But that would not be true. Whether you are democrat or republican there has to be a bit of holdings one’s nose.

Sad to say but having an election today is not necessarily the best of the best but rather the selection of candidates by a small percentage of the people with way too much outside influence. Wake up America!

Notice all the activity over in Iran. There are too many incidents going on at their key facilities that have either local or foreign involvement implications. China watching continues to open up more stories. Their leader is not having a particularly good time lately.

U.S. universities are also struggling. You have to ask is not the historic model of college fundamentally changing as we knew it. Online courses are growing. That did not stop Harvard for charging full tuition, $50,000 per year, for an online offering. The college model is changing, we will see who is most adept at surviving, because not all will and certainly not in the format that they have become accustomed to living and working in.

Our retail and restaurant business models are also changing. There will be less businesses then before. That questions where will our young people have opportunities to learn the basic skills needed to be successful? Maybe it is time to think about some type of national service program Where our young people can opt to either have a two-year tour in the military or two years in some sort of community service program. This , to me, would be particularly attractive in our inner cities. This assumes our inner cities are reasonably safe. The current thought process of eliminating the police is insane. Is there room for improvement? Of course. You just have to ask yourself, given that almost all major metropolitan cities have been under Democratic control for years, what are they going to do differently? Their track record has not been particularly good. I believe that what happened in Minneapolis was wrong. Were any of the 13 deaths in Chicago over the Memorial weekend any individually less important. I do not think so.

The gang problem, and the related drug issues, need attention. Everybody wants to play nice in America today. I think we need to have a plan to eliminate the gang problem and its associated issues. If you ask any of the parents of young people killed by gang violence, I think they would rather see the problem solved. Not worrying about the various areas of political responsibility that might be sensitive.

The Supreme court has been under fire from both sides of the aisle. That is good. The law should be neutral, and the questions should be about the law not the politics. Keep up the good work.

It all falls back on us, the citizens. Please get involved and participate in your local government. Go to meeting, let folks know you care, our elected officials work for you, at all levels. Occasionally they need to be reminded. Mentioning reminding please consider using a mask where there are people. Us old people need you to think about us as well as yourself.

As usual, your thoughts and comments are always appreciated: publisher@lostcreekguide.com

Libraries are Open

July 15, 2020

(Greeley – July, 2020) The High Plains Library District has reopened buildings for limited services. For the safety of the staff and public, some library services are unavailable, some locations have changes in hours, and there are some restrictions for patrons while they are inside library facilities. Please read the following before planning your visit.

New Hours The following hours apply for all branches. You may notice your library location has reduced hours to accommodate additional deep cleaning of restrooms, computer areas, and other high touch surfaces.

Monday – Thursday: 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Friday/Saturday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday: 1 p.m.

– 5 p.m.

Hours for vulnerable patrons at all locations will be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-10 a.m. Please reserve these hours for vulnerable populations only.

Using the Library Our employees are wearing masks and we request that you wear a mask as well. If you forgot yours or do not have one, we will provide one for you.

One-on-one help anywhere other than the Ask Here desk will only be provided to those wearing masks. Without a mask, you will not be able to receive assistance anywhere but the Ask Here desk.

Please limit your time in the library to one hour or less.

Computer time is limited to one hour per day per person, and computers can only be used by one person at a time.

While in the library, please practice social distancing of at least 6 feet While the libraries have increased their cleaning and sanitizing efforts, using any public space still offers a potential risk. We strongly encourage you to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.

Libraries reserve the right to limit the number of people visiting the library at any one time or the amount of time users can remain in the library.

Services The following services are available: • Browsing • Computer use • Use of wifi networks and personal laptops • Holds pickup (curbside or in-library) • Printing We are not offering the following services at this time: • In-depth computer or printing assistance • Programs (including storytimes) • Areas for gathering formally or informally • Soft seating (any seating with a fabric covering) • Browsing of newspapers/magazines • Study room or meeting room use For additional information, please visit www.mylibrary.us

Sunflower Nationals Car Show Postponed to August 2021

The Lost Creek Guide, Llc Bob Grand - Publisher 303-732-4080 publisher@lostcreekguide.com

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Please come join us for some fun and socializing!

July 15, 2020

- Baseline -

By Linda Meyer The year of covid continues. Family from Illinois was just here for a visit. Illinois has been hit very hard by covid. Our family lives in an outer suburb away from Chicago, but they are in the same county as Chicago. They work from home and have been avoiding people like the plague since March to make sure they would be healthy for this trip. Their flight out was full, so people are traveling again.

Illinois has been even slower to reopen than Colorado, and they are not having the rebound problems some states are experiencing. At one time, other than New York City, Chicago had the highest rate of covid cases in the nation. I was supposed to go to school in Chicago for a week in late July, but the classes went to online only. I have never been so happy to cancel a trip, as I had no desire to go into that mess.

What do you think about travel for the rest of this year?

We used to think nothing about making plane reservations, and booking hotels and rental cars. With covid, what do we do now? Flying stopped being fun years ago, due to going through so much security just to get to the terminals. Driving can be easier, but what about long trips? I know people who are renting RVs and campers for travel. Is that safer than staying at a hotel?

What about food? Do we take sandwiches and coolers to make the trips, like our parents and grandparents did fifty years ago? I have not heard anything recently, but there were stories in newspapers and on local TV news about truck drivers trying to find places to eat while they are on the road. Fortunately, most restaurants are open in some capacity. Drive-through’s have been extremely helpful these past four months. Who knew they would become a lifeline for both diners and the owners of restaurants?!

Husband had planned to go to Minnesota in May to visit his mother. She is 92, and has been in lockdown in an assisted living facility since March 13. She has a balcony, but her apartment is on the fourth floor. Visiting her would not be the same as sitting down with her over a meal or in her apartment. Husband hopes to go see her this fall, as his work schedule – and covid – permit.

All in all, it can be frustrating to try to go anywhere more than an hour or two from home. Most swimming pools and parks are open, so we can at least get out of the house.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary and the Denver Zoo are both open. You can visit either place, or both, to see the animals and donate toward their care. Denver Zoo requires timed reservations that must be made online.

If you have time to spare, call an old friend or a neighbor and see how they are doing.

Both of you might enjoy a good conversation. You could sit outside with a few neighbors and pass the time together, at a socially safe distance, please! One piece of advice: do not ask someone “is it hot enough for you?” As warm as the last few weeks have been, you might have to protect yourself!

That’s it for this month. As always, thanks for reading.

Linda ____ Linda Meyer is the Pastor of Community United Methodist Church in Keenesburg.

Connect with Linda: Pastorcumc18@gmail.com , Twitter @RevLindaMeyer Mental Health Resources: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Crisis Text Line: Text CONNECT to 741741 Farm Aid Farmer Hotline: 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243) Colorado Crisis Hotline: 1-844-493-TALK (1-844-493-8255) Mental Health of Colorado: https://www.mentalhealthcolorado.org/

Warm Weather and Pet Safety

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Lost Creek Guide

You might know that cold weather poses health risks to your pets, but so does warm weather – even on days that don’t seem that hot to you. Knowing the risks and being prepared can help keep your pet safe.

Be prepared • Talk to your veterinarian about warm weather risks for pets (and travel safety if you plan to travel with a pet).

• Make sure your pets have unlimited access to fresh water, and access to shade when outside.

• Keep your pet free of parasites that are more common during warm weather, such as fleas, ticks and heartworm.

• Ask your veterinarian how to recognize signs of heat stress.

Keep pets at home • Leave your pets at home if possible when you need to go out and about.

• Provide different temperature zones within your house for your pet’s comfort.

• Never leave a pet in the car, even in the shade or with windows cracked. Cars can overheat quickly to deadly temperatures, even when the weather isn’t severe.

Keep them comfortable • If it’s hot outside for you, it’s even hotter for your pet.

• Take walks, hikes or runs during the cooler hours of the day.

• Avoid hot surfaces, such as asphalt, that can burn your pet’s paws.

• Ask your veterinarian if your pet would benefit from a warm-weather haircut or sunscreen.

Exercising with your pet • Consult your veterinarian prior to starting an exercise program for your pet. Overweight pets and short-nosed dog breeds have higher risk of problems with warm-weather exercise.

• Don’t walk, run or hike with a dog during the hottest parts of the day or on particularly warm days.

• Take frequent breaks.

• Bring enough water for both you and your pet.

Garden and yard safety • Make sure the plants in your garden and yard are safe for pets.

• Store lawn fertilizer and insecticides out of reach of your pets.

• Always follow safety instructions on lawn and garden products, particularly the instructions on how long you should keep pets out of the treated areas.

• If you use a lawn service, make sure they are aware that you have pets.

• Avoid using cocoa bean mulch, which contains the same pet toxin found in chocolate.

Hot Cars and Loose Pets

(No, it’s not the name of the latest tell-all tabloid bestseller. We’re talking about seriously risky situations that happen every day, but are entirely preventable.)

Brutus, Duke, Coco, Lola and Jake...sure, they’re fairly common pet names, but they’re also the names of just a few of the pets that died last year because they were left in cars on warm (and not necessarily hot) days while their owners were shopping, visiting friends or family, or running errands. What’s so tragic is that these beloved pets were simply the victims of bad judgment.

Want numbers? An independent study1 showed that the interior temperature of vehicles parked in outside temperatures ranging from 72 to 96° F rose steadily as time increased.

And cracking the windows doesn’t help.

Elapsed time 10 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes 60 minutes 1 to 2 hours

Temperature rise inside vehicle 19°F 29°F 34°F 43°F 45-50°F

...add to that the fact that most pets are not properly restrained while in the car, and you’ve got some dangerous situations – for people and pets alike. Unrestrained pets can be seriously or fatally injured, or could even hurt you, in a collision or sudden braking situation.

In addition, they’re a distraction for the driver, which increases the risk of driver errors.

According to a 2010 American Automobile Association (AAA) survey, 2 out of 3 owners engage in distracting behaviors (playing with, feeding or petting their dog, or letting their dog sit in their lap) when pets are in the car...and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 20% of injury crashes involve distracted driving.

Please don’t become another statistic: only take your pets in the vehicle with you when you absolutely need to, and always properly restrain your pets while in the vehicle.

How can you help prevent these injuries and deaths?

Learn more about keeping your pet safe during travel; Set a good example by leaving your pet(s) at home except when you need to have them in the vehicle; Set a good example by always properly restraining your own pet(s) while in a vehicle; Educate clients, family and friends about these issues and how they can keep their pet(s) safe; Download and distribute our posters to help educate pet owners about the dangers of hot vehicles and lack of restraint: Other AVMA resources: FAQs about Traveling with Your Pet Pets in Vehicles Other resources: McLaren C, Null J and Quinn J. Heat stress from enclosed vehicles: moderate ambient temperatures cause significant temperature rise in enclosed vehicles. Pediatrics 2005; 116: e109-e112. Available at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/116/1/e109.

Also available at http://ggweather.com/heat/index.htm#heating.

Hyperthermia Deaths of Children in Vehicles(information on in-vehicle temperatures, including an animated video) Paws to Click(a public service campaign to encourage pet owners to properly restrain pets while in the car) Doggie Distractions Fact Sheet (some facts from the 2010 AAA/Kurgo survey) Distraction.gov (official U.S. Government website for distracted driving)

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July 15, 2020

Helping Children Cope

Children and teens react, in part, on what they see from the adults around them. When parents and caregivers deal with the COVID-19 calmly and confidently, they can provide the best support for their children. Parents can be more reassuring to others around them, especially children, if they are better prepared.

Watch for behavior changes in your child Not all children and teens respond to stress in the same way. Some common changes to watch for include: Excessive crying or irritation in younger children.

Returning to behaviors they have outgrown (for example, toileting accidents or bedwetting).

Excessive worry or sadness.

Unhealthy eating or sleeping habits.

Irritability and “acting out” behaviors in teens.

Poor school performance or avoiding school.

Difficulties with attention and concentration.

Avoidance of activities enjoyed in the past.

Unexplained headaches or body pain.

Use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.

Ways to support your child Talk with your child about the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer questions and share facts about COVID-19 in a way that your child can understand.

Reassure your child that they are safe. Let them know it is okay if they feel upset. Share with them how you deal with your own stress so that they can learn from you how to cope with stress.

Limit your family’s exposure to news coverage of the event, including social media. Children may misinterpret what they hear and can be frightened about something they do not understand.

Try to keep up with regular routines. If schools are closed, create a schedule for learning activities and relaxing or fun activities.

Be a role model. Take breaks, get plenty of sleep, exercise, and eat well. Connect with your friends and family members.

Spending time with your child in meaningful activities, reading together, exercising, playing board games. hand holding heart light icon Take care of your mental health You may experience increased stress during this pandemic. Fear and anxiety can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions.

Get immediate help in a crisis Call 911 Disaster Distress Helplineexternal icon: 1-800-985-5990 (press 2 for Spanish), or text TalkWithUs for English or Hablanos for Spanish to 66746. Spanish speakers from Puerto Rico can text Hablanos to 1-787-339-2663.

National Suicide Prevention Lifelineexternal icon: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for English, 1-888-628-9454 for Spanish, or Lifeline Crisis Chatexternal icon.

National Domestic Violence Hotlineexternal icon: 1-800-799-7233 or text LOVEIS to 22522 National Child Abuse Hotlineexternal icon: 1-800-4AChild (1-800-422-4453) or text 1-800-422-4453 National Sexual Assault Hotlineexternal icon: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or Online Chatexternal icon The Eldercare Locatorexternal icon: 1-800-677-1116 TTY Instructionsexternal icon Veteran’s Crisis Lineexternal icon: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or Crisis Chatexternal icon or text: 8388255 Find a health care provider or treatment for substance use disorder and mental health SAMHSA’s National Helplineexternal icon: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and TTY 1-800487-4889 Treatment Services Locator Websiteexternal icon Interactive Map of Selected Federally Qualified Health Centersexternal icon

I-76 & US 34 Resurfacing Project Update

kinnearinsurance@outlook.com

Edison Street (US Highway 34) through downtown Brush opened last week after a nineweek closure for major road work. The Colorado department of Transportation and the contractor team led by Martin Marietta were able to expedite work while the road was closed and eliminated at least two months of construction impacts in downtown Brush.

Four city blocks between Custer Street and Colorado Avenue were reconstructed from the subgrade up with new concrete. Drivers may notice a temporary driving surface on westbound Edison Street approaching Colorado Avenue. CDOT is working with a private utility to lower a gas line. Once the conflict is resolved, the contractor will place the final pavement while maintaining traffic on Edison Street. Intermittent lane closures are possible for several weeks for finishing work.

The work in downtown Brush is part of the Interstate 76 and US 34 resurfacing project. Since early April 2020, the contractor team has milled and paved back the right lanes of I-76 and all ramp connections in two separate work zones near Fort Morgan and Brush. Traffic is now on new pavement while work is underway in the left lane. Before paving started, repairs were made to several I-76 bridges. New guardrail and bridge railing are also part of the project. All 1-76 work is expected to be finished in 2020.

More than 40 curb ramps have been upgraded on US 34 in Fort Morgan and Brush.

Bridge repairs are complete at three locations. Martin Marietta has also started paving US 34 between Fort Morgan and Brush. Once 1-76 paving is complete, crews will move to US 34 between 1-76 and Acco Road in Fort Morgan to place an asphalt overlay.

CDOT notes that weekly construction updates are posted on the project website for each of the active work zones. Construction is weather-dependent, and the schedule is subject to change.

July 15, 2020

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Tucker Carlson: Kids Should go Back to School -- Guess Who is Opposed to that Simple Idea Who is Opposed to Opening Schools?

By Tucker Carlson | Fox News Tuesday, the president announced his support for opening the country›s schools this fall.

It seems like a pretty obvious position. But suddenly, it’s not.

Many people violently disagree with it for reasons that still are not clear, but definitely are not rational.

In any case, here’s part of what the president said Tuesday.

We hope that most schools are going to be open. We don’t want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons. They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed. No way.

So we’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools. To get them open and it’s very important. It’s very important for our country. It’s very important for the well-being of the student and the parents. So we’re going to be putting a lot of pressure on open the schools in the fall.

So kids should go to school. That’s the new position.

Now, you may have thought this was a debate that we settled conclusively in the 19th Century when we banned eight-year-olds from working in factories and sent them to school.

Parents are certainly on board with that. They want their kids back in the classroom in September. Every poll shows that.

Most kids and most teachers probably feel the same way.

So, who is opposed to opening schools? Take a guess. The teachers unions.

The teachers unions’ position on every question is always the same. They would like less work, no accountability, and much more pay.

At least one chapter, the American Federation of Teachers is planning to go on strike if they have to work this fall.

So many administrators and school districts have no choice but to obey their demands.

In Miami-Dade County in Florida -- that’s one of the country’s biggest school systems -- the superintendent has warned that his schools may have to stay closed in the fall.

ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I will not reopen our school system, August 24th if the conditions are what they are today. Our reopening plan contemplates a Phase 2 reality. We are still in Phase 1.

A Phase 1 that has degraded since over the past few weeks.

Many schools that do plan to reopen will do so under a series of restrictions that have no basis of any kind in science. It’s a kind of bizarre health theater.

Students will be kept six feet apart. Everyone will have to wear a mask. Class size will be limited. In some schools, there will be scheduled bathroom breaks, et cetera et cetera.

There won’t be any sports.

In Washington state, Education officials are considered letting students go back to school on the basis of their race. Non-white kids will get to go back first while white students will be ordered to stay home until the virus subsides.

Now you may have thought that plans like that were eliminated with the Brown vs.

Board of Education decision 65 years ago. But no, it’s all coming back.

The teachers unions tell us this is all about public health.

Tuesday, a union in Chicago retweeted this self-righteous little fortune cookie, “Educators would much rather be with our students in person. But our number one responsibility is to keep our students safe.”

That’s a lie.

There’s only one way for educators to keep their students safe right now and that’s to teach them in person by reopening schools.

Distance learning is not learning. This has been studied and we know it.

When Los Angeles schools checked the participation in distance learning, they found exactly what you’d expect them to find.

On any given day, fully a third of students never logged in at all.

Two-thirds of teachers report that students were less likely to complete assignments once they began so-called distance learning.

And according to one recent body of research, students who have been learning online, lose far more of their knowledge over the summer break than they typically do, and that’s saying a lot.

So no, distance learning is not a substitute for actual learning and you know that well if you have kids who’ve been trying it.

Parking a student in front of a computer screen is not a substitute for a classroom.

There’s a lot at stake in this debate, more than just the accumulation of knowledge, more than just education. Two weeks ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics -- they’re not educators, they are pediatricians -- strongly recommended reopening schools in the fall.

Why? Because they know that keeping children at home isolates them and increases the risk of depression and suicide.

It also prevents teachers from noticing and reporting physical and sexual abuse of children, abuse that is almost certainly more frequent for kids who can’t leave home.

So for children, the risk of staying locked at home are high. The risks from the coronavirus by contrast are not high.

The virus is deadly to the very old and to those who are already sick, we know that.

But to children and the vast majority of young and middle-aged adults and the vast majority of teachers, it poses virtually zero threat.

For children, it is far less deadly than the seasonal flu. In fact, if lockdowns caused

just a one percent increase in teenage suicides, which is entirely possible, they will constitute a higher death toll than all coronavirus deaths among high schoolers nationwide so far.

And in fact, we have good reason to believe lockdowns have boosted suicides, far more than one percent. The numbers are not in completely, but the numbers we have so far are horrifying. Nor are children significant risk to adults. They do not generally spread the virus to others.

A Swiss study found that among infected children, viral loads were very low and that made it difficult for them to spread the disease. Children are much more likely to get the virus from their parents than the other way around.

Other countries realized this because the data are in and they believe in science, unlike our leaders.

In Germany, in early May, four major medical associations all called for the immediate reopening of that country’s schools and daycare centers. They called for reopening without restrictions. -- No dividing children into small groups, no masks, no social distancing, no scheduled bathroom breaks, no health theater.

Adult countries don’t act that way. In Australia, the country’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, a man called Nick Coatsworth, published an open letter to the public in May making the very same point, “COVID-19 is not the flu. Far fewer children are affected by COVID-19 than by the flu. And the number of transmissions from children to children and children to adults is far less than the flu.

“As an infectious disease expert, I’ve examined all of the available evidence from within Australia and around the world, and as it stands, it does not support avoiding classroom learning as a means to control COVID- 19.”

It couldn’t be more conclusive, and doctors around the world agree with it. Sweden never closed primary schools at all. It didn’t close daycares, either. The coronavirus outbreak in Sweden, despite what you have heard, has been no worse than ours here. The numbers show that.

Austria, Finland, Norway, Singapore have all reopened their schools and none of those countries have seen an explosion of cases linked to schools.

In Denmark, schools have been open since late April. Masks have not been required. But the number of infected children has not grown, in fact, it has steadily declined.

None of this is opinion. None of it is political. All of it is actual science and there’s an overwhelming amount of that science. It accumulates daily.

Coronavirus is not deadly to children. Sending children to school will not spread coronavirus. Keeping children at home hurts children and hurts everyone else.

Schools must open. It’s that simple.

Nothing affects the life of an ordinary family more than questions of where to go to school and when. Without schools returning to normal in the fall, millions of American parents will not be able to work, even as we descend into recession.

Millions will be ordered to work two jobs -- their own job and the job that teachers are refusing to do while still getting paid by the rest of us.

Yet, instead of sympathizing with the plight of suffering American families, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, rejoices at the prospect.

According to Weingarten, employers must adjust work schedules to accommodate the leisure time of her members.

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: A lot of employers would then actually follow what the school’s people are doing and will adjust schedules because there shouldn’t be a difference there -- we should never be pitting parents against teachers or kids needs against parents needs to work and I think that employers would be very open to it.

So what you just saw is lunacy. None of this is rational. It is hysteria. And of course, it’s political, too.

$3,535.00 $2,183.00

8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

$15.00

$1.04 per gallon will call or route

Page 6

Lost Creek Guide

July 15, 2020

Trump, in Push to Reopen Schools Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Vows ‘Pressure’ on Governors ‘I don’t consider our country coming back if the schools are closed,’ the president said

By Morgan Phillips | Fox News President Trump says politics shouldn’t impact schools reopening Trump administration officials make the case that the risk of re-opening outweighs the benefits of keeping children home; Kristin Fisher reports from the White House.

President Trump, at a White House event Tuesday with first lady Melania Trump, said his administration would “very much put pressure” on governors to reopen their states’ schools in the fall amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“We don’t want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons, they think it’s gonna be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed, no way,” Trump said after noting that the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced plans to reopen schools in that state starting in August. “So, we are very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.”

“Our country has got to get back, and it’s got to get back as soon as possible, and I don’t consider our country coming back if the schools are closed,” the president added. “Everybody wants it, the moms want it, the dads want it, the kids want it.”

He said that the COVID-19 death rate was down “ten-fold” thanks to promising therapeutics. “We will put out the fires as they come up but we have to open up our schools,” Trump said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar added that the U.S. mortality rate for coronavirus was “among the lowest if not the lowest in the developed world.”

Video “We have the tools to reopen schools,” Azar added. “We’re at a very different place now than when we were 2 or 3 months ago.”

Trump pointed to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which was represented at the event and repeatedly has urged officials to let students be physically present at school.

“After weighing what we know about children and the coronavirus, we really strongly advocate that the goal should be to have students physically present in the school,” AAP President Dr. Sara Goza told “The Daily Briefing” Monday.

The AAP has publicly advised, “all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”

Trump then pointed to New Jersey, hard-hit by the pandemic, where only one child under the age of 18 was said to have died from COVID-19.

After hearing from a number of university officials who planned to bring students back to campus in the fall, Trump said: “The computer will never replace the campus. They thought it would for a time but it didn›t.”

Melania Trump added that schools were vital for social, emotional and physical health.

“Many challenges for children and families can be just as invisible as the virus, and just as dangerous,” she said. The first lady noted children with disabilities, those without access to technology and unsafe homes may be suffering worse consequences than those of the pandemic.

Vice President Mike Pence said that there was “no substitute” for in-person learning, adding that some 7 million children have suffered from mental or emotional disturbances and principally received care from health and mental services at school.

Adviser to the president Kellyanne Conway said the hallmark of the Trump administration was the “wellbeing of the forgotten child.”

She added, “The digital divide was laid bare in the so many of our students could not access digital access.”

The White House adviser said she had a “soft spot” for single moms, having been raised by one, and the outsized effect school closures had on them, trying to juggle working,

teaching and child care. “We’ve created a pandemic within a pandemic,” Conway said.

A number of other parents, students and teachers shared their thoughts on the necessity of schools being open for in-person learning in the fall. “Reopening schools is the number one thing we can do to stabilize society,” said Jenny Beth Martin, a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots and a single mother.

Trump had said Monday that Joe Biden and Democrats did not want to reopen schools, and he blamed it on “political reasons.”

“Corrupt Joe Biden and the Democrats don’t want to open schools in the Fall for political reasons, not for health reasons!” he later added. “They think it will help them in November. Wrong, the people get it!”

A campaign official told Fox News that Biden “of course” hoped students could return to school in the fall, but was urging officials making those decisions to keep in line with recommendations from public-health experts.

The Biden campaign, last month, rolled out its plan to reopen schools in the fall amid the pandemic, which it said could be “the single most important step to get parents back to work” and proposed several safety measures that would need to be in place upon students returning to the classroom.

When asked whether Biden supported sending students back to school in the fall, a Biden campaign official told Fox News: “Of course he does. That’s why he’s been making these proposals and pressing Trump to act.”

The official added: “But we need to ensure we can do it safely, in line with the recommendations of public health experts, and Trump keeps failing us on that score.”

And, after a testy exchange with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., himself a doctor, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing last week, the two seemed to find themselves in agreement over the need for children to be present in schools.

“I feel very strongly we need to do whatever we can to get the children back to school. I think we are in lock agreement with that,” Fauci said when Paul asked for “certitude” on whether schools should reopen.

“For a time, there may have not been enough information about coronavirus in children, but now there are examples from all across the United States and the world that show young children rarely spread the virus,” the Kentucky senator said. He added that 22 countries have reopened their schools and seen “no discernible increase in cases.”

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

CDOT Asks Motorists to Plan for I-70 Ramp Closures in Vail Next Week

EAGLE COUNTY - On Monday, crews will begin on and off-ramp closures for the resurfacing project on I-70 in Vail. Closures will take place throughout next week at exits 173, 176 and 180. The closures will allow the Colorado Department of Transportation and contract partner Elam Construction to install guardrails. During the on and off-ramp closures, portable message boards will direct motorists to use neighboring on or off-ramps, so that drivers can access I-70 or arrive at their destination.

Motorists can expect the following ramp closures on I-70 during nighttime hours, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

• Monday 7/13 - Exit 173 westbound off-ramp • Tuesday 7/14 - Exit 180 westbound off and on-ramp • Tuesday 7/14 - Exit 176 westbound off-ramp • Wednesday 7/15 - Exit 176 westbound off and on-ramp • Wednesday 7/15 - Exit 180 eastbound on-ramp • Thursday 7/16 - Exit 173 westbound off and on-ramp • Thursday 7/16 - Exit 176 eastbound off-ramp Motorists can also expect east and westbound single lane closures, 10-15 minute delays, and minor detours on the bike path. Hours of operation are Sunday through Thursday, from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., and Monday through Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

As part of CDOT’s Whole System — Whole Safety initiative, the new guardrail will be 31” high instead of 27” high, to help vehicles remain on the road. These improvements will make the highway safer for the traveling public. Additional work will include: bridgedeck repairs, hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay, rumble strip installation, striping, drainage improvements, sign installation and erosion control.

STAY INFORMED More information is available at: • Project hotline: (970) 456-1361 • Project email: highwayoverlay@gmail.com • Project website: https://www.codot.gov/projects/i70-vaileasttowestresurfacing Travelers are urged to “know before you go.” Gather information about weather forecasts and anticipated travel impacts and current road conditions prior to hitting the road.

CDOT resources include: • Road conditions and travel information: www.COtrip.org • Sign up for project or travel alerts: bit.ly/COalerts • See scheduled lane closures: codot.gov/travel/scheduled-lane-closures.html • Connect with us on social media: Twitter @coloradodot and Facebook facebook. com/coloradodot.

REMEMBER: SLOW FOR THE CONE ZONE The following tips are to help you stay safe while traveling through maintenance and construction work zones.

• Do not speed in work zones. Obey the posted speed limits.

• Stay Alert! Expect the unexpected.

• Watch for workers. Drive with caution.

• Expect delays, especially during peak travel times.

• Allow ample space between you and the car in front of you.

• Anticipate lane shifts and merge when directed to do so.

• Avoid using mobile devices such as phones while driving in work zones.

• Turn on headlights so that workers and other drivers can see you.

• Be especially alert at night while driving in work zones.

• Be patient!

July 15, 2020

Page 7

Lost Creek Guide

Supreme Court’s Espinoza Ruling Good News for School Choice Advocates in Colorado

By Sherrie Peif DENVER — A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday settled a more than century-old fight over school choice and religious liberty and could impact the future of private school choice programs in Colorado.

In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue that by denying parents the ability to use tax-credit scholarships to send their kids to private, religious schools of their choice, the state was in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, saying in part that the clause “protects religious observers against unequal treatment” and protects against “laws that impose special disabilities on the basis of religious status.” .

The lawsuit, which reached the high court earlier this year, was initially brought by a single mother in Montana, Kendra Espinoza, who wanted to take advantage of a scholarship program passed in that state that would help her cover the cost of a private education for her daughters.

Despite Montana lawmakers intending the scholarship to be available to all students, officials at the state’s department of revenue would not allow Espinoza to use it on a religious school, citing what is known as the “Blaine Amendment,” in force in Montana’s state constitution. Some form of Blaine language, named for Rep. James Blaine, a Maine legislator from the late 1800s who tried to pass federal legislation prohibiting public funding from being used in “sectarian” schools, is found in 36 other state constitutions, including Colorado’s.

Today, most teachers’ unions, the American Civil Liberties Union and others still support Blaine Amendments, claiming they protect public funds from being used for religious indoctrination.

But according to constitutional scholar Rob Natelson of the Denver-based Independence Institute*, the amendments were the result of religious bigotry of the times, intended to discriminate against some religions, but in favor of others. “Anti-sectarian clauses were designed to permit public money to flow to Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian schools while denying it to Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, and Catholic schools,” wrote Natelson in a Complete Colorado opinion piece earlier this year.

The basis behind the Montana lawsuit, however, was not to advance religious teachings in school. Espinoza’s argument was that she best knew what the right educational fit was for her children. Those supporting Espinoza agreed, with many amicus, or “friends of the court” briefs arguing that parents possess a constitutional right to choose their children’s education.

The high court agreed.

“This Court held (in previous decisions) that disqualifying otherwise eligible recipients from a public benefit ‘solely because of their religious character’ imposes ‘a penalty on the free exercise of religion that triggers the most exacting scrutiny,’” the ruling read in part. “Here, the application of Montana’s no-aid provision excludes religious schools from public benefits solely because of religious status. As a result, strict scrutiny applies.”

In his concurring opinion, which repeatedly cited an Independence Institute amicus brief co-authored by Natelson and fellow constitutional scholar David Kopel, Justice Samuel Alito wrote: “The tax-credit program adopted by the Montana Legislature but overturned by the Montana Supreme Court provided necessary aid for parents who pay taxes to support the public schools but who disagree with the teaching there. The program helped parents of modest means do what more affluent parents can do: send their children to a school of their choice.”

Ross Izard, the national director of public policy for ACE Scholarships in Denver said the ruling is a huge victory for school choice advocates in Colorado, both legally and politically.

ACE reports serving almost 1,000 kids in Montana through its privately funded scholarship-granting program.

Izard, who was heavily involved in the battle for the Choice Scholarship Program in Douglas County, said this ruling would have played a major role in the implementation of that program had it gone forward.

The Choice Scholarship Program would have provided state funding to up to 500 families for private education, including religious schools. However, an anti-school choice slate of school board candidates that were elected in 2017 put the skids on that program — which was working its way through the courts — almost immediately after taking office.

“It would be hard to make an argument, now, that school districts would be allowed to bar faith-based schools from participation or to tell parents they couldn’t select a faithbased school from a legal perspective,” Izard said.

From the political angle, however, Izard said the ruling doesn’t change much in Colorado’s current climate. The ruling doesn’t require states or school districts to implement scholarships or voucher programs for private schools, it just stipulates if they do, they cannot exclude religious schools from the program, Izard said “The Supreme Court said that legislatures (or individual school districts) can basically decide to have school choice programs or to not have school choice programs,” Izard said.

“That’s a policy discussion. But any school choice program that is passed by an elected body is going to have to ascribe to this ruling because it was a First Amendment ruling.”

He added the work is nowhere near done.

“People need to be careful,” Izard said. “It’s a huge victory, and we should absolutely celebrate. But I want people to be careful about thinking this is the end of road. There are still an awful lot of kids who still need help, who need better educational opportunities, and those fights are still out there. We are still going to have to have those conversations legislatively. This stage removes an impediment; it removes a barrier, but it doesn’t guarantee those kids are going to get what they need. That’s a different conversation. And we have to be willing to show up for that fight when the time comes. *Independence Institute is the publisher of Complete Colorado.

ELAINE L. HALLIGAN-SHELTON is Celebrating 100 Years on Her Birthday, July 15, 2020.

Elaine raised her family of three girls with Ray Shelton, her husband of 70 years, on an irrigated farm in Kiowa Creek located 9 miles east of Prospect Valley. Elaine and Ray later moved to Brighton and Elaine worked for Fitsimmons Army Medical Center. Elaine graduated Wiggins High School in 1938 and sold Avon products door to door for over 60 years. Elaine loves receiving cards, so while she can’t have a party due to the COVID virus, her family thanks everyone who can send a card or personal note to: Elaine Shelton, GARDENS AT QUAIL, 6447 Quail St. Room 205, Arvada Co 80004.

Calls may be made to Anne Rumley, her daughter, at 303-425-4362.

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Page 8

Lost Creek Guide

2020 Weld County Fair Board Presidents Letter To the Friends and Family of the Weld County Fair

I am excited to announce that the 2020 Weld County Fair will proceed. With the uncertain times that lie ahead, the Weld County Fair Board has adopted a resolution to hold the 2020 Weld County Fair, but as a limited event. The fair board has been working closely with the County Commissioners and other county agencies to ensure this year’s fair will be able to function within the state and federal guidelines that have been set forth.

With the full support of the Weld County Commissioners, the Weld County Fair Board has adopted the following resolution: The 2020 Weld County Fair will be closed to the public.

The 2020 Weld County Fair will not allow any vendors or entertainment.

The 2020 Weld County Fair will only host 4-H and FFA competitive events (no open shows).

The 2020 Weld County Fair will have a livestock sale.

We will see many changes this year and most of those changes will be temporary. The fair board will now rely on the different fair committees to enact these changes, applying them to the fair as a whole. There will be many correspondences over the next several weeks as changes are set, and protocol is established. Please look to your 4-H leaders for information as we move forward.

I thank each and every one of you for your patience and look forward to seeing all of you at the 2020 Weld County Fair!

Sincerely, Elijah Hatch, President 2020 Weld County Fair Board

CDOT Launches New Seat Belt Campaign to Coincide with Click It or Ticket Enforcement Beginning July 12 STATEWIDE — Starting Sunday, July 12, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) and local law enforcement agencies statewide will begin a weeklong Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement period.

The summer enforcement period also marks the launch of CDOT’s latest seat belt safety campaign, Common Bond. The campaign features a variety of contrasting images to underscore that, even though Coloradans hold passionate opinions and may not agree on everything, we can all get behind seat belts. The Common Bond campaign underscores that despite our differences, the majority of Coloradans do buckle up.

As a state, Colorado’s seat belt use rate currently sits at 88% — slightly below the national average of 90%.

CDOT’s campaign is featured on billboards, posters, bus tails, social media, and radio PSAs. To view campaign materials, visit: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c1bu6ktdw79jkoa/AADcw32hHrh1OHNV26mCSWKga?dl=0

July 15, 2020

July 15, 2020

Lost Creek Guide

Grow your abilities with the Certified Gardener Program

Are you a green thumb? Happiest while knee-deep in dirt? Enjoy planting and watching things grow? Based on the Colorado Master GardenerSM curriculum, the Certified Gardener Program is your opportunity to learn the latest gardening techniques and become an authority for sharing your gardening know-how.

Start learning today. No application required.

Take online gardening classes anytime, anywhere While the program is based on content similar to a traditional master gardener program, online courses give you more flexibility to learn only what you want to learn, on your own schedule. You have the option to take courses individually, register for a “bundle” of courses on related topics, or complete the full program and earn a mastery badge. No matter if you are a backyard gardener, interested in learning more about landscaping, pruning, and home composting, or are a green industry professional, these online gardening classes can be tailored to help you meet your goals.

By taking this program, you will be able to: Provide knowledge-based information to help gardeners protect and enhance their home landscape.

Use gardening therapy as a tool to develop individuals, strengthen families, and build communities.

Share ideas and build relationships with other students throughout the country in an online learning community.

Illustrate your expertise and competencies through the use of digital badges.

Digital badges illustrate expertise The Certified Gardener Program from CSU Extension is one of the first programs at Colorado State University to award digital badges upon completion of noncredit courses. Once you earn them, you can share badges on your resume, website, e-portfolio, and on social media to illustrate for others the skills you have learned.

Learn more about digital badges, how they work, and what programs CSU currently offers.

Page 9

-ObituariesANITA MARIE ORR

Anita passed peacefully away on April 5, 2020 at the age of 82. She was born in Holdrege, NE to Fay and Lucia Myers. Anita spent her childhood in Bertrand, NE, Laramie, WY, Denver and Lakewood CO, and Wheatland, WY. While in Wheatland, Anita and her sisters had 2 memorable years at a lumber camp. The lumber camp burnt down from a lightning strike, so the family moved back to Lakewood, CO. Anita and her 3 sisters enjoyed many family activities like camping, fishing, picnics and concerts at Cheeseman Park. Anita and her sisters loved singing together while their mom Lucia played the piano. Anita usually sang alto.

While in Lakewood, Anita met her husband, Virgil Orr, who was at the time stationed at Lowry AFB. Anita and Virgil loved being involved in the young adult activities at their church, such as ice skating at Evergreen Lake. On January 1, 1957, they were married at Edgewater Baptist Church. Anita and Virgil began their life together in Lakewood where they had their three children- Sharon, Kenny and Lori. They then moved to Minnesota and added to their family David. After a couple years in Minnesota, they returned to Lakewood. They then moved to the Kremmling area to work at a boys ranch. After a couple of years they moved to Keenesburg, CO, where they lived 40+ years. While in Keenesburg, Anita worked at Prospect Elementary School in the cafeteria, then at Citizens State Bank, where she retired.

Anita loved to travel and experience new adventures. Her laugh was contagious and she loved her family deeply. Her love, faith, and commitment to God and her family were paramount to her. Her last years were spent in Brighton at Inglenook memory care facility, where the staff and many residents became part of her family. Even with dementia, she had a way to make others smile with her laugh. God used Anita, until He took her home, to spread joy to all she met.

She is preceded in death by her husband Virgil Orr, her son Kenneth (Kathy) Orr, and her sister Barbara Kilgroe. She is survived by her children Sharon (Bill) Akins, Lori (Hugo) Rodriguez, and David (Kim) Orr, and her sisters Shirley Jerome and Wanda Colm.

Anita has 8 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

Anita will be interred at Fort Logan National Cemetery with her husband Virgil.

A Celebration of Life will take place on Sunday, July 26, 2020 at 1:00pm at Schey Park located in Keenesburg. (201 Elm St, Keenesburg, CO 80643).

Services handled by Tabor-Rice Funeral Home, Brighton, Colorado. Visit TaborFuneralHome.com to share memories and condolences.

Certified Gardener From CSU Extension

Overview

Tuition

Are you a green thumb? Happiest while knee-deep in dirt? Enjoy planting and watching things grow? Based on the Colorado Master GardenerSM curriculum, the Certified Gardener Program is your opportunity to learn the latest gardening techniques and become an authority for sharing your gardening know-how.

Full Program – $654

While the program is based on content similar to a traditional master gardener program, online courses give you more flexibility to learn only what you want to learn, on your own schedule. You have the option to take courses individually, register for a “bundle” of courses on related topics, or complete the full program and earn a mastery badge. No matter if you are a backyard gardener, interested in learning more about landscaping, pruning, and home composting, or are a green industry professional, these online gardening classes can be tailored to help you meet your goals.

As a student in the program, you will be able to: • Provide knowledge-based information to help gardeners protect and enhance their home landscape • Use gardening therapy as a tool to develop individuals, strengthen families, and build communities • Share ideas and build relationships with other students throughout the country in an online learning community • Illustrate your expertise and competencies through the use of digital badges

Digital badges illustrate expertise The Certified Gardener Program from CSU Extension is one of the first programs at Colorado State University to award digital badges upon completion of noncredit courses. Once you earn them, you can share badges on your resume, website, e-portfolio, and on social media to illustrate for others the skills you have learned.

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Contact Outreach_Team@colostate.edu (970) 491-2131

July 22nd 6-8:30 pm HUDSON MEMORIAL PARK Let’s Have Some Fun! This is a great time to celebrate summer by participating in a fantastic Corn-Hole Tournament!

Come and connect with the South East Weld Chamber of Commerce! Teams can compete as businesses, couples, Chambers and any other sort of configuration! Just make sure you are ready for a great time outside and that your throwing arms are ready! Register today!

ENTRANCE FEES CHAMBER MEMBER $10 PER TEAM NONCHAMBER $20 PER TEAM FOOD AND

To Register, email: WATER/POP SEWCSec@outlook.com Or call WILL 720-607-7429 BE AVAILABLE Or 303-229-7117

Page 10

Lost Creek Guide

July 15, 2020

Cuomo, de Blasio Wrong to Limit Worship Services, Condone Mass Protests: Federal Judge New York Gov. coronavirus orders unfairly targeted houses of worship, federal judge says.

By Caleb Parke | Fox News A federal judge said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “exceeded” their executive limits by limiting worship services and condoning mass protests as the state continues to reopen from coronavirus restrictions.

U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe issued a preliminary injunction Friday on behalf of two Catholic priests -- Steven Soos and Nicholas Stamos -- and a trio of Orthodox Jewish congregants -- Elchanan Perr, Daniel Schonborn, and Mayer Mayerfeld -- in Brooklyn, represented by the Thomas More Society.

They filed the suit in the Northern District of New York after mass protests and looting occurred in the Big Apple following George Floyd’s police-related death in May. De Blasio had “simultaneous pro-protest/ anti-religious gathering messages” when he “actively encouraged participation in protests and openly discouraged religious gatherings and threatened religious worshipers,” Sharpe said in his federal order.

“Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio could have just as easily discouraged protests, short of condemning their message, in the name of public health and exercised discretion to suspend enforcement for public safety reasons instead of encouraging what they knew was a flagrant disregard of the outdoor limits and social distancing rules,” the judge added. “They could have also been silent. But by acting as they did, Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio sent a clear message that mass protests are deserving of preferential treatment.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo were sued by Catholic priests and Orthodox Jewish congregants for using coronavirus restrictions to discriminate against people of faith. (AP) Thomas More Society Special Counsel Christopher Ferrara celebrated the decision and called Cuomo’s executive orders a “sham” that “went right out the window as soon as he and Mayor de Blasio saw a mass protest movement they favored taking to the streets by the thousands.”

“Suddenly, the limit on ‘mass gatherings’ was no longer necessary to ‘save lives,’” Ferrara said in a statement to Fox News. “Yet they were continuing to ban high school graduations and other outdoor gatherings exceeding a mere 25 people.”

He added, “This decision is an important step toward inhibiting the suddenly emerging trend of exercising absolute monarchy on [the] pretext of public health. What this kind of regime really meant in practice is freedom for me, but not for thee.”

As a result of the federal order, Cuomo, James, and de Blasio are “enjoined and restrained from enforcing any indoor gathering limitations” against the involved houses of worship “greater than imposed for Phase 2 industries,” provided that participants follow the prescribed social distancing.

They are also forbidden from “enforcing any limitation for outdoor gatherings provided that participants in such gatherings follow social distancing requirements as set forth in the applicable executive orders and guidance.”

In his decision, Sharpe notes the limits placed on houses of worship by the New York leaders: Still limiting houses of worship to 25 percent indoor capacity during Phases 2 and 3 and a 25 person outdoor gathering limit in Phase 3 locations, and a 10-person gathering limit in Phase 1 and 2, while allowing mass protests and other numbers for businesses and 150-person outdoor graduation ceremonies.

Among many violations cited in the lawsuit, Thomas More points out de Blasio ig-

nored social distancing and the 10-person limit when he didn’t wear a face mask on June 4 while attending and addressing a mass political gathering at New York City’s Cadman Plaza. Days later, in Williamsburg, Hasidic Jewish children were kicked out of a park by a police officer enforcing Cuomo and de Blasio’s 10-person limit on “non-essential gatherings.”

In April, de Blasio threatened the Jewish community -- which had a string of attacks this past winter -- with arrests and prosecutions for “illegal” mass religious gatherings after police in Williamsburg broke up the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Mertz.

“My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed,” de Blasio wrote in a tweet. “I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.”

He was forced to apologize for targeting the Jewish community as a whole but doubled down on his remarks, calling it “tough love.”

Caldara: The Woke Mob’s ‘Reign of Terror’ Moment

By Jon Caldara During the French Revolution’s “Reign of Terror,” those accused of not being true enough to the cause were publicly beheaded. To unify the Communist Party in Russia, the Stalinist purges did much the same. Mao used the equivalent tactic with his Cultural Revolution.

It’s a tried and true technique.

People who didn’t want to get swept up in these eradications learned quickly to not just embrace the political philosophies championed by the new power structure, but to chant the new mantras louder than the person next to them. This way they can show they’ve always been on the winner’s team, and hopefully not be beheaded.

Take three minutes and watch “Crying for Kim Jong-il” on YouTube to witness this lifesaving phenomenon. North Koreans take turns in front of the Great Leader’s monument to wail and bellow in grief over his recent death, each louder and more hysterical than the last. It’s a competition to see who acts the most hurt over his demise.

Looked very much like the city of Boulder when Jerry Garcia died.

Of course, this competition of staged sorrow was to prove how faithful one is to those in charge. They aren’t crying over Kim’s death. They’re crying to save their own lives. And who can blame them?

Is corporate America’s public self-flogging over Black Lives Matter all that different?

My point is not to say that Black lives don’t matter. They most certainly do. Nor is it to say we shouldn’t be having a “conversation,” the worn-out code word for demanding progressive policy change. We’re having it.

My point is that, like those showboating over Kim Jong-il’s death, companies are rushing to prove their #BLM credibility for fear of being targeted by the identity-politics police who can take them out.

Radio stations are playing Black Lives Matters promos between songs. When you turn on streaming services like Netflix and Amazon, they hit you immediately with their library of white-guilt, Hollywood morality flicks, front and center.

HBO Max pulled “Gone with the Wind” from their online catalog then replaced it after complaints, but only after putting a 4-minute-long PC warning in front of it. TV commercials from soap to cars must include #BLM messaging.

These companies know they must be more than just reverent over this social moment.

They must prove they have ALWAYS been loudly supportive of the BLM movement, in the right way, long before their competitors.

What would happen if you are two minutes too late in paying homage to #BLM or begging forgiveness for not being sensitive enough, soon enough?

Like Patrick Harrington, you could be forced out of business.

Harrington is the owner of Kindness Yoga, what used to be one of the most popular yoga studio chains in Denver. Kindness, as its name denotes, did all the things a socially-conscious, groovy, man-bun-ish place is supposed to do. Gender-neutral bathrooms.

LGTBQ yoga sessions. Even no-whites-allowed sessions, where “white friends and allies” were asked to “respectfully refrain from attending.”

Harrington’s sin? He didn’t flog himself for his white privilege soon or hard enough in the right way. Oh, he made social media posts supporting BLM, but the tone seemed staged to a couple of his yoga instructors, a black woman and a transgendered man.

After their social media campaign targeted Kindness Yoga, claiming Harrington’s support of minority causes was “performative activism” and “tokenism,” he was forced to close his nine locations, permanently.

According to a Colorado Sun report, the offended black yoga teacher asked her 4,520 Instragram followers to continue calling out not just Kindness but other yoga studios. “This is a rallying cry for every white-owned yoga studio to step the (expletive) up and be better.” She provided Harrington’s email and phone number and requested that people cancel their memberships and tell Harrington to “provide reparations” to his minority teachers.

If only Harrington had the public relation teams that big corporations can afford to handle his whiteness in an acceptably groveling manner, maybe his 160 employees would still have jobs today.

There’s a handmade sign in my neighbor’s yard. “White silence = violence.”

How true. But not in the way my neighbor thinks.

The violence is economic violence against white-owned companies who don’t loudly prostrate themselves in the preferred manner during this little version of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror.

Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver

July 15, 2020

Lost Creek Guide

Page 11

Covid-19 Cases are Rising, but Deaths are Falling. What’s Going On? By the time coronavirus deaths start rising again, it’s already too late.

By Dylan Scott@dylanlscottdylan.scott@vox.com Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are rising in places like Houston, Texas, where hospitals warn they are at risk of being overwhelmed by new patients. Mark Felix/ AFP/Getty Images There is something confounding about the US’s new coronavirus spikes: Cases are rising, but the country is seeing its lowest death counts since the pandemic first exploded.

The numbers are genuinely strange to the naked eye: On July 3, the US reported 56,567 new Covid-19 cases, a record high. On the same day, 589 new deaths were reported, continuing a long and gradual decline. We haven’t seen numbers that low since the end of March.

When laypeople observe those contradictory trends, they might naturally have a followup question: If deaths are not increasing along with cases, then why can’t we keep reopening? The lockdowns took an extraordinary toll of their own, after all, in money and mental health and some lives. If we could reopen the economy without the loss of life we saw in April and May, then why shouldn’t we?

I posed that very question to more than a dozen public health experts. All of them cautioned against complacency: This many cases mean many more deaths are probably in our future. And even if deaths don’t increase to the same levels seen in April and May, there are still some very serious possible health consequences if you contract Covid-19.

The novel coronavirus, SARS-Cov-2, is a maddeningly slow-moving pathogen — until it’s not. The sinking death rates reflect the state of the pandemic a month or more ago, experts say, when the original hot spots had been contained and other states had only just begun to open up restaurants and other businesses.

That means it could still be another few weeks before we really start to see the consequences, in lives lost, of the recent spikes in cases. And in the meantime, the virus is continuing to spread. By the time the death numbers show the crisis is here, it will already be too late. Difficult weeks will lie ahead.

Even if death rates stay low in the near term, that doesn’t mean the risk of Covid-19 has evaporated. Thousands of Americans being hospitalized in the past few weeks with a disease that makes it hard to breathe is not a time to declare victory. Young people, who account for a bigger share of the recent cases, aren’t at nearly as high a risk of dying from the virus, but some small number of them will still die and a larger number will end up in the hospital. Early research also suggests that people infected with the coronavirus experience lung damage and other long-term complications that could lead to health problems down the road, even if they don’t experience particularly bad symptoms during their illness.

And as long as the virus is spreading in the community, there is an increased risk that it will find its way to the more vulnerable populations.

“More infected people means faster spread throughout society,” Kumi Smith, who studies infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota, told me. “And the more this virus spreads the more likely it is to eventually reach and infect someone who may die or be severely harmed by it.”

This presents a communications challenge. Sadly, as Smith put it, “please abstain from things you like to benefit others in ways that you may not be able to see or feel” is not an easy message for people to accept after three-plus months in relative isolation.

But perhaps the bigger problem is the reluctance of our government to take the steps necessary to control the disease. Experts warned months ago that if states were too quick to relax their social distancing policies, without the necessary capacity for more testing or contact tracing, new outbreaks would flare up and be difficult to contain.

That’s exactly what happened — and now states are scrambling to reimpose some restrictions. Unless the US gets smarter about its coronavirus response, the country seems doomed to repeat this cycle over and over again.

Why Covid-19 deaths aren’t rising along with cases — yet

The contradiction between these two curves — case numbers sloping upward, death counts downward — is the primary reason some people are agitating to accelerate, not slow down, reopening in the face of these new coronavirus spikes.

The most important thing to understand is that this is actually to be expected. There is a long lag — as long as six weeks, experts told me — between when a person gets infected and when their death would be reported in the official tally.

“Why aren’t today’s deaths trending in the same way today’s cases are trending? That’s completely not the way to think about it,” Eleanor Murray, an epidemiologist at Boston University, told me. “Today’s cases represent infections that probably happened a week or two ago. Today’s deaths represent cases that were diagnosed possibly up to a month ago, so infections that were up to six weeks ago or more.”

“Some people do get infected and die quickly, but the majority of people who die, it takes a while,” Murray continued. “It’s not a matter of a one-week lag between cases and deaths. We expect something more on the order of a four-, five-, six-week lag.”

As Whet Moser wrote for the Covid Tracking Project last week, the recent spikes in case counts really took off around June 18 and 19. So we would not expect them to show up in the death data yet.

“Hospitalizations and deaths are both lagging indicators, because it takes time to progress through the course of illness,” Caitlin Rivers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told me late last week. “The recent surge started around two weeks ago, so it’s too soon to be confident that we won’t see an uptick in hospitalizations and deaths.”

The national numbers can also obscure local trends. According to the Covid Tracking Project, hospitalizations are spiking in the South and West, but, at the same time, they are dropping precipitously in the Northeast, the initial epicenter of the US outbreak.

Covid Tracking Project And a similar regional shift in deaths may be underway, though it will take longer to reveal itself because the death numbers lag behind both cases and hospitalizations. But even now, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia have seen an uptick in their average daily deaths, according to Covid Exit Strategy, while Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York have experienced a notable decline.

There are some reasons to be optimistic we will not see deaths accelerate to the same extent that cases are. For one, clinicians have identified treatments like remdesivir and dexamethasone that, respectively, appear to reduce people’s time in the hospital and their risk of dying if they are put on a ventilator.

The new infections are also, for now, skewing more toward younger people, who are at a much lower risk of dying of Covid-19 compared to older people. But that is not the case for complacency that it might superficially appear to be.

Younger people are less at risk from Covid-19 — but their risk isn’t zero For starters, younger people can die of Covid-19. About 3,000 people under the age of 45 have died from the coronavirus, according to the CDC’s statistics (which notably have a lower overall death count than other independent sources that rely on state data). That is a small percentage of the 130,000 and counting overall Covid-19 deaths in the US. But it does happen.

Moreover, younger people can also develop serious enough symptoms that they end up having to be hospitalized with the disease. Again, their risk is meaningfully lower than that of older people, but that doesn’t mean it’s zero.

There can also be adverse outcomes that are not hospitalization or death. Illness is not a zero-sum game. A recent study published in Nature found that even asymptomatic Covid-19 patients showed abnormal lung scans. As Lois Parshley has documented for Vox, some people who recover from Covid-19 still report health problems for weeks after their initial sickness. Potential long-term issues include lung scarring, blood clotting and stroke, heart damage, and cognitive challenges.

In short, surviving Covid-19, even with relatively mild symptoms, does not mean a person simply reverts to normal.

Cont. on Page 12, See Covid Cases

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July 15, 2020

Covid-19 Cases are Rising, but Deaths are Falling. What’s Going On?

Cont. from Page 11 This is a new disease, and we are still learning the full extent of its effects on the human body.

But even if we recognize that young people face less of a threat directly from the coronavirus, there is still a big reason to worry if the virus is spreading in that population: It could very easily make the leap from less vulnerable people to those who are much more at risk of serious complications or death.

The coronavirus could easily jump from younger people to the more vulnerable One response to the above set of facts might be: “Well, we should just isolate the old and the sick, while the rest of us go on with our lives.” That might sound good in theory (if you’re not older or immunocompromised yourself), but it is much more difficult in practice.

“The fact is that we live in communities that are all mixed up with each other. That’s the concern,” Natalie Dean, a biostatistics professor at the University of Florida, says. “It’s not like there’s some nice neat demarcation: you’re at high risk, you’re at low risk.”

The numbers in Florida are telling. At first, in late May and into early June, new infections accelerated among the under-45 cohort. But after a lag of a week or so, new cases also started to pick up among the over-45 (i.e., more at-risk) population.

“The rise in older adults is trailing behind, but it is starting to go up,” Dean said.

Anecdotally, nursing homes in Arizona and Texas — the two states with the most worri-

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some coronavirus trends right now — have seen outbreaks in recent weeks as community spread increases. The people who work in nursing homes, after all, are living out in the community where Covid-19 is spreading. And, because they are younger, they may not show symptoms while they are going to work and potentially exposing those patients.

As one expert pointed out to me, both Massachusetts and Norway have seen about 60 percent of their deaths come in long-term care facilities, even though the former has a much higher total fatality count than the latter. That would suggest we have yet to find a good strategy for keeping the coronavirus away from those specific populations.

“There is so far not much evidence that we know how to shield the most vulnerable when there is widespread community transmission,” Marc Lipsitch, a Harvard epidemiologist, told me.

That means the best recourse is trying to contain community spread, which keeps the overall case and death counts lower (as in Norway) and prevents the health care system from being overwhelmed.

Health systems haven’t been overwhelmed — but some hospitals in new hot spots are getting close Arizona, Florida, and Texas still have 20 to 30 percent of their ICU and hospital beds available statewide, according to Covid Exit Strategy, even as case counts continue to rise.

While some people use those numbers to argue that the health systems can handle an influx of Covid patients, the experts I spoke to warned that capacity can quickly evaporate.

“Let’s keep it that way, shall we?” William Hanage at Harvard said. “Hospitals are getting close to overwhelmed in some places, and that will be more places in future if action isn’t taken now. Also ‘not overwhelmed’ is a pretty low bar.”

Hospital capacity is another example of how the lags created by Covid-19 can lull us into a false sense of security until a crisis presents itself and suddenly it’s too late. Because it can take up to two weeks between infection and hospitalization, we are only now beginning to see the impact of these recent spikes.

And, to be clear, hospitalizations are on the rise across the new hot spots. The number of people currently hospitalized with Covid-19 in Texas is up from less than 1,800 on June 1 to nearly 8,000 on July 4. Hospitalizations in Arizona have nearly tripled since the beginning of June, up to more than 3,100 today.

And the state-level data doesn’t show local trends, which are what really matter when it comes to hospital capacity. Some of the hardest-hit cities in these states are feeling the strain, as Hanage pointed out. Hospitals in Houston have started transferring their Covid-19 patients to other cities, and they are implementing their surge capacity plans, anticipating a growing need because of the trendlines in the state.

Once a hospital’s capacity is reached, it’s already too late. They will have to endure several rough weeks after that breach, because the virus has continued to infect more people in the interim, some of whom will get very sick and require hospitalization when there isn’t any room available for them.

“We’re seeing some drastic measures being implemented right now in Texas and Arizona along those lines: using children’s hospitals for adults, going into crisis mode, etc.,” Tara Smith, who studies infectious diseases at Kent State University, told me. “So it shows how quickly all of that can turn around.”

And, on top of Covid-19, these health systems will continue to have the usual flow of emergencies from heart attacks, strokes, accidents, etc. That’s when experts start to worry people will die who wouldn’t otherwise have. That is what social distancing, by slowing the spread of the coronavirus, is supposed to prevent.

We don’t have to lock down forever — but we have to be smart and vigilant Lockdowns are extraordinarily burdensome. Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs. Drug overdoses have spiked. There has been a worrying increase in heart-related deaths, which indicates people who otherwise would have sought medical treatment did not do so during the worst of the outbreak this spring.

But we cannot will the coronavirus out of existence. Experts warned months ago that if states reopened too early, cases would spike, which would strain health systems and put us at risk of losing more people to this virus. That appears to be what’s starting to happen.

And it may get worse; if the summer heat has suppressed the virus to any degree, we could see another rebound in the fall and winter.

So we must strike a balance, between the needs of a human society and the reality that most of us are still susceptible to an entirely novel pathogen that is much deadlier and more contagious than the flu.

That means, for starters, being smarter about how we reopen than we have been so far.

There is strong evidence that states were too cavalier about ending stay-at-home orders and reopening businesses, with just a handful meeting the metrics for reopening laid out by experts, as Vox’s German Lopez explained.

“What I’ve seen is that reopening is getting interpreted by many as reverting back to a Covid-free time where we could attend larger group gatherings, socialize regularly with many different people, or congregate without masks,” Kumi Smith in Minnesota said.

“The virus hasn’t changed since March, so there’s no reasons why our precautions should either.”

To date, most states have opened up bars again and kept schools closed. Lopez made a persuasive case last week that we’ve got that backward. One of the most thorough studies so far on how lockdowns affected Covid-19’s spread found that closing restaurants and bars had a meaningful effect on the virus but closing schools did not.

That study also found that shelter-in-place orders had a sizable impact. While those measures may not be politically feasible anymore, individuals can still be cautious about going out — and when they do, they can stick to outdoor activities with a small number of people.

Masks are not a panacea either, but the evidence is convincingly piling up that they also help reduce the coronavirus’s spread. Whether a given state has a mandate to wear one or not, that is one small inconvenience to accept in order to get this outbreak back under control.

And, really, that is the point. While the current divergence between case and death counts can be confusing, the experts agree that Covid-19 still poses a significant risk to Americans — and it is a risk that goes beyond literal life and death. We know some of the steps that we, as individuals, can take to help slow the spread. And we need our governments, from Washington to the state capitals, to get smarter about reopening.

It will require collective action to stave off the coronavirus for good. Other countries have done it. But we have to act now, before we find out it’s already too late.

This story appears in VoxCare, a newsletter from Vox on the latest twists and turns in America’s health care debate. Sign up to get VoxCare in your inbox along with more health care stats and news.

1/8/2019 9:34:18 AM

July 15, 2020

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From Pandemic to Recession, a “Cacophony of Crises” Threatens Colorado’s Higher Education Institutions Colleges and universities slashing budgets, preparing for drops in enrollment amid pandemic

By ELIZABETH HERNANDEZ | ehernandez@denverpost.com | The Denver Post Angie Paccione, fresh off a weekly call with university presidents across Colorado, summed up the state of higher education in the midst of a pandemic, an economic recession and a reckoning with lifetimes worth of racial inequities: It’s a “cacophony of crises.”

Colorado university leaders are trying to plan for a safe return to campus later this summer amid a public health crisis that demands their proposals receive constant reevaluation, all while knowing enrollment is likely to decline, unexpected pandemic-related costs will climb and the state’s famously low highereducation funding has been slashed — again.

Will students and staff returning to Colorado’s colleges and universities spread the virus at a rate that forces campuses to close their classrooms as they did in the spring?

Will employees — many facing pay cuts, furloughs and their own fears of contracting the coronavirus — be able to deliver a college experience that students consider worthy of their tuition dollars?

Unknowns abound, but a looming worry plagues Paccione, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

Next year will be even worse.

“The hit we are taking this year will pale in terms of next year,” Paccione said. “This year, we were able to get a significant amount of support from Adams State University in Alamosa, pictured on Wednesday, July 1, the federal government… and that 2020, is one of several campuses facing a tough economic future in really saved higher ed in Colorado. light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Without that influx of dollars… there would have been no way for us to survive. We don’t know if we’re going to have that kind of assistance next year. We’re begging for it.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on Colorado’s higher education system, which has long been one of the first on the chopping block when the state cuts budgets. Trying to rectify a $3.3 billion coronavirus-shaped hole in the state budget, legislators shaved $493 million from the upcoming year’s higher ed budget. Gov. Jared Polis sutured that wound with $450 million of federal CARES Act money that he issued to public colleges and universities, to be used for pandemic-associated costs.

University leaders and higher ed experts agonize over how long the stitches will hold and what will become of academic institutions if they bust.

“The cuts… will particularly affect the institutions with the lowest wealth, and I’m talking about community colleges and public regional universities,” said Tom Harnisch, vice president for government relations of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. “Those institutions are absolutely critical portals of opportunity for a first-generation student, low income students and students of color.”

“Potentially cripple our institutions” Joe Garcia, chancellor of the Colorado Community College System, oversees 13 colleges with 40 campus locations spread across the state. The system is bracing for an overall 8.7% Kelly Shanley, 31, student of Community College of Denver, poses enrollment decrease this year as for a portrait in front of CCD Confluence Building in Denver on students waffle over paying for an Tuesday, June 30, 2020. education that looks vastly different Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post from the campus brochure.

The community colleges will spend an estimated $9.6 million on COVID-related costs by the end of this fiscal year.

Garcia called the state funding hit paired with the projected enrollment loss “the double whammy” — a force powerful enough to alter higher education in Colorado for years to come without financial intervention.

“The cut in state funding and the loss in tuition revenue would potentially cripple our institutions in Colorado,” Garcia said. “If you look at some of our very small schools, our small community colleges, losing even 50 students is huge. What it really means is they can’t close the doors without the state saying they can. But they would have to so dramatically curtail the programs and services they offer that it would be hard for them to be effective.”

If state revenues and enrollments don’t bounce back dramatically by next year, Garcia said, the community college system will start looking at significant budget cuts, particularly impacting employees.

Cuts to the system’s budget could mean less financial aid for the neediest students, fewer student support services like tutoring and, potentially, a reduction in courses offered, Garcia said.

Kelly Shanley, 31, found the Community College of Denver through the nonprofit organization Warren Village after a divorce left her a single mother of two struggling to pay the rent. The opportunity to earn a degree, Shanley said, has been life-changing.

“CCD has become my second home,” said Shanley, who earned a degree in communications and is now finishing an associate of science degree. “The support the faculty and students provide to students is phenomenal. That’s what scares me. Any support services that might lose funding — the ones that support students like me — worries me the most. What about the students just starting now who need those like I did? Because I made the choice to commit to CCD, and to myself and my future, I am finally on the path that I’m truly meant to be on.”

One bright spot for Colorado college students: most public universities in the state are keeping tuition flat for the 2020-2021 academic year in response to pandemic-related economic hardships, according to a University of Colorado budget presentation.

Community College of Denver’s tuition and fees for 30 credit hours increased about 3% from last year, from $5,615 to $5,795. The Denver community college is one of the most inexpensive options for a secondary degree in the state. Comparatively, CU Boulder’s tuition and fees remained almost unchanged from last year, hovering near $12,500 for the same amount of credit hours.

CU’s systemwide budget for the next academic year is taking a $250 million hit from last year, dipping from $4.79 billion to $4.54 billion for its four campuses, largely due to the financial impacts of the new

coronavirus.

“If you know you’re in a recession and things are likely going to be bad for a time that’s one thing, but when you have budget difficulties coupled with massive uncertainties in terms of what the whole higher ed experience is going to look like, it’s doubly difficult,” said Ken McConnellogue, CU system spokesman.

To help offset the financial strain, all campuses and the CU system office are subject to employee furloughs, hiring delays and leaving open positions unfilled. More than 7,700 employees across the CU system will be affected, saving more than $104.8 million.

Todd Saliman, CU’s chief financial officer, said managing this year’s budget has been the most difficult of his career.

“The budget, on paper, is just a spreadsheet, but it’s really people and programs and it pays for what we do,” Saliman said. “We are very sensitive to the fact that when we talk about budget options, what we’re really talking about are programs for students and jobs for our faculty and students and compensation and benefits and deferred maintenance and all those things. The choices might sound easy on a spreadsheet, but when you start talking about the people and students impacted, you have to think really carefully, which is what we’re doing.”

“Never let a good crisis pass” In November, Polis admitted tuition costs in Colorado have “spiraled out of control.”

Twenty years ago, Colorado covered 68% of the cost of a student’s higher education, with the student responsible for 32% of the bill. By 2012, following the Great Recession, those percentages had flipped, leaving students and families footing two-thirds of the cost of their higher education and the state chipping in a third, according to a 2019 report from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

Cont. on Page 14, See Recession threatens higher education budgets

iof o r . o)

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July 15, 2020

From Pandemic to Recession, a “Cacophony of Crises” Threatens Colorado’s Higher Education Institutions

Cont. from Page 13 Paccione is concerned another recession will further shift that burden onto students, hindering college access to those who may most benefit from it.

But some Coloradans argue higher education decision-makers are not without fault for the mess they’re in now.

Jessica Peck, who has advised statewide political campaigns on higher education finance issues, said one of the biggest problems within Colorado’s higher education system is a lack of cohesive statewide strategy, which leaves colleges and universities to compete for status, students and money.

“All these instituVanessa Thong, 20, grew up in Alamosa and considered going tions are out there vyelsewhere for college, but a full ride to Adams State was too ing for their own with convincing to pass up. their own lobbyists, Rachel Ellis, The Denver Post PR teams and a lot of money wasted within that advocacy for dollars,” Peck said. “What we’re seeing increasingly is each institution is staffed by ambitious, intelligent people who want their institution to be the very best in the state, and that is admirable, but there is no statewide gut-check that says when these institutions look in the mirror, is this the role you’re supposed to be playing?”

Tom Lucero, who served on CU’s elected Board of Regents from 1999 to 2011, said institutions have been increasing tuition for years, escalating expenses for building construction and fostering competition among higher education institutions resulting in overlapping programs to attract students.

“As the old saying in politics goes, never let a good crisis pass,” Lucero said. “Right now, there are huge opportunities in reform and restructuring. Now would be the time to move quickly and not just muddle through this and then look back 20 years later to realize we missed a huge opportunity because higher education doesn’t like to talk about significant, meaningful reform.”

Reform could be on the horizon. Polis recently signed a new bill into law, expected to go into effect for the 2021-2022 school year, that shifts the state higher education funding allocation model from primarily doling out money based on enrollment to also considering how well an institution serves its students, according to Chalkbeat Colorado.

“We know we’ll survive” Adams State University touts being the most affordable residential degree in Colorado, with in-state undergraduate tuition and fees just below $4,800 for 2020-2021 — a 1% increase from the prior year. Adams State guarantees all qualified students who graduate from a San Luis Valley high school or from one in 14 southern Colorado counties will receive grants to cover their tuition and fees.

Adams State President Cheryl Lovell has been tracking the unexpected costs incurred due to the pandemic, but she said her notepad was running out of space.

Costs such as massive hand-sanitizing stations spread throughout campus and COVID-19 testing are estimated to total around $5 million, Lovell said. Not to mention, many Colorado universities are finding remote learning actually costs more to pull off, despite conceptions to the contrary.

“There are increased technology costs,” Garcia of CCCS said. “We’ve spent lots and lots and lots of money training faculty on online instruction. You still want faculty to be able to interact with students, so you have to try to keep classes the same. Plus, our buildings and our campuses are still there, so there are fixed costs. We aren’t seeing savings.”

Adams State has been steadily climbing out of financial turmoil from years past, only to face a new beast.

“We know we’ll survive,” Lovell said. “We have to. Our valley, our region depends on us.

We’re an economic driver for some 9,000 square miles. We know there are students in the region where it’s not a case of ‘Do I come to Adams State?’ For some, it’s ‘If I don’t go to Adams, I won’t go to college at all.’ ” “I made the right decision,” said Thong, a psychology major who wants to become a counselor. “They’ve built a community here. They support local businesses. Because it’s not a school in the big city, they put on these events and make this smaller, more rural school a fun place to go, and it just feels very connected to the valley. But I am scared for Adams State, knowing the budget cuts and everything.”

Smaller institutions like Adams State lack the hefty endowments of larger flagship universities — CU Boulder’s is $1.8 billion — and often don’t have as many wealthy alumni who donate massive gifts to their alma maters, Lovell said.

To help balance the budget, Lovell said Adams State will not be filling 18 campus positions and plans to merge certain academic programs that once stood on their own. Adams State is looking into adjusting the percentage of cost it covers for employee health insurance premiums and implementing a two-year temporary reduction in its contribution to employee non-PERA pension plans, among other cost-cutting initiatives.

“We serve the students many universities overlook, and we serve them well,” Lovell said.

“We’re the epicenter for activity in the valley. Adams State’s fiscal outlook is going to be a struggle as it is for any institution in this crisis, but we will belt tighten. We will rethink the way we spend money. Our community depends on us.”

July 15, 2020

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Lost Creek Guide

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Open every third Saturday 9 am to 12 pm 100 North Market Street, Keenesburg For emergency needs, please contact 720-480-6428 or email us at: http:// www.fbca.church

Donations are welcome to help us defeat hunger in our community

SERVICES McCarthy Trucking Recycled asphalt, concrete Great for driveways & parking areas. Also sand & gravel.

Reasonable Prices Call Kevin for free quote 303-901-5034 Dave Haney Painting & Dry Wall Interior - Exterior Cabinets, Fence Staining Located in Platteville 720-217-2089 Longarm Quilter Edge to Edge Computer Automated Quilting Online Store aquiltersfriend.com Cheri Dobratz 303-532-9035

Self Storage

1401 County Road 153 Strasburg, CO 80136

Phone: (303) 622-4142

Managers: Garold & Geraldine Middlemist

WANTED Need someone to teach guitar lessons To 9 year old who really wants to learn Live in Hudson Please Call 520-245-6771

Help Needed Older Keenesburg-Hudson area couple needs help From male high school student doing odd jobs, part time work on small farm.

Paying competitively hourly rate. Willing to transport.

If interested contact: Jerry or Marilyn @ 303-732-4249

WE'LL HELP YOU

Cool It Ride It Dry It Sail It Wash It Pull It Can It Fix It Drive It Warm It Fly It Cook It Find It Grow It or CLASSIFIEDS DO THE JOB 303-732-4080

Page 16

Lost Creek Guide

July 15, 2020

Capitol Cleanup a Slow Process; Changes Needed to Avoid ‘Cycle of Damage’

By Sherrie Peif DENVER — Although it’s been a month since large-scale destruction and vandalism began at the State Capitol area in connection with protests around the George Floyd killing, the state has yet to begin cleanup of the Capitol, which remains heavily covered in graffiti, with windows boarded up, leading many to wonder what the issue is and worry that complacency will harm Denver’s livability.

“The sight isn’t just demoralizing to law-abiding taxpayers; the lingering damage communicates a message to criminals: vandalism and violence are tolerated in the city. Feel free to do it again.” wrote Krista Kafer in recent column published in the Denver Post.

Kafer, a Colorado native and education consultant, added: “Moreover, the increase in crime along with threats to defund the police will make people think twice about living or doing business in the city. If it continues long enough, Denverites will head to perceived safer ground — the suburbs.”

Kafer is not alone in her assessment, many of Colorado’s state Legislators have questioned on their social media pages the time it’s taking to clean up one of the most visited and focal destinations of downtown Denver, and the seat of state government.

Some also say it’s not just about cleanup but future prevention.

House District 51 Rep. Hugh McKean, R-Loveland said clean-up work is about to begin, confirming the delay has been a matter of insurance settlements. He said the bigger problem; however, is that the state has struggled with how to keep the area around the Capitol clean for years.

McKean said the state has filed several claims prior to COVID-19 and the George Floyd riots because of damage caused to the building and grounds from homeless who defecate alongside the building, among other types of vandalism.

Windows to some of the committee rooms could not be opened because of the smell, and urine would run down the ramp behind the electronics room.

“The problem isn’t just cleaning up the impromptu bathrooms,” McKean said. “It is how do you stop the behavior in the first place?”

McKean said now is the time to discuss a more secure area around the Capitol that could include fencing off the area around the Capitol so it can be secured at night once the building has closed for the day.

“As we finish up the renovations and have to redo the grounds and the circle and all of that, what is the thought … so that we don’t have this continual cycle of damage.”

McKean said he worries the premium on the state’s insurance will skyrocket or there will be riders to what is paid and what is not in the future, costs that will fall on the backs of taxpayers.

“We just need to control the access,” McKean said, adding the level of security by the Colorado State Patrol has decreased at night under Gov. Jared Polis.

That is a result of where a governor chooses to live. Former Gov. John Hickenlooper chose to live in either the Governor’s Mansion or nearby his office at the Capitol. State Troopers could patrol the area at night in that case.

“Now you don’t just have the state patrol down the street,” McKean said, referencing their duties to protect the governor. “Now the State Patrol is in Boulder every night.”

Kafer said in her editorial that she fears the destruction will only get worse if something is not done.

“People need to feel safe to survive,” Kafer said. “That sense of safety and security is now at risk. Just as order begets order, disorder begets disorder. … While everyone has the right to peacefully protest injustice, vandalism cannot be tolerated. The vandalism cost taxpayers and business owners more than $5.5 million. As long as the destruction remains visible, criminals will continue to target other people’s property. If allowed to continue, it’s only a matter of time before law abiding people pack up and leave and the unfortunate cycle of urban decay begins again.”

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