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the denver post B denverpost.com B saturday, february 11, 2012
REVIEW:
INITIATIVE:
GOING BY THE BOOKS
Engineers defended their work
DENVER & THE WEST «3B
Critics call plan political cover for tax increase
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egregious situation,” board members are concerned the engineers did not notify the board of their concerns about the work of Gary Howell, who engineered the school for the Neenan Co. “We are just asking for the respondents’ side of the story,” she said. Studer was hired by the Meeker school board after the first small signs of problems at the school. He repeatedly pressed for a full outside review, which Howell opposed. SCI’s report found the building at risk of collapse in a fierce windstorm, among other serious problems. In a written response to DORA, Studer noted that he did not have enough information to report Howell, in part because Howell did not provide adequate information to him. He said he assumed SCI would make any required notifications to the board. “I felt that I was providing my services in an ‘ethical’ manner during my engagement with the school district and had great hopes of a good result,” Studer wrote. Bumgarner and Muir cited Neenan’s protracted delays in providing information as a factor in their conclusion that they did not have enough information to notify the board. “We gave the matter appropriate consideration and professional respect continuously throughout the duration of our engagement,” they wrote. Jim West, the project manager for the Meeker district, praised the two firms. “Had it not been for Mr. Studer, we would have never been alerted that we had problems,” he said. “And if it wasn’t for SCI, we never would have had those problems validated.” Andy Boian, a spokesman for Neenan, said the company turned over all documents as it obtained information and that SCI never asked for documents before issuing its review of the school. The licensing board also has opened an investigation into Thomas Nevin and Andrew Garner, Terracon Consultants engineers who conducted a soils report at Meeker. Nevin had an expired license at the time, the complaint says. An outside review found the report had misclassified soil characteristics. The state has not received responses from the engineers, and Terracon did not respond to requests for comment. Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971 or egorski@denverpost.com
pected to cost about $1.2 million, include the Chambers Family Fund; Comcast; Delta Dental; the El Pomar Foundation; Encana; Joseph Henry Edmondson; the History Colorado Center; Microsoft; The Denver Foundation; Ken and Debbie Tuchman; and Xerox. “This isn’t an attempt to push a Democratic agenda or a Republican agenda. It’s about a Colorado agenda,” Maffei said. “This also isn’t about raising taxes or cutting taxes.” Critics on the right have discounted that talk, saying TBD Colorado is political cover for a public-information campaign to push the public toward approving a tax increase. There were no tax increase proposals floated before the 100-plus gathered Friday, but those in attendance did weigh in on some spending priorities. Asked to prioritize Colorado’s funding needs, 77 percent ranked K-12 education No. 1, with health care coming in at a distant second at 8 percent, transportation at 7 percent and higher education at 6 percent. Only 1 percent chose corrections as the top funding priority. As the audience split into discussion groups, some tables reported back later that they wanted to see more concrete solutions proposed. Another table was even more frank, telling organizers not to be so shy in talking about taxes. “As much as humanly possible, I think we want to stay away from some of the really divisive issues — more taxes or less taxes or this is too conservative or too liberal,” Hickenlooper said. “But in the end, we are hoping we’ll end up with priorities.”
Real Kids Preschool students, from left, Sedik Mote, 4, Dawenise Burks, 3, and Nyimah Bryant, 2, each pick out a book to take home at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in Denver on Friday as part of a celebration of Black History Month. Denver singer Hazel Miller joined the local preschool and kindergarten children to read several books and sing a few songs. Clifford the Big Red Dog and Winnie the Pooh were also there to entertain the kids. Photos by Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post Saniah Spears, 4, right, Sedik, center, and Dawenise give Hazel Miller a thank-you hug after the reading at the BlairCaldwell library Friday morning. The Volunteers of America sponsored the “I Love to Read” event at the library Friday.
Online: Watch a video and see a slide show of the readings. »denverpost.com
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
Three in Douglas murder-for-hire case plead not guilty By Jordan Steffen The Denver Post
castle rock » Christopher Wells, the man accused of hiring a man to kill his estranged wife, pleaded not guilty Friday in a Douglas County court, along with two other defendants in the case. Wells, 49, who appeared in court unrestrained and dressed in khakis and a black sports jacket, is accused of hiring former associates at a Colorado Springs car dealership to kill his wife — 39-
year-old Amara Wells — while he was incarcerated for domestic violence-related charges. The bodies of Amara Wells and Bob Rafferty, 49, were found in the Rafferty family home Feb. 23, 2011. Wells and her daughter had been staying at the Rafferty home southwest of Castle Rock. Matthew Plake, 27, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, and Micah Woody, 30, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit, were in restraints as they entered their not-
guilty pleas. The three are charged with murder and numerous other charges in the case. Wells was the only defendant who did not look at the victims’ family members who were in attendance. On Jan. 31, the Douglas County District Attorney’s office announced that prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Josiah Sher, 27, the fourth man involved in the alleged murder-for-hire plot. Authorities played videotaped con-
fessions of Plake, Woody and Sher at a preliminary hearing. Sher said he was offered $20,000 — $5,000 each for killing Rafferty and his wife, Tamara Rafferty, and $10,000 for killing Amara Wells. Sher never received the money. Tamara Rafferty, who is Christopher Wells’ sister, was out of the state when the killings happened. Jordan Steffen: 303-954-1794 or jsteffen@denverpost.com
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