- ObituaryLeta Hawks

Leta Glyn Hawks, passed peacefully on February 20, 2023 at home in Keenesburg, Colorado with loving family at her side. Leta was born in Hereford, Texas on July 24, 1929.

More commonly known as GG or Babe, she lived a long and wonderful life, bringing joy and fun to her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and all friends that knew her.

As part of the celebration of Leta’s life her family would like to invite attendees to participate by sharing their memories and stories verbally or in writing which will be collected.

Leta is survived by her family which includes her sons Jim (Cherie), Bob (Moira), Chuck (Cari), and Steven. Daughters Juanda and Susan (Art). Many Grandchildren, Great Grandchildren, nieces and nephews and many other relatives. Preceded in death by Glenn and Lannie Rutter (Parents), Aldon C. Hawks Jr. (Loving husband), Ronnie Hawks (son).

The family is most appreciative and grateful for all the love and support that was given during the last year of Leta’s life. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made to: Izzy Leet Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Carla Leet, 29265 Highway 52, Keenesburg CO, 80643 or Bristol Hospice – NOCO, 3770 Puritan Way, Unit E, Fredrick CO, 80626.

Colorado Attorney General Seeks Internal TikTok Messages in Probe of Platform’s Effect on Kids’ Health

“We know young people are suffering. A part of that is social media,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said Monday in an update to the nationwide probe into the popular video platform.

by Olivia Prentzel, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is asking a Tennessee judge to order TikTok to release internal communications as part of a nationwide investigation into the popular video platform and its possible harmful effects on young people and their mental health.

During a news conference Monday, Weiser, who is helping lead the investigation alongside Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, said TikTok is not sharing internal messaging that could reveal whether its employees are aware of the harmful effects the social media platform is having on young people.

Reviewing messages sent through an internal platform, where employees discuss and analyze issues with their product, will help determine whether TikTok broke any laws in promoting its platform to young people, Weiser said.

State attorneys general from 46 states have “good reason to believe that TikTok’s unfair and deceptive conduct has fueled an ongoing crisis in the mental health crisis of children and teens,” according to court documents filed Monday. Some documents provided by TikTok reinforce the states’ concern that TikTok “is well aware of the harm it is causing to our youth,” the plaintiffs said, but the documents were not included in the filing due to confidentiality agreements.

Heavy use of social media is driving the youth mental health crisis, the states argued, and addictive features, like “infinite scrolling,” on the app heighten the risk of habitual use that could affect how young people’s brains mature.

“We want to make sure social media platforms are operating as they should. We need the information from these companies to do that,” Weiser said.

Since the start of the investigation, TikTok continues to allow its employees to send auto-deleting messages to each other and have provided messages to the states in a format that is “difficult to use and navigate,” the attorney general’s office said.

Government officials and child-safety advocates have said that TikTok’s algorithms that push video content to its users can promote eating disorders and even self-harm and suicide to young views.

The social media platform, which has an estimated 1 billion monthly users, is especially popular with teens and younger children.

The investigation coincides with several security concerns with the app. The U.S. government has mandated that all federal employees delete TikTok from their work phones, citing privacy concerns, and Sen. Michael Bennet has urged Apple and Google to ban the platform from their app stores.

A spokesperson for TikTok did not reply to a request for comment.

Weiser said his office is committed to holding any company accountable in harming its consumers, particularly young people.

“We know young people are suffering. A part of that is social media,” Weiser said. “Too many algorithms on too many platforms are pushing people down dangerous dark holes.”

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com

Mike’s Column From Disappointment to Triumph

This year, the Weld Central High School Men’s Basketball team felt as if it suffered a huge loss. A few months back, we lost our former coaches, meaning that the pain and sorrow we felt going home that night we heard the news seemed unbearable. We tried blaming everybody for the problem that we couldn’t explain ourselves. Some on the team seemed to lose all willpower and integrity to even fight through the rest of the season. We also blamed that on the loss of the coaches. However, some veteran coaches decided to step up and help guide us through the rest of our season. We felt as if we couldn’t play our best without the previous mentors there. Sooner than later, we started losing some of our games. Things finally picked up in Valley with a good win for the Varsity and hard-fought games for the JV and D teams. The entire team that went on fought hard to finish the season on a high note. We started to realize that our new coaches could help us triumph through the rest of our season as the Varsity went to state with honor!

Mike

Fort Morgan Senior Reaches 1,000 Career Points

by Paul Dineen, Get The Picture Sports LLC

Wesley Carnes, senior basketball player for the Fort Morgan Mustangs, needed twenty-one points in the final game of his high school career on February 16, 2023 to reach the 1,000 point mark. The Mustangs won the game over the Skyline Falcons, 85-68, but Carnes didn’t score twenty-one points. He scored fifty-five. That gave him a career total of 1,034 points. As reported by Scott Roberts, Sports Director at 1400 AM KFTM in Fort Morgan, Carnes joins Trey McBride, Eric Kembel, Tate Kembel and Scott Blachley as the only Mustangs to score 1,000 points in their careers.