Sentinel Colorado 12.29.2022

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Aurora Councilmember Sundberg’s sorry ‘apology’ doesn’t excuse his racist videos

Councilperson Steve Sundberg’s attempt at marketing humor, and his sorry-not-sorry apology for the cringe-worthy racist Facebook posts, are no joke.

Sundberg’s reputation so far as an Aurora city lawmaker, elected in 2021, is as the guy who got thumped for making not-funny jokes in front of city staff about his junk not fitting in a COVID mask and then making his buddy put it over his face.

Councilmember TMI brushed it off as just a joke after Aurora employees filed harassment claims. Just as bad, some of his fellow conservatives on the city council agreed with him. Ha ha. Your tax dollars at work.

Why an elected official — even partially cogent after the ubiquitous MeToo movement — would ever say such a thing as an elected leader only makes sense when you see Sundberg’s “advertising” videos from almost two years ago.

DAVE PERRY Editor

They blew up the local intertubes this week on metro media websites after The Sentinel told everybody about them.

Now gone from the Facebook account for Sundberg’s tavern, Legends of Aurora, the homemade vids are supposed to be “advertisements” for the venue, hawking the pub’s food fare.

In one video, Sundberg is wearing a Mexican falsa blanket as a poncho and looking stupefied. In pidjin Spanish, he offers gibberish about 26 girlfriends, enchiladas and what appears to be a comment about his “big rabbits.” Whether he confused “conejos” with “cojones” in his attempt at vulgar guffaws is unclear. What’s solid is that he comes across as a cruel racist, hating on immigrants, Latinos and Mexicans.

His mocking show trots out every callous trope that perpetuates the dangerous alienation of people in Aurora with Latino and Hispanic heritage.

Not just Mexicans, in other videos, Sunberg gives the ha-ha-ha hate treatment to Arabs, South Asians, Black men, Muslims, gays, women and his minority employees.

Voices like those of state reps Iman Jodeh and Mike Weissman excoriated Sundberg for his “pathetic” stunt. The Anti-Defamation League called him out, as well as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which skewered the videos.

I was drawn to give Sundberg the benefit of the doubt. That somehow, he missed, rather than disregarded, the last 50 years in the U.S. and Aurora, where “Frito Bandito” and minstrel tropes were exposed for the insults they were.

But given ample opportunity during the past several days, Sundberg, instead, rolled out an equally offensive defense for making the vids and standing behind them as his brand of charming humor.

“In a dark Covid shut down, when businesses (were) fighting to survive, with people experiencing mental health issues, uncertainty, suicide, substance abuse, domestic violence and fear, we were able to provide through a number of videos, humor and light heartedness, which drove business and cheered people up,” Sundberg wrote in a text message to The Sentinel.

That’s not cool. That’s sick.

He paints a world where people were coughing up COVID lungs in ICUs, dying in their cars from fentanyl overdoses and losing their minds from being unable to leave their homes. And that inspired him to sit on a fake prayer rug, with shoes

on, waving a scimitar in a turban that looks like he wrapped a sateen nighty around his head? And that was going to stave off pandemic armageddon?

Now that’s funny. The videos, not even remotely.

Even less funny was his too-thin apology that makes it clear he considers himself a victim of humorless woke blokes who think funnin’ about chasing Muslims with a slice of bacon is callow and cruel.

“For anyone I did offend, I apologize, and I will learn from it.”

Of the universe’s greatest mysteries, I will never understand why people just can’t admit they’re wrong, and apologize for, possibly inadvertently, being offensive.

Instead, the trend is often to say, sorry that you were offended.

If Sundberg is really remorseful and now enlightened, he needs to look the city-council TV camera in the lens soon and tell his constituents, “I got it. It’s not cool nor funny to mimic minorities.”

It’s really not harmless. The Anti-Defamation League — the people who have been watching out primarily for the safety of Jews for decades since the Holocaust — help people understand the gravity of “light-hearted” hate speech.

Mocking someone’s culture, race or background, and spicing it up with tropes, accents and stereotypes, is a foundational expression of hate. And laughing at or looking away from these acts, and dismissing what Sundberg did in those videos, “normalizes” a constant and basic level of hate toward the people he ridicules.

Unchecked and fueled by misinformation, the kind pumped out by Fox News nightly, it leads to certain violence against the targeted minorities.

Don’t believe it? Are you among Sundberg’s defenders who say he meant no harm, and that liberals and defenders of minorities just can’t take a joke?

Ask the tens of thousands of children of color, of immigrants and of another language what it’s like growing up in a place where a man gets laughs and tries to grow his restaurant business by putting a blanket over his head and talking in broken western Spanish about the “deliciosa” offerings at Legends and his gonads.

Not far from Legends of Aurora is William Smith High School, an Aurora public school for kids who lead real lives and work hard to make real progress.

Former Aurora Poet Laureate Jovan Mays, works with many of these kids, teaching the art

of writing, as well as the skill.

In a catalog of essays about “The American Dream,” composed by members of the Class of 2023, these kids bluntly explain how “jokes’ like Sundberg’s create misery, not laughs, for his victims.

“My family’s American dream is to live free and not to be criticized because of our skin or our race,” student Jesse Gonzalez begins in an essay. “To be able to walk the streets without being criticized, feeling free from how your skin color , race or clothing is being judged. Feeling free means not being scared of your own identity.” Jesse wrote about the pain from watching his family ridiculed for speaking Spanish in Aurora.

“This is America. Go back to your own Spanish-speaking country,” someone once told his mother. The ridicule was the result of “how it makes people upset or ashamed because they are being stereotyped and made fun of because of their language.”

Malachi Franco wrote, “My American dream is for Latinos that live in this country to be considered American.”

Jose A. Hernandez also wrote about the pain of tropes and ridicule.

He sees the American Dream as opportunity. He sees the treatment he and his family receives as impediments to opportunities.

He laments how people stereotype him and his family, making racist comments.

“My dad works in construction — drywall to be exact,” Jose writes. He works long, hard hours and comes home exhausted, determined to help Jose reach for more and better opportunities.

“In my head, I see him as the best person ever, but people think he’s a criminal or a drug dealer. Which makes me think: is the American Dream real?”

Tropes and laughing at, and not calling out, Sunberg’s sadistic videos, rob real people of real opportunities. They make people like Jose’s dad less American, less human, less worthy and less important than those who think real Mexican immigrants are like Sundberg’s parody.

This is an American Dream opportunity for Sundberg. He can seriously denounce what he did and genuinely encourage others to denounce others when they do the same thing.

If he doesn’t, there will be millions of more kids like Jose, who wish they weren’t denigrated by “lighthearted” tropes and stereotypes so they could have a shot at the American Dream, too. Follow @EditorDavePerry on Mastadon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com

Councilmember Steve Sundberg is seen imitating a Mexican individual while advertising a meal special at his bar Legends in the photo of the original post on Facebook. Screengrab from a now removed Facebook video.

Editorials Sentinel

Chief Acevedo signals way out of the police quagmire

Aurora residents and the entire region would welcome straight talk about the chaos continuing to swirl around and through the Aurora Police Department.

The city’s newest interim police chief has promised just that.

Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo — formerly chief of Miami, Houston and Austin — is now a few weeks into the job and has consistently told city leaders, community leaders, the media and practically anyone who will listen, that his tenure as top cop will be heralded by transparency and candid honesty.

It’s a welcome and needed change from the last several months. All of Aurora should insist everyone involved in Aurora’s police debacle adopt the same touchstones.

Aurora’s police crisis has been years, if not decades, in the making. While the city has long boasted a strong and innovative department, APD has become secretive, insular and rife with repeated incidents of racism, abuse of force by too many officers and cover-up.

Those officers who were as appalled by APD’s repeated and flagrant mistreatment of people of color, as was the rest of the world, were either silent or silenced as problems became systemic.

Aurora, and the nation, should never forget nor brush aside the crimes, cruelty and blunders that have been made public over the past several years. The department has been sullied by a cop who pistol-whipped a young man questioned about vagrancy. The world recoiled from an international story about Aurora police forcing Black women and young girls to lie face down on hot pavement while they were erroneously stopped and handcuffed during a botched stolen-car inquiry. Residents across the nation were baffled when the city’s Civil Service Commission forced the re-hiring of a fired officer who referred to Black crime witnesses as “porch monkeys.”

And both the nation and the world were outraged by the death of Elijah McClain at the hands of Aurora police and firefighters. The community was repulsed by Aurora officers mocking the cruel death with “comic” selfies that backfired after being made public.

The police department’s mission, to serve and protect, became lost in a tsunami of malevolence, malfeasance and malpractice.

It was welcome news that after investigation by the Colorado attorney general, the office would intervene and demand momentous reforms throughout the department.

It was a shocking surprise earlier this year that the woman who successfully marshaled the reticent department toward authentic reform and newfound credibility was suddenly sacked by city managers. Clearly, former Police Chief Vanessa Wilson was removed amid a toxic political drama on the Aurora City Council.

Wilson, and the unequivocal reforms she championed, were loathed by police union leaders and a small cadre of newly elected city lawmakers who pander to police anti-reform hardliners. Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky publicly slandered Wilson regularly, calling her “trash” on a far-right radio talk show program.

She was replaced with former Aurora police chief Dan Oates, who despite promises to stand away from the reform mandate in his temporary role, surreptitiously upended one police oversight panel and diminished another. Neither Oates nor the city revealed the changes to the public.

City leaders were silent about Oates reversing the discipline of police division chief Cassidee Carlson for her role with another police veteran twice violating a restraining order as part of an Aurora cop’s messy divorce.

Not only did Oates reverse the conclusion and decision by the Aurora Police Internal Affairs Unit against Carlson, he then almost immediately promoted her. If not for reporting by TheSentineland Channel 4 News, the public would never have been made aware of the scheme.

Just a few weeks ago, Oates was lauded by city leaders for his six-month tenure, and the scandal has now been handed to Acevedo.

Critical problems fused into the Aurora Police Department, exacerbated by some members of the Aurora City Council, cannot be forgotten or ignored.

The new chief has been consistent about his requiring accountability and transparency in the department, and the public should demand it.

So far, Acevedo has been direct and unflinching about Aurora’s serious internal police dilemmas and the crime problems Aurora, and the entire state, face right now.

Acevedo has rightfully insisted that the vast majority of the department’s nearly 700 police officers and officials are honest, compassionate and diligent professionals, who can and should be trusted.

In meeting with The Sentinel and other media, Acevedo has been just as candid and insistent that the department has considerable deficiencies, which can be successfully addressed.

In his brash foray into the metro-media spotlight, Acevedo has signaled a positive and independent course for the department.

He told local media officials that he doesn’t wait for “permission” to act, he asks for “forgiveness” of those uneasy with it.

If Acevedo can deliver the independence, transparency and accountability he’s promising, the city’s police can reclaim a reputation residents need them to have.

Councilmember Sundberg can’t serve diverse communities he ridicules

As a Muslim and Arab state representative who has called Aurora — one of the most diverse cities in America — home my entire life, I am proud to represent all cultures and religions in Aurora. It is a true honor that my constituents trust me with, and it’s one I do not take lightly.

Councilmember Steve Sundberg’s blatant disregard for that diversity and communities of color in his promotional videos for his bar, depicting antiquated stereotypes around Arabs, Muslims, African Americans, Latinos, and South Asians, is beyond deplorable and callous.

Legends Sports Bar is in my state House District, and my constituents, and Aurora, deserve better than to be reduced to racist videos. I will not stay silent while their elected officials make them feel threatened by capitalizing on shortsighted views to attract clientele.

It is people in power using these stereotypical, racist tropes that are giving permission to others to be equally racist and bigoted toward all marginalized communities. And I do not want these videos to attract people that share his unfortunate, racist humor into our neighborhoods.

In a study, Who is Aurora, published by the City of Aurora in 2016, it finds that many of Aurora’s residents are foreign born, and over 160 languages are spoken in Aurora Public Schools alone. These numbers have only increased since then.

According to the 2020 US Census, the City of Aurora, Colorado’s third-largest city, is made up of 42% people that do not identify as white. And according to the City of Aurora, the percentage of people of color has been steadily increasing almost every 10 years.

Meaning, Councilmember Sundberg is voting on decisions that impact more than 186,886 people of color. (It is important to note, that people from the Middle East and North Africa are instructed to check “white,” on some U.S. Census and other documents, meaning there is a significant number of residents in Aurora that are not captured as people of color on the Census.)

It is cause for great concern that it has eluded Councilmember Sundberg as to what it means

to represent Aurora, or, at the very least, become culturally competent about his own constituents. How can diverse communities trust that our government is working for our best interest when our elected officials mock our heritage, our religious practices, and add to our struggles?

This is not Sundberg’s first blunder that has come to light recently. In October, an investigation confirmed that he made sexually suggestive comments around Aurora city staff. TheSentinel reported that under a Colorado law that gives cities broad authority to withhold records related to sexual harassment, a group of three other council members decided not to discipline Sundberg, with Sundberg saying the allegations were minor’, and because Sundberg had reportedly apologized. No recordings were made, or minutes taken of the group’s meetings.

In 2021, when interviewing to fill a vacancy on council, Sundberg stated that he would oppose conducting an equity study of the city’s functions. As a council member, he then opposed funding for the Diversity Equity and Inclusion office at the City of Aurora. And when an opportunity presented itself to uphold indigenous heritage, in a city located in a county whose namesake honors the Arapahoe Nation, he sided with his Republican city council members, and he voted down a land acknowledgement meant for the beginning of every council meeting and at special events.

This is why representation matters. Having a city council that reflects all people who call Aurora home is vital to undo years of exclusive and harmful policies. Sadly, we continue to suffer because people of color are at the center of Sundberg’s distasteful jokes and suggestive actions instead of being at the center of his policies.

In an article published by the Atlantic titled “We’re All Tired of Being Called Racists”, Trump rally goers were asked about their feelings on being labeled racist. One rally goer, Roseanna, who chose not to give her last name, told the journalist “I’m sick to death of it. I have 13 grandchildren — 13,” she continued. “Four of them are bi-racial,

STAT REP. IMAN JODEH, GUEST COLUMNIST

‘Humor and light heartedness’

AFTER ‘RACIST’ VIDEO FUROR, AURORA COUNCIL MEMBER APOLOGIZES ‘FOR ANYONE I DID OFFEND’

BY MAX LEVY, Sentinel Staff Writer

An Aurora lawmaker has broken his silence on recently rediscovered advertisements for his sports bar in which he imitated Mexicans, Muslims and other groups, saying the videos were a source of “humor and light heartedness” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, prominent critics from Aurora and beyond have continued to denounce the videos as unacceptable and as grounds to question Sundberg’s leadership.

“In a dark Covid shut down, when businesses (were) fighting to survive, with people experiencing mental health issues, uncertainty, suicide, substance abuse, domestic violence and fear, we were able to provide through a number of videos, humor and light heartedness, which drove business and cheered people up,” Councilmember Steve Sundberg wrote in a text message.

“Made over 2 years ago, no one once expressed offense. Not any video was intended to be offensive. However, it has recently (come) to my attention that some people have found content in the videos offensive. For anyone I did offend, I apologize and I will learn from it. In light of this, I have taken down some of the videos.”

Most (though not all) of the videos in which Sundberg performs racial and ethnic stereotypes were removed from the Facebook page of Legends of Aurora Sports Grill between Tuesday and Wednesday, after Sundberg faced backlash for behavior that community leaders described as “offensive” and “racist.”

“Our now 32 year old business survived,” Sundberg concluded in his statement. “Our diverse staff has prospered since Covid and we continue to support our community generously. In my elected role, I proudly and wholeheartedly, enjoy serving all members of our diverse community when the time arises.”

In addition to performing various stereotypes in the videos, Sundberg also makes light of the idea that people would be offended by the content.

In one video, Sundberg dresses as a Viking; jokes about “raping and pillaging season coming up soon;” refers to a woman, apparently a Legends bartender, as a “bar wench;” and asks another if she wants to be his “shield maiden.” The video begins with a tongue-in-cheek “disclaimer,” warning that some may find the content offensive. Sundberg did not reply when asked in a follow-up message whether he personally had any problem with the content of the videos that were taken down and what he felt he learned from the experience of the videos being publicized.

Following the release of the original Sentinel story, state and local elected officials along with community organizations

and civil rights groups continued to question the videos and Sundberg’s fitness for office.

Ismail Allison of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement that “the message that these videos send to members of minority communities in Aurora is that they are not respected and cannot expect to be represented by this elected official.”

The organization also encouraged Sundberg to meet with leaders of the communities targeted for ridicule in the videos and offered to help set up a meeting. Sundberg wrote in a message that he would “likely talk to (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) in due time.”

Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Regional Director Scott Levin also warned that the rhetoric used by Sundberg could contribute to normalizing hatred toward minority groups, saying that, while Sundberg’s speech was protected under the First Amendment, “just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should do it.”

“The so-called jokes, tropes and stereotyping are belittling and normalize hateful behavior,” Levin said. “That’s what’s going on here, and I put all this in the realm of increasingly normalizing this type of behavior. Once you accept this, it escalates and empowers people to confront minority groups and move down the path that ends in violence.”

Democratic State Rep. Mike Weissman, who represents part of Sundberg’s ward in the Colorado House of Representatives, said on Facebook and in a statement to The Sentinel that he was “shocked and disgusted” by the videos.

“This kind of thing is flatly unacceptable by anyone in public office anywhere in this country. It is especially so in Aurora, ‘the Ellis Island of the Plains,’ in the words of our former poet laureate Jovan Mays,” he said.

“To my constituents — HD36 shares a lot of territory with Ward 2, the (councilor’s) ward — I’m sorry. Your origin, your faith, your language, your ancestry, your traditional dress are not some joke. You deserve infinitely better than this. To (councilor) Sundberg — you owe this city a serious apology. Real soon.”

Rhonda Fields, a Black lawmaker who represents parts of Aurora in the Colorado Senate, said she was “disgusted” by the videos, pointing out that they were made in 2020 as the city and the country experienced unrest following the police-involved deaths of George Floyd and other unarmed Black men like Elijah McClain.

One video in which Sundberg wears a turban, brandishes a scimitar and imitates a Muslim was filmed just a few days after a chaotic protest on Interstate 225, where gunfire broke out after the driver of a Jeep attempted to ram into a crowd of demon-

strators.

“There was already such a heightened sensitivity around race,” Fields said. “And that apology, ‘I’m sorry I offended you,’ is empty. That’s like saying, ‘move on.’ … I refuse to be shamed because of my heritage and background. There was nothing funny or cute about it. It was offensive and demeaning. He should step down.”

Mayor Mike Coffman issued a statement defending Sundberg from accusations of racism after the videos were made public, saying the videos were “an unfortunate attempt at humor” and were made “in poor taste” but noting that Sundberg has a Black wife and mixed-race children.

Other council conservatives — Curtis Gardner, Angela Lawson and Dustin Zvonek — did not immediately respond when contacted by The Sentinel for comment on Thursday.

Progressive Councilmember Juan Marcano, whose ward includes Sundberg’s business, said he shared the desire of some of his constituents to see Sundberg step down but thought that was unlikely to happen.

He said the freshman lawmaker should at least agree to restore funding to the city’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which the council cut at Sundberg’s suggestion earlier this year, and that Sundberg should also agree to participate in diversity training.

“The accountability is ultimately going to come from community members,” Marcano said, mentioning how earlier this year conservatives reportedly halted an attempt to censure Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky for alleged charter violations.

“At the very least, he needs to issue a real apology,” Marcano said.

Aurora City Councilmember Steve Sundberg is seen imitating a Mexican individual while advertising a meal special at his bar Legends in the photo of the original post on Facebook. The bars social media page was once filled with a bevy of similarly mocking videos. Screengrab from a now removed Facebook video

Growing Voices

Amid the seemingly endless clamoring among adults to define what challenges our communities, and how we can best meet those challenges — especially fundamental ones — the voices of the next generation are often overlooked. Here are some of them, and here’s what they say.

“My family has taught me that the American dream is a rocky path for people of color,” Yoselin De La Torre-Perez, a student at William Smith High School in Aurora, wrote as part of a “American Dream” project for the Class of 2023. “By taking action, we can create a better way of living.”

The annual American Dream project is coordinated chiefly by teacher Peter Baer and is published as a testament to the often unheard voices in a noisy political world. The students were in ninth grade when the wrote and published this book.

“Another problem my family and I deal with is social discrimination, not just in professional places, but sometimes when we are just having family time in public places,” writes Sariah Rose Amir. “My grandpa says that he was discriminated against his whole life. He told me that people in stores would yell at him to go back to where he came from, although he is from here. He is a fifth-generation Coloradan.”

TheSentinelregularly brings readers a vast range of news from sources across the city and even the nation. This week, however, we’re offering readers this space for a longer look at what some of Aurora’s younger residents have to say about what is often considered the foundation of our society: seeking the American Dream.

This publication of the William Smith High School “American Dream” essay project is sponsored by The Colorado Journalism Investment Fund, which currently holds and operates SentinelColorado . Ownership of the Sentinel, under a new community board, is scheduled to take place after the first of the year.

Read on.

Growing Voices

Alexis Luis Bahena -

The ideal “American Dream” has been blurred out by power, prestige, pleasures, and possessions that are meant to make us happy and to feel adored.

My sister told me her American dream is to succeed in her career and to create a stable future for her family and children. She hopes to finish her nursing education and to get her BSN to work as a nurse, and eventually travel as a travel nurse. She also hopes to get married, have a family, and have children. My sister, Hillary Bahena, also said, “Unfortunately, there’s a lot of racism and segregation prominent today. The ideal ‘American Dream’ consists of materialistic things that are meant to make us happy.”

This impacted me by showing me that I always had an American dream made of possessions that I wanted - toys and objects like Louis Vuitton, luxury stuff. In reality, the American dream should not be made up of possessions; it should be made up of things that would help the world, not hurt it. A good start is more acceptance of people, not making fun of their weight or race; that would be a good starting point. To give opportunities because not everyone gets an equal opportunity. The “American Dream” is also sometimes not reachable because there are language and skin color barriers that make it harder.

“My American dream for this country would be to have great fathers and mothers to raise children and teach them great virtues. Aristotle said, ‘without virtue, there is no friendship,” according to my sister, Karla Welch. Many children are left to adoption, or their dad or mom leaves, but a great nation needs good parents to teach their kids to love. Without love, people become ignorant and selfish, and that’s the point we’re at right now. All people care about is power, and that’s all they want, and they become in love with themselves and have no place in their heart to love anyone; they are only in love with power and possessions. Each kid should have parents to teach them to love and to teach them virtues or we will become incapable of loving one another and ourselves. are chats all they want, and they become in love with themselves and have no place in their heart to love anyone; they are only in love with power and possessions. Each kid should have parents to teach them to love and to teach them virtues or we will become incapable of loving one another and ourselves.

My dad told me his struggles in life; how they came to this country to give us a better life and more opportunities. He told me how hard he works to give us what we want. I sat down and kept talking to him, and he started talking to me about how bad he would want my life. If he were a little kid, how he would want the shoes I had, the clothes, the privileges I had, because all his life he has been working for what he has right now. I see that the kids that have Mexican roots or take things for granted, how they don’t push themselves in school or just do stupid stuff. How our parents maybe never got an education or got one but never finished because it costs money, and your grandparents couldn’t afford it for them. How we don’t use our resources to think about how we were born here. We take that for granted. As my mom says,”ponte las pilas, a metaphor in Spanish that means to be focused and pay attention. My mom always says to do good in school to do well in life and succeed, because all your parents want is the best for you. They don’t want to see you struggling; if they did, they would want you to try again, to keep your head and stand up. Your parents try their hardest to give you what you want, but we don’t help them. I’ve

learned that we have to help our parents work hard. My dad has started to make me work for my stuff, and I do now. I’ve learned what hard work is, but I also learned when I talked to him that I also have to try in school. I don’t put my full effort in, and my dad has worked hard to give me my education, and now when I see my hands dirty or I’m tired, it reminds me of my dad when he’s working hard for the family. I also have to work hard and try my best because what I do now is going to impact my future and my future family.

From my family’s ups and downs, I’ve learned to work hard in life because not everything is free. Ultimately, a nation can be full of riches and power, but it will always have injustice, racism, segregation, rage, and conflict without love, virtue, and equality.

Charlye Casco -

Imagine sacrificing everything for your family and then being death threatened. You’ve done everything for your family in Mexico, but now you need to escape. That’s what my grandfather had to go through, and this is my family’s American Dream: to escape from a horrible reality and find a better life in a new country you know nothing about, but you’ll be free - or so we thought.

My family’s journey in America is undoubtedly a much better life than what they had in Mexico. My mom always tells me that she has many “American Dreams,” for example, getting financially stable and better employment. Her main goal was to give me and my siblings a better life once we were born. In Mexico, they were happy. They had money, and they were carefree, and my mom has always been outgoing.

She told me that my grandpa used to be a police officer for her pueblito, so he always dealt with criminals and problems. Once, he was dealing with a murder, and the perpetrator told my grandpa that he would kill him once he escaped. He ended up escaping not long after, and when my grandpa found out, he was scared. My grandpa is a loving family-type person, so he did what was best for his family. He moved to the USA by himself for the second time in 1995. The first time, his brother had unfortunately passed away, and he went back to Mexico.

He made the right decision and came to the US, and my mom stayed in touch with him. A couple years later, she wanted to go there herself. At that time, she had already

met my dad and lived with him; the next step for her was to cross the border for a future for her future family. My mom told me that her American wish was not to get rich or leave the struggle. After 15 years in the USA, my mom has started to realize that her real dream was to give all of her family a life. She has sacrificed everything for us, and someday I hope I can give back to her. My mom is the strongest person I know, mentally and physically.

Someone else I look up to is my brother. Technically, he is my stepbrother, but growing up, I was always inspired by him. He has been through a lot in life, and he still keeps going. He said that his American dream was to “go all around the world and see how different people live compared to us and their culture and their religions.” He wants to be able to be a general constructor and improve and invest in his father’s company. He wants to be someone in life. He wants to be able to live well and eat well, as well as be happy. My family has sacrificed everything for us, and I expect myself to continue their legacy and be a better person and learn from their mistakes in life. Many people see the American dream as wealth and happiness, but my family sees it as an opportunity for a better life, an open window for an easier life for later generations.

Yoselin De La Torre-Perez -

My family has taught me that the American dream is a rocky path for people of color. By taking action, we can create a better way of living.

For my sister, the American dream is “to be genuinely happy, to follow and explore as many paths as possible, and to find a path in life that I am happy with. We come from parents who had limited education, and seeking education beyond a high school diploma has always been the top goal in our minds. As the youngest of four sisters, with an eight year difference between the second youngest sister and me, I was never really close with any of my sisters. The difference in age now serves me with some disadvantages, along with some advantages. I felt left out in many ways, such as not going out with them as much or not being able to talk about my problems with them. They are older, and they have dealt with some more critical issues.

As I see my sisters in their early to late twenties, I see things that I could do differently. For example, I have seen that they all had kids at a relatively young age, which stopped

them from truly enjoying life without having to worry about their kids. I someday will have kids of my own, but I want to finish college and with medical school, have a stable job, and be prepared for when I do have kids. I want to wait to have kids because I would like to travel around the United States and have mini road trips with friends and enjoy life to the fullest. As much as I would like for our lives to be this easy, they won’t. There are financial, racial, and even family problems that get in the way of finding my happy path. As a Hispanic person, there has always been a thought in the back of my head every time I go out in public: “What is today going to be like? Will I get harassed for speaking Spanish, will I get harassed for the color of my skin, will it be for both, or will I go about my day as if it was just any ordinary day?” I know I am not the only person that feels this way. How are we going to stop this? It’s not as easy as just looking past the color of our skin.

The American dream for my other sister is “having equality amongst all people, regardless of their race.” I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “actions speak louder than words.” Taking action can have a significant impact on changing the way we view people. For example, if you see someone in public being discriminated against, will you stand there and watch, or will you go over and stand up for them? I would try my best to de-escalate and stand up for anyone being discriminated against, as I’m sure many of you would too. Something else that I believe we can do is raise our future children and influence them to treat others kindly, with respect and as equals. I know that by helping people change the way society views and stereotypes people of color, we can make many people feel safer.

By combining these two ideas of the American dream, I know that we can create a better and safer environment in which people of color feel safe to express themselves in public. My sister hopes that “more will be done to help people who are struggling to live the American dream; for example, immigrants, people dealing with homelessness, unemployed people, veterans, and single mothers.” It is essential to help people who are in these situations by breaking down stereotypes that people get automatically put in based on their race or disabilities that they suffer.

From the dreams of my family, I hope America can learn that there are many ways to help people of color, by speaking out or taking action.

Kirvin Fajardo -

“Te portas bien.” This is what my mom tells me every morning after I kiss her goodbye for school. She tells me this because she wants me not to have to struggle and make the same sacrifices she had to make in order to succeed. Despite having immigrated from El Salvador and having faced various obstacles, my mom is one of the lucky people to have experienced the American dream. For my mom, the American dream is being able to work hard and having that work pay off in the end. This is the American dream for my mom because she had to work hard in life to get to where she is now.

In the 1980s, El Salvador was slowly turning into one of the most dangerous countries in the world. My grandma did not want to raise her kids in a violent and corrupt environment. Therefore, my grandpa had been working in the U.S. with my mom’s two brothers, since 1985, to be able to save up and pay a coyote to help my mom and grandma cross the border. Finally, my grandpa had enough money to pay for a coyote. My mom and grandma

departed their country of birth when my mom was 16. My mom described the departure as sad because she would have to leave friends and family behind. She told me she took one long look behind her at the only home she ever knew and the friends and family she wouldn’t see for another 25 years.

Before reaching Mexico, my mom and grandma had to take multiple buses. My mom said she was happy when they reached Mexico because she could finally stretch her legs. The walk to the border was hard. Sweat ran down my mom’s face and fell onto the rocky terrain, disappearing instantly into the dirt. They finally reached the border, but when attempting to cross it, they were caught and detained. My mother told me that she saw the desperation of other families, not knowing what to do next. They didn’t know if they would be sent back, or let go, and my mom felt the same way. Luckily, my grandma was able to call my grandpa, and both were bailed out for $1500.

My mom was happy to have finally reached California and able to see her brothers and dad again. After three weeks of living in L.A., she enrolled in Manual Arts High School. This school was mostly Hispanic, and that made it easier for my mom to adapt. She finally made friends and learned some English, enough to be able to communicate with more people. During that time, my mom was also exposed to some negative events. one of those being the Rodney King riots. My mom described feeling sad. She thought she had left behind violence in EI Salvador. Soon she realized that the U.S. wasn’t as perfect as she thought. Unfortunately, in 1991, my mom and her family had to move to Colorado because of the lack of jobs in L.A. My mom had experienced a lot of change in the last year, and now she had to leave her friends once again and adapt to a less culturally diverse state. On the drive to Colorado, my mom experienced snowfall for the first time; she explained it like this: “It was nice to feel the cold against my face. It was like being in a refrigerator. I thought we didn’t have to buy a refrigerator in Colorado.” After she said this, she threw her head back and laughed.

When my mom and her family arrived in Colorado, they didn’t have anywhere to stay, so they stayed at a motel for a couple of months. One month after arriving in Colorado, she enrolled in Aurora Central High School. She was able to graduate high school because of the English she had learned, and after putting in hard work into her classes, she graduated in 1994. Unfortunately, after high school, my mom was unable to pursue a career due to the lack of money and knowledge of where she could get help.

In 1994, she got a job at Rocky Mountain Orthodontics where she welded braces. She could finally help her family and helped get my grandparents to rent an apartment. In 1995 she had her first daughter, and due to certain events that happened during that time, she was a single mother. Three years later, my mom met my dad and had her second daughter. Now that my mom had two daughters, she needed a more stable job. She decided to start her own cleaning business; she made her own hours and had time to spend with her family.

Life was great for my mom, and with the birth of me in 2005, her life became even better. My grandfather even bought a house. My mom felt like the American dream was becoming a reality for her. On the morning of November 2, 2008, the smell of coffee filled the house as my mom was getting ready to go to work. However, her morning routine was interrupted by three loud knocks and the family dog Osito barking repeatedly at the door. My mom, not knowing what was about to happen, innocently opened the door. To her surprise, three ICE agents were

Growing Voices

at her doorstep with a warrant for her arrest. Her heart sunk as she realized this could be the last time she ever saw her house. “There were many ICE agents all around the house, more than ten, just in case I tried to escape. I felt like a criminal. I was allowed to change, and I remember I grabbed a skirt and an orange sweater. When I got out, I was immediately handcuffed and four officials rode with me in the back of a white van. I felt like the world was crashing down on me. I felt so overwhelmed and sad.”

My mom was taken to an ICE detention center, where immigrants are held while their cases are processed. When she arrived, she was in shock and still could not believe what was happening. She didn’t know what to do. She was numb and time seemed to go by slowly, Hope was nonexistent for her, “What are they going to do with me?” she asked herself. Her first day in her words was “strange.” She didn’t want to be sent back to her country and leave her family behind. She had lived in the Us for what felt like forever. She had no one in El Salvador. My dad found a lawyer the very next day and after ten days the lawyer reviewed the case and said if the letter of deportation was never received, my mom had a chance of fixing her immigration status.

After that, my mom had hope once again, knowing that she had, good chance of staying in the land of opportunity. The lawyer started the process immediately.

“I prayed to God and put my trust in him. A day never passed when I didn’t pray. Nothing about that place was happy. Everywhere you walked, sadness roamed” After 30 slow days, my mom was given a court date, and this made my mom very happy. Ten days later, she had court, and the judge allowed her to leave that day on a $4,000 bail. When my mom heard that, she felt an indescribable feeling because she had not held her family for 40 days. My mom’s perspective on life changed. She learned to value life in America, that everything that you do in life, whether it be good or bad, has consequences.”

My mom’s story is unlike other stories, but still so similar to the millions of immigrants who come to the U.S. in search of a safer and better life. My mom has worked so hard to get to where she is now, and she just recently became a U.S. citizen. She has gone through so much, and being almost deported is just one thing on the list. Even though this country is run by so many stereotypes based on where you are from and what you believe in, my mom never let those stereotypes decide her fate. In the end, my mom got to be one of the fortunate people who experience the American dream.

Javier Garcia Mosqueda -

My family’s American Dream is to be able to accomplish all our goals and to be able to give back to our family. Both my parents came to the US as undocumented immigrants, and they met in the US. It was really difficult for them to get to the US. My mom is from a small town in Guanajuato, Mexico. My mom moved from Sanora, Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona on foot, along with a group of people led by a coyote. She had to make that walk through the desert at night to avoid getting caught by border patrol.

It was late December, so it was really cold at night while she was crossing over to the US. While walking, they stumbled upon a border patrol truck and had to hide. The coyote got scared and fled, so now my mom and her group had to continue their journey without the coyote. When they finally crossed the border, her initial reaction was excitement. At the same time she felt fear because she still had not yet made it to her final destination. There was still a chance of getting caught and getting sent back to Mexico. All of the stress would have been for nothing.

Even after reaching Arizona, the cold walk continued. She could hear snakes rattling nearby, and the smell of cattle was very strong which meant that they were getting close to a small town where they would be staying. Once my mom and her group reached that small town, they were able to camp out in a friend’s yard. Her final destination was Oakland, California, and when she made it, she lived in a basement and struggled to pay the rent because it was hard for her to find a job as an undocumented immigrant. When she found a job, they only paid her $25 for the day. My mom had to wait five years until she was able to get her green card.

My dad experienced a journey similar to my mom’s. He crossed from El Salvador to California during 1999, in the winter. He spent 22 days crossing, sometimes in the back of a trailer.

While crossing Mexico, it was really hot, but when he got to Arizona, it started getting colder. He crossed the desert with a group of people during night time to avoid getting caught by border patrol. He felt scared and worried while he was crossing because it was really dangerous. While crossing, they saw a border patrol truck so they had to hide behind bushes to avoid getting caught. They got away and continued on with their journey. Once he crossed, he felt really happy because he had made it safely. His final destination was Los

Angeles, California.

When my dad finally arrived, he stayed with some family and found a job in landscaping. He was really happy he was able to see his family in California, but he was also sad because he was worried he was never going to be able to see his mom in El Salvador ever again. He spent two weeks sad and crying because he really missed her; he even thought about going back.

Jesse Gonzalez -

My family’s American dream is to live free and not be criticized because of our skin or race. To be able to walk the streets without being criticized, feeling free from how your skin color, race, or clothing is being judged. Feeling free means to not be ashamed of your skin color or race, Feeling free means not being scared of your own identity. Feeling free means not being scared to show your real self, being comfortable within your own skin.

Sometimes my mom would go to the store and get criticized for speaking Spanish. “Y el arroz?” said my mom when we went to the store. “This is America. Go back to your Spanish speaking country!” said a woman in a raspy voice. This shows how prejudice happens and how it makes people upset or ashamed because they are being stereotyped and made fun of because of their language. Immigration is overpowering people and people are getting their rights taken away. This means that people with power abuse others who don’t have the same power as them.

Cynthia Aldava Velazquez -

Ever since my parents came here to the United States, they have been wanting to have kids. They had me and my two other sisters. My older sister’s name is Nubiao. She is 17 years old, and her American dream is for everyone to get treated equally. That’s one of my American dreams too.

I say this because when we would go to the store, my family and I would look around to see what we would want to buy and the things that we needed. There were also some white people that would just stare at us if we were going to steal or try to do something wrong. That made me and my family feel so uncomfortable, so we just left. The American dream of my family is for me and my two sisters to be successful; they also want to start a business, like a restaurant. My parents have always wanted me and my sisters to become successful; they always try to make sure we feel like we are treated equally, and they always try to do their best to give us what they never had. That’s the reason why they came here to the United States, but sometimes it can get hard for them because they have three daughters.

My parents always tell me to try my best in school. Yes, I try, but sometimes I can get really stressed out, and I get really mad at myself for not getting the work. That’s something I need to work on. I feel bad because they came here to have a better life, but it’s just my attitude: I try in school, and if I don’t get it. I leave it there and I don’t do it and I just get so mad at myself for not trying my best. I feel like I’m just making them get disappointed in me - anyways, my parent’s American dream is for me and my sisters to be successful. To make that happen, I will try my best, ask questions when I don’t get something, and not get mad at myself. I will walk across the stage, and I will get my parents a restaurant. So they can have their own business. So I can make them proud.

Growing Voices

Malachi Franco -

My American dream is for Latinos that live in this country to be considered American. This situation is a predictable Latino experience. My dad’s parents and my mom’s parents met in Mexico then came here.

Christal Basurto Campos -

My parents came here to give their children a better life and future. The American Dream is to be successful enough to take care of the people you love most, and to help others that can’t help themselves. My American Dream for this country is to make laws that make everyone equal because that is how we were made. We were not made to feel hatred towards ourselves because of who we are. Whenever we have people around us that make hateful comments towards others, it makes us start believing the hateful comments they make, Unfortunately, the

American Dream is often not a reality for everyone. It is usually only a reality for people with more power or with a lot of money,

My mom works as a house cleaner. When she gets home before me, I walk into my home and see buckets filled with bottles of cleaning liquids and bags filled with dirty, smelly rags, Both of my parents are very hard workers, because they had to work hard to be able to take care of their kids and keep a roof over all of heads. Seeing my parents get older sucks because I want to be able to give back to them for everything they did for my siblings and I. My dad works many different things, and he works a lot. Whenever he doesn’t work, he works on something in or out of our house. The backyard of our house currently has a giant rectangle dug in the dirt, and he also has two sheds that he built himself. Growing up, I couldn’t spend a lot of time with either of my parents because they were always working. So when my parents were working, both of my sisters took me with them and raised me until I was five years old, maybe six. Unfortunately one of my sisters left when I was around this age as well. Now, I don’t get to see her or my nephew as much as I wish I did. Seeing her leave was one of the hardest things I still have to do.

Sariah Rose Amir -

The American dream is different for everyone. The American dream for me is working hard enough to be able to give back to my parents everything that they gave up for me and my siblings. I am going to be analyzing the types of challenges that I go through, specifically because of my ethnicity/race or because of my social class. I will also be analyzing what dreams I have for the future of our country. Then will be able to show what is wrong with our country and society and what actions we could take to make at least a little bit of a difference.

The first topic I would like to talk about is how being able to get a higher education, like college, is especially hard for citizens who are middle class. You may think that it wouldn’t be that hard for middle-class citizens to get into college because they have a decent amount of money; the reality can be very different. Middle-class citizens don’t qualify for financial aid or any other of the benefits provided, but they can’t afford to send their children to college, especially if they want to go for more than a four-year degree. The average cost to go to college for four years is $68,948 - so they are stuck in the middle of not being able to afford it for more than four years and not being able to get any help. Fam-

ilies who get a higher salary are not eligible for any type of financial aid.

Another thing that can make college hard for middle-class families is, if there is more than one child that wants to go to college, they have to put aside even more money, which can lead to less vacations, less groceries, less wants and more needs, which no family wants. Another reason is that middle-class neighborhoods usually don’t have good schools unless you get lucky. For example, I live in a middle-class neighborhood, yet the middle school I was assigned to go to was rated the worst in the city. The high school I was also assigned to had very bad ratings. Luckily, I got into William Smith. The middle school I was assigned to had at least three fights a week, and teachers didn’t get help to the individual students. Kids came to school under the influence, or even did it on campus. As my mom said, “Since most middle-class citizens can’t afford to move into a neighborhood with better schools; they are stuck trying to find alternate ways to educate their kids” One way this could be partially solved is making it easier for teenagers to get jobs. This could help because if teenagers work for their own money and buy their own things, their parents won’t have to worry about buying them clothes and shoes and things like that. They could instead use their money for college tuition, or to go to a good private school to get a better education, or to save enough money to move into a better neighborhood with a better school.

I decided to write about this issue here because this problem isn’t brought up enough. No one even talks about it, and this is why no one has tried to solve the issue. This shows that money is a huge issue in our society, and it should be talked about - there could be some kind of a resolution.

One even bigger problem is being a woman and being paid less as a result. My mom works in a male-dominated field. She is a crime scene investigator (CSI) I know that she gets paid less as a woman because she has told me about this issue before.

She said that her male coworkers that do the exact same work as she does get paid more. She comes home with sights in her mind of dead people, abused kids, and lots of other horrifying things. When she comes home from her job, you can see in her eyes how tired she is from her 12-hour shift.

Yet she still comes home and makes dinner for my whole family. She still makes sure everyone in the house is taken care of, and that the house is clean. And she is my inspiration to be the most hardworking and successful woman I can be.

Another problem my family and I deal with is social discrimination, not just in professional places, but sometimes when we are just having family time in public places. My grandpa says that he was discriminated against his whole life. He told me that people in stores would yell at him to go back to where he came from, although he is from here. He is a fifth-generation Coloradan. He has brown skin and is Hispanic, but people just assume that he is from across the border because of his skin color. He also said how as a kid he fully spoke Spanish, but when he started going to school, the schools punished students because they thought it was a way to talk back. Therefore, he lost the ability to speak Spanish and can now only understand it.

My grandpa was also a drafted Vietnam veteran. People were very aggressive towards him because they were against the Vietnam war, and he would get spit on and yelled at for wearing his uniform in public. So he dealt with ethnic discrimination and aggressiveness towards him for being a veteran. He stated that although it was a rough time, he couldn’t do anything about it.

My grandparents (who are both Hispanic) said that when they had to fill in applications for jobs and write down their race there were only two options to pick from: Black and white. If you were anything except Black, you had to choose white. When they would go in for an interview, they wouldn’t get hired when the employers thought they were white but found out they were Hispanic - a deal-breaker for most jobs. It is a lot easier for Hispanics to get hired doing physical labor, but to get a “professional job” is extremely hard.

My grandparents bought their first house together with my mom and my uncle. They lived in a white neighborhood. Because they weren’t white, the school administration wanted to bus them to a “brown neighborhood” and a “brown school” They fought with the school district and got to stay in their neighborhood. My mom is a Hispanic woman married to a Pakistani man, so she gets double the discrimination for when she tries to embrace her Hispanic culture or my dad’s culture. For example, my whole family went to the aurora reservoir with my dad’s sister’s family on a Muslim holiday. My aunt and my dad were wearing shalwar kameez, which is the culture’s tradition. Because they were wearing these, caucasian people were yelling at us, saying to go back to where we came from and calling all of us terrorists. I was young so I didn’t understand at the time.

In the Muslim religion, we go to something like a church. It is called a mosque. My parents tried to make me go a couple of times to

try and see if I liked it. Everyone there would mean mug me and point at me because they knew my family. They knew I wasn’t fully Pakistani, and they never accepted me into their culture or religion for that reason. Because of this, I never fully got to understand my dad’s religion or culture because I wanted nothing to do with the mosque after how badly I was treated there. I still remember walking in and feeling a bunch of eyes on me; it made me feel like I was out of place. This has caused me trouble to this day, because I don’t feel cultured at all compared to my friends. I was never taught anything about my Pakistani culture, and therefore I don’t understand my roots. I also don’t know much about my Hispanic culture either, because my mom never expressed it; my dad’s family did not like that she was not Pakistani. So she didn’t hide the fact that she was Hispanic, but she also never really expressed it, because she didn’t want my dad to be judged by his own family for marrying someone of a different religion and culture. This shows that our society still hasn’t accepted people for their culture.

My last subject is the American dream for my family and I and our dreams for this country. My mom defines the American dream as being to live comfortably and provide for my family, being free from discrimination and condemnation. My grandma’s American dream is having the freedom of traveling anywhere she wants. My grandpa’s definition is being able to sleep without locking your door, letting your kids play outside without having to worry about something happening to them, and just a more safe society. One thing my whole family agrees on about the American dream is that it is gone, and America is declining. According to them, the “Old” American dream for everyone coming here from across the border was working hard and becoming educated, and living successfully. Now the American dream is just being able to go out in public somewhere without being told to go back to their country.

My American dream is still the “old version” of the American dream. I want to get a higher education, have a career that makes me happy, and become successful. It is never even an option for me to fail. I always try my best in everything, and I think that by doing this, I am paying back my parents for everything they have done for me.

From the dreams of my family, I hope that America can learn that just because you have tan or dark skin does not automatically mean you are from across the border. And even if someone is from across the border, it does not make them any less of a person. They should not be treated any differently.

Preps

RIGHT: Head coach Michael Rogers, right, and the Granedview boys basketball team finished 3-1 and took fifth place in the Gatorade Division of the annual Tarkanian Classic boys basketball tournament Dec, 18-22 in Las Vegas. BELOW: The Vista PEAK girls basketball team finished as the Sapphire Division runners-up at the Tarkanian Classic girls tournament Dec. 22. Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado

The Grandview boys basketball team won just five games all of last season, but came away with three victories (and nearly a fourth) in a four-day trip to Las Vegas to participate in the Tarkanian Classic.

BASKETBALL

The Wolves finished off a 3-1 run at the tournament in Las Vegas as one of a trio of Aurora teams to play outside of Colorado in the final week before winter break, while Overland and Smoky Hill each finished 2-2 in different brackets at the Visit Mesa Challenge in Arizona.

tain Bracket of the Visit Mesa Challenge. Coach Anthony Hardin’s team finished with a 72-62 loss to Campo Verde, which had already played double-digit games coming in the tournament, on Thursday.

The Buffaloes defeated Red Mountain 85-62 to open the tournament, fell to Mesquite 76-67 and bounced back with a 72-55 victory over Maricopa.

Remote finishers

BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor

Grandview competed in the Gatorade Division of the Tarkanian Classic and coach Michael Rogers’ team earned fifth place with a 62-55 win in double overtime over Aquinas out of San Bernadino, California, Dec. 22. Senior Colin Bilotta had 19 points, freshman Gavin Placide had 16 and senior Simon Kibbeee 10 in the win for the Wolves, who enter winter break with a 5-3 record.

Grandview’s only loss in the tournament came in the championship semifinals against Democracy Prep of Las Vegas in a 52-51 defeat in double overtime in which it went just 8-for-22 from the free throw line. The Wolves defeated Basic, Nevada (78-43) in the opening round and Silverado, Nevada (73-67) in the consolation side of the winner’s bracket to get into the fifth-place game.

A balanced performance saw Bilotta average 12 points per game, Kibbee chip in 11 per contest with freshman Gallagher Placide at 9.75 per contest and Gavin Placide at 9.5.

Smoky Hill went to Arizona after a 4-0 start in play in Colorado and split four contests — all against teams from the host state — in the On This Moun-

Senior Rickey Mitchell had been on a scoring tear in Colorado play and continued that in the desert, as he kept that going averaging a whopping 26 points per game with a high of 33 points against Maricopa. Freshman Carter Basquez scored in double digits in three of the four games as he averaged 11.5 per game. Sophomore Lorenzo Contreras also averaged double figures for Smoky Hill, which opens the new year in another out-of-state tournament.

Overland went 2-3 against a quality set of opponents in Colorado prior to the Arizona tournament, in which it faced two teams from Arizona and two from California, including the Oak Hills team it defeated 74-64 Dec. 22 in the last contest in the War Eagle Bracket. Seniors Jaleel Dixon and Hamza Mursal had 23 and 20 points, respectively, while sophomore Siraaj Ali had 19 in the victory.

Coach Danny Fisher’s Trailblazers bounced back from a 68-59 loss to California’s Otay Ranch in the first game with a 59-54 defeat of Westwood, Arizona. They then dropped a 54-49 contest to Sunnyslope, Arizona. Ali had a 25-point effort in the opening game and in the three games he played in, he averaged 18.6 points per game. Mursal finished in double figures in three games and averaged 13.8 for the tournament, while Dixon averaged 11.7.

In girls play, Vista PEAK and Cherokee Trail took part in the Tarkanian Classic , while Grandview (last season’s Class 5A state champion) made its traditional trek to Phoenix for the Nike Tourna-

ment of Champions.

All three teams finished 3-1 and gained experience that could pay off when the winter season resumes in Colorado in early January.

Coach Howard Payne’s Vista PEAK team and coach Tammi Traylor-Statewright’s Cherokee Trail team both were part of the 16-team Sapphire Division — which included another Colorado team in Castle View, plus squads from from California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming — and very nearly met each other for the championship.

The Bison were the only team to reach the finals, however, and they finished as the tournament runner-up after a hard-fought 72-68 defeat Thursday at the hands of Coronado, out of Henderson, Nevada. Vista PEAK (5-5) defeated Foothill, Nevada (54-30), Desert Hills, Utah (56-37) and West Jordan, Utah (61-57) on its way to the championship game.

The same Coronado team kept Cherokee Trail out of the championship game with a 37-31 win in the semifinals, which was the first and only time the Cougars tasted defeat in the opening portion of the season. Cherokee Trail bounced back from the loss with a 58-44 win over West Jordan to reach break at 9-1 (giving it just one win less than its entire 202122 season). The Cougars also dispatched Clark, Nevada and Brighton, Utah in the first two rounds.

Grandview also was a third-place finisher as it took that spot in the Dan Wiley Division of the Nike Tournament of Champions, which included another Colorado team (Doherty) along with teams from Alaska, Arizona, California, Utah and Washington.

Preps

SIGNING DAY

Trio of city football players sign DI letters

The early National Signing Day for football players came Dec. 21 and some top Aurora prospects took advantage of it with private signings.

Two of those came from Class 5A quarterfinalist Regis Jesuit, as linebacker Hayden Moore signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Michigan, while tight end Andrew Metzger did the same with Kansas State. Both originally committed to other Division I programs — Moore with Nebraska and Metzger with Colorado — but both ended up decommitting to chose different schools after both went through coaching changes.

Moore was an All-State first team selection after a season in which he was credited with 197 tackles with 17 tackles for loss, including seven sacks.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder — who plays baseball in the spring — also had 111 tackles as a junior. Michigan, which already has a local prep star on the roster in offensive lineman Reece Atteberry, is currently ranked No. 2 in the country and is in the NCAA National Championship playoff. The Wolverines play No. 3 TCU on Dec. 31 in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

“Great measurables, very physical,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said of Moore on the “In The Trenches” podcast with Jon Jansen.

At 6-5, 235 pounds, Metzger was a favorite target of senior quarterback Exander Carroll in short yardage situation and he made 25 receptions for 334 yards and six touchdowns. The All-State first team selection also saw playing time on the defensive line for coach Danny Filleman’s team. Kansas State, which won the Big 12 championship, will play Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 in New Orleans.

Grandview also had a Division I signee in offensive lineman Zachary Henning, who signed with the University of Washington. He announced his commitment to the Huskies via social media in June. The 6-6, 275-pound Henning also was an All-State first team pick and first team All-Centennial League as well for coach Tom Doherty’s team, which made it to the quarterfinals of the 5A state playoffs. The Huskies are set to play Texas in the Valero Alamo Bowl Dec. 29 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

WINTER SPORTS Season takes holiday hiatus into January

The winter sports season takes a mandated holiday break beginning Dec. 24. By rule, teams cannot hold practice between Dec. 24-27 and also Jan. 1, while competition is on hold until Jan. 2.

WEEK

PAST

The week past in Aurora prep sports

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 21: The Regis Jesuit girls basketball team

went into winter break in style with a 50-36 non-league home win against previously undefeated Monarch.

The Raiders (5-4 at the break) rode a 17-point effort for Hana Belibi, while Coryn Watts added 16. …The Regis Jesuit boys basketball team rolled to a season-high 91 points in a 91-64 road victory at Monarch. Joe Dorais nailed eight 3-pointers on his way to 32 points, while Damarius Taylor contributed 17 and TaRea Fulcher had 12 as the Raiders improved to 4-3. … The Cherokee Trail girls swim team dropped a 97-89 Centennial League dual meet against Arapahoe. The Cou-

gars got a win in the 50 yard freestyle from Bella Lane, another from Sarah Woren in the 100 freestyle along with a victory for the 400 freestyle relay team of Lane, Olivia Jisa, Mckenna Mazeski and Morgan Walker Six Cherokee Trail relay teams swam times needed to qualify for the 5A state meet. …TUESDAY, DEC. 20: The Vista PEAK boys basketball team rolled into winter break at 8-2 after a 58-50 win over Lewis-Palmer, which won the Class 4A state title in 202122. Carson McDonald led a balanced effort by the Bison with 12 points, while Nasir Mills had 11 and Julian Carriza-

les had eight, all in a pivotal sequence in the fourth quarter. ...LaDavian King finished 13-of-15 from the free throw line on his way to a team-high 26 points to help the Eaglecrest boys basketball team to a 73-69 road win at Douglas County. Garrett Barger added 19 points and Joshua Ray 13 for the Raptors, who took a 6-3 record into winter break. …The shorthanded Gateway boys basketball team had a lead over Bear Creek at halftime, but got outscored 11-3 in overtime in a 4739 loss. The Olys got off to a fast start on the hot shooting of Josh Arce, who finished with 22 points, while Maxi-

mus Matthews added 10. Gateway has a 5-5 mark at winter break. …The Rangeview boys basketball team fell behind a hot-shooting Ralston Valley team early and suffered a 69-42 nonleague home loss. DeMarco Duncan and Isaac Martinez finished with 10 points apiece to lead the Raiders, who sit at 2-6 at the break. …The Overland girls basketball team dropped into the third-place game at the Northglenn Shootout with a 45-41 championship semifinal loss to Pomona, while Gateway

earned a spot in the fifthplace game with a 28-25 victory over the host Norse.

TOP: Vista PEAK junior Carson McDonald throws down a breakaway dunk during the Bison’s 58-50 boys basketball win over Lewis-Palmer on Dec. 20 that sent the Bison into winter break at 8-2. ABOVE LEFT: Gateway’s Josh Arce (3) ducks under a Bear Creek defender on an reverse layup attempt in the Olys’ overtime home floos Dec. 20 ABOVE

RIGHT: Rangeview’s Royce Edwards rises for a short shot in traffic during the Raiders’ home loss to Ralston Valley Dec. 20. (Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado)

WHAT. A. YEAR.

A look at the headlines and stories that fill Aurora news end to end

The city is on its third police chief in less than a year. Emotions and stunning history was drawn back as Aurora marked 10 years since the Aurora theater shooting. Hoping to ride a “red wave” into regaining political ground lost the past several years, Republicans statewide instead lost every race for statewide offices and lost even more ground in the Legislature.

Those are barely even the highlights of a year filled with highlights.

Here’s a selection of the many headlines that made 2022 a memorable year:

Aurora remembers the theater shooting a decade later

A decade after a gunman killed 12 people and wounded dozens more at a packed movie theater during a midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises,” there is still one word that sticks with victims, their families and the community: resilience.

After the shooting, “Aurora really showed up for one another,” Heather Dearman said in July when her family released balloons on the Aurora Great Lawn in honor of her 6-year-old cousin Veronica Moser-Sullivan. But “it wasn’t the shooting that made us tough and gave us the strength to carry on, it was our resilience that did that.”

Ten years have passed since July 20, 2012, but emotions are still raw, the community still grieves tremendous loss and gun law reform continues to be a major issue, just as it was in the days following the shooting.

In many ways, resilience from the shooting has fueled change, in more ways than one. Senator-elect Tom Sullivan, the father of a 27-year-old man killed in the shooting, has made gun control a central part of his political platform. He plans to take further action, possibly with raising the age to buy assault-style weapons, in January when the new legislative session starts.

Resilience has also pushed the community to keep remembering the lives lost.

After her son A.J. Boik was killed in the Aurora theater shooting, Theresa Hoover said she couldn’t imagine making it through the next 10 minutes, let alone the following 10 years.

For her, the decade has been marked by “missed firsts, missed birthdays, missed graduations” and many other events that A.J. should have been at. But through her faith, it’s also brought growth and a measure of peace, she said.

This year, Capital Six Brewing partnered with Boik’s family to brew “A.J.’s Haze,” a hazy IPA with a citrus aftertaste. A portion of the proceeds from each of the beers sold will go to the 7/20 Memorial Foundation.

“I think it’s best to do something good instead of making it a sad day,” Hoover said in July, as friends and family gathered for the official public release of the brew. Survivors have found great strength in resilience, too.

Zack Golditch, who was in high school at the time of the shooting, hopes he’s able to positively alter the path of another Aurora Public Schools student with a life-changing scholarship made possible through the Hero’s Journey 5K, which had its inaugural race this summer. Entry fees went toward a scholarship for an Aurora Public Schools student that culminates a dream Golditch — who graduated from Gateway High School a year after the tragedy — has had for a long time.

“My life was changed that night and hopefully this scholarship can change the life of another student in a good way,” Golditch, 27, told The Sentinel.

This year, Colorado experienced another mass shooting, this time in Colorado Springs at a gay night club where five people were killed. In response, local city lawmakers, who know the pain a community faces after such an event, affirmed their support for the LGBTQ community. —

STAFF

Asylum seeker dies in GEO custody

The public is still awaiting details on the death of Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza, who was in an privately-owned immigration detention center in Aurora when he was rushed to the hospital and then pronounced dead Oct. 14.

Calero-Mendoza had been at the facility since May 2, according to ICE. He was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol April 13 and was at the Aurora facility awaiting completion of his removal proceedings.

On Oct. 5, a judge with the Executive Office of Immigration Review ordered Calero-Mendoza’s removal and denied all relief. A 30-day period was granted before removal to accommodate any potential appeals.

As of this publishing, the autopsy was not yet available from the Adams County Coroner’s Office, which handles such investigations.

—KARAMASON,SentinelManagingEditor

Aurora gets omicron boosters, vaccine education

While 2022 marked the second full year of living with COVID-19, its fallout and targeted vaccines, local leaders are still working to encourage people to get them.

Omicron boosters arrived in the state in early September.

“I eagerly rolled up my sleeve to get the omicron vaccine dose because it’s a safe and easy way that I can protect my family, and our community, and have peace of mind. These updated vaccines went through a thorough approval process and now we are thrilled they are finally available to protect Coloradans from the omicron variants,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement following his jab this fall.

Since then, as more people shed masks and abandon social distancing measures, local health organizations and even school districts have taken on the task of informing the community of how important COVID-19 vaccines are in preventing serious illness, which in some cases can still cause death.

This semester, Aurora Public Schools received a grant from the Institute for Educational Leadership and Kaiser Permanente specifically for increasing COVID-19 vaccine confidence and improving vaccine equity.

B Lewis, a community schools impact manager at APS, said that in 2020 the district realized that there was a lot of misinformation circulating about the vaccine, and decided to partner with Tri-County to make sure it was consistently delivering accurate and reliable information to students and their families.

With the conclusion of the Tri-County Health Department, individual county health departments in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties will take on infectious disease prevention efforts.

Aurora gets immersive Dalí

Much changed in Aurora this year, including the city’s notoriety for art.

“Dalí Alive,” a 13,000-square foot immersive display at Stanley Marketplace, made its debut in north Aurora. Salvador Dalí is known for his art, but mostly for his personality that accompanied his art. The immersive exhibit puts both on display and shows visitors the man behind the images that have become iconic.

Similar to other immersive exhibits that have come before it, giant dancing versions of some of Dalí’s most well-known works tower over guests. “The Persistence of Memory,” which was apparently inspired by a piece of Camembert cheese melting in the heat, and “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee,” painted of his muse Gala well after the artist’s prime, are both among the images that float around the space.

“Dalí Alive” runs through Jan. 29 at the Hangar in Stanley Marketplace, 2501 N. Dallas Street. Tickets for adults start at $39.00 with discounts for children and seniors. For more information and to buy tickets, visit thelume.com.

—KARAMASON,SentinelManagingEditor

Annette chef recognized with James Beard award

If this year you indulged in one of Aurora’s best burgers, presented on fresh English muffins, or drooled over potato gnocchi served with roasted chestnut puree, caramelized fennel, cippolinis and crispy prosciutto, then you’ve eaten from one of the country’s top chefs.

Caroline Glover of Annette,

Glover, who

located in Stanley Marketplace in north Aurora, was named best chef in the mountain region by the James Beard Foundation this summer.

founded Annette in 2016, was a semi-finalist for the category in 2018 and 2019 as well as a

A small alter was constructed outside of the GEO facility, Nov. 23, during a vigil and press conference regarding the death of Melvin Mendoza Calero, who was being detained in the Aurora GEO facility.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Wait times exceeded two and a half hours for COIVD testing, Jan 3, 2022 at the testing site at Del Mar Park. With the more easily transmissible Omicron variant taking shape as the dominant strain, metro area residents flocked to testing sites after the holiday season.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

nominee in 2020. She accepted the 2022 award June 13 at the awards ceremony in Chicago, making her the first chef in Aurora to earn the prestigious title.

She told The Sentinel that after the stress of the past two and a half years, receiving the award felt surreal.

“Getting this award, it felt like a silver lining to a really hard time,” she said.

Glover said that the restaurant’s staff, which is currently 18 people, worked harder than it ever had during the pandemic to come up with creative ways to remain profitable and serve customers.

Accepting the award, Glover told the audience that because of her staff, Annette was able to pivot to a to-go model in the days of the pandemic, “and many more iterations after that,” she said.

— SENTINEL STAFF

Roe repeal felt locally

Colorado has some of the strongest abortion protections in the nation, but after the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade in June local health providers almost immediately began to feel the strain from so many patients from out of state coming to Colorado to seek abortions.

As of early August, one-third of patients coming to Planned Parenthood locations in Colorado for abortions were from other states, which has slowed down appointments for people no matter where they live.

“There is a ripple effect where if those appointment times are out three weeks it doesn’t matter if you’re from Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota or right down the street in Denver,” said Dr. Kristina Tocce, who works at Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains at a listening session at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine campus with Congressman Jason Crow this summer.

Healthcare providers worry that the repeal will make pregnancy and childbirth more dangerous for women and put doctors in potential legal danger. It’s also making medical school more difficult for students in states where abortion is now completely illegal.

Anschutz assistant professor Dr. Aaron Lazorwitz said that the school’s OBGYN department has already been contacted by schools in other parts of the country asking if it can help educate their OBGYN residents.

“We’ve had programs from Texas and Oklahoma reach out to ask, ‘can you help train our residents? Because we can’t train them anymore,’” he said.

Colorado voters have repeatedly rejected ballot measures to make the state’s abortion laws more restrictive. In the spring, the Colorado Legislature passed the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which guarantees the right to an abortion in state law. Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, legislators say it’s likely that the upcoming legislative session will include more bills geared towards increasing protections for reproductive healthcare.

—CARINAJULIG,SentinelStaffWriter

New county health departments form

Following the votes last year to disband the Tri-County Health Department, Adams and Arapahoe counties spent the year putting plans in place to form their own, individual-county health departments that will come online at the beginning of 2023. The new departments will be helmed by many of the same people, as hundreds of Tri-County employees have signed on to work at one of the departments come January.

The Arapahoe County department will be led by Jennifer Ludwig and the Adams County department by Kelly Weidenbach, both former Tri-County employees. Public health officials say they have been working to make the transition as seamless as possible and hope that the switch to single-county departments will make it easier to focus in on specific issues affecting residents of each county.

“Arapahoe County is a big county but we can still build more intimate relationships as a single county health department,” Ludwig said.

—CARINAJULIG,SentinelStaffWriter

Colorado keeps blue

Democratic state leaders kept their seats in 2022. Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, State Treasurer Dave Young and legislative lawmakers cemented Colorado’s place as a burgeoning blue state, despite historical trends that

show the opposing party often fairs better in midterm elections. Democrats kept the state House and Senate.

In Congress, Rep. Jason Crow returned to Washington with a double-digit lead over GOP challenger Steve Monahan, who ran as one of the most moderate Republicans in the state.

In conservative CO-03, which encompasses southern Colorado and the Western Slope, Lauren Boebert faced one of the fiercest re-election challenges in Congress. She won by just more than 500 votes, which was determined after an automatic recount.

In 2023, Aurora and other communities across Colorado will embark on municipal elections. A handful of Aurora City Council seats are up for re-election, along with the mayor. Mayor Mike Coffman inched out a win in 2019, a year after he lost his congressional seat to Crow.

—KARAMASON,SentinelManagingEditor

Book pulled from shelves at school library

A sex education book has been removed from circulation in Cherry Creek School District libraries following a parent complaint that prompted an internal review of three books.

The district reviewed “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships and Being a Human” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe and “Flamer” by Mike Curato and ultimately decided to remove “Let’s Talk About It” from shelves due to concerns over how it discussed sexting. The book was available in libraries at two district high schools but had never been checked out.

During public comment at the district’s September school board meeting, parent Sarah King said she wanted the books removed because of their sexual content and because they promoted “vile and depraved acts.”

“These books sexualize children and destroy their innocence,” she said.

All three books, two of which are graphic novels/ memoirs about coming of age as an LGBTQ person, have been heavily targeted for removal at school and public libraries across the country in a wave of book bans being organized by conservative groups.

A recent report from free speech organization PEN America found that from July 2021 to June 2022 there were over 2,500 instances of individual books being banned in schools across the U.S. The majority of attempts to ban books were being led by organized political groups, PEN said, of which the organization identified more than 50.Over 40% of banned books had LGBTQ themes or characters, and 40% featured main or secondary characters of color, the report said. Another 22% included sexual content.

In Colorado, conservative parent groups largely failed to make gains at the ballot box this year. Molly Lamar, a Cherry Creek parent who had spoken out against critical race theory being taught in schools, lost the race to represent Colorado’s Sixth District on the state Board of Education to incumbent Rebecca McClellan. Gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganhl, who described herself as a “mad mom” and promoted an unsubstantiated claim near the end of the campaign that students in Colorado schools were self-identifying as animals lost by over 18 percentage points to incumbent Jared Polis.

—CARINAJULIG,SentinelStaffWriter

Denver Fashion Week gets a taste of Aurora

Aurora’s Fashion Factory owners Skye Barker Maa made her runway debut in 2022, hoping to inspire others and perhaps take her designs global.

The new line is called SKYE|AIRE and the first collection has its roots in Denver, by way of the deep sea. The pieces mimic the patterns and shapes of stingrays, jellyfish and other aquatic life. Barker Maa has dozens and dozens of photos on her iPhone from the Denver Aquarium, where the inspiration struck earlier this year.

“My 14-year-old son and I had a mom-son date, and he wanted me to take him to the aquarium and I was cranky about it, because I didn’t want to spend 30 bucks a pop. I’m like, we’ve been to the aquarium a million times. Let’s go to the movies or something,” Barker Maa recalled. “But he took me to the aquarium and I was just watching these stingrays and I was like — that’s it. I saw an entire collection in the Denver Aquarium.”

While the fashion industry isn’t as bustling in the Denver metroplex as it is in other major cities across the country, Barker Maa sees potential, especially in her Stanley Marketplace-based studio where almost a dozen sewers work full time. They were a significant part of getting SKYE|AIRE to the runway.

“I think Denver is a great place for it,” Barker Maa told The Sentinel. “And I think there’s a good solid need for it, but finding a place where you can pay the rent and do that is hard. The arts in general are like that…You’re not going to drive the Mercedes in the arts, but keeping the lights on and keeping people paid and hopefully driving the Honda that works is kind of the goal. But there’s a super high need for what we’re doing.”

Factory Fashion, which employs a dozen sewers with full-time work, is Barker Maa’s latest creative endeavor. She also owns Factory Five Five, a self-described funky art warehouse, co-owns the Sky Bar, a cocktail lounge that “celebrates the golden age of air travel,” and sold Neighborhood music, which she started after her son expressed interest in learning piano, earlier this year.

—KARAMASON,SentinelManagingEditor

APS superintendent steps down

After nine years with the district, Aurora Public Schools Superintendent Rico Munn announced he would not be seeking to renew his current contract and would be stepping down at the end of this semester. An interim superintendent will be appointed for next semester as the board searches for his replacement.

The district’s 16th leader and first Black superintendent, Munn led the district during some of its most challenging times and was in charge of navigating the switch to online learning and all of the other difficulties of the

years.

pandemic

During his tenure, the district’s aca-

Skye Barker Maa, owner of Factory Fashion, stands for a portrait inside of her studio, October 24. Baker Maa uses the studio as a school and as a workshop, prectically serving as an incubator for budding fashion designers.

Portrait by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

U.S. Department of Education Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten speaks with APS Superintendent Rico Munn at Clyde Miller P-8, May 4, 2022, during a visit to several Aurora Public Schools to see how ESSER funding is being used by the district. Munn will transition into a support role starting next semester and will serve the district in a modified schedule through the end of the 2022-2023 school year, according to an APS press release.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

demic achievement and graduation rates have improved, but it has also struggled with declining enrollment and an increase in youth violence during the pandemic. Since the most recent school board election in fall 2021 Munn has increasingly clashed with the board of education, and said that his exit stems from a “conflict of vision” with the board over the district’s future.

The current APS chief of staff Mark Seglem will lead the district in an interim capacity next semester while Munn steps into an advisory role. The board is beginning its search for a new superintendent, which education experts say could take time as there are not a significant number of candidates who have managed a district of APS’ size and complexity.

At a board meeting earlier this month, Munn thanked the district’s students and families for allowing him to serve them for almost a decade.

“It’s something that I will never take for granted,” he said.

—CARINAJULIG,SentinelStaffWriter

cy” in Colorado, as a rise in acute mental health needs in children and teens runs up against a shortage of providers. The treatment center will have educational staff from the district, while CU and Children’s Hospital will provide the staff for the clinical aspect of the program. It will be equipped to work with students dealing with a range of psychological issues, including students who are dealing with comorbid problems such as eating disorders or substance abuse.

The $15 million facility is being constructed with money from a 2020 bond measure approved by voters and is anticipated to open in the fall of 2023. At a December school board meeting, it was officially given the name Traverse Academy.

“This name is a nod to the four great Traverses in Colorado mountain climbing, representing the obstacles to be overcome to move from one great peak to the next,” board documents said.

CCSD assistant superintendent for special populations Tony Poole said the partnership is believed to be the first of its kind.

“We really do hope that this can be a model for schools not only in Colorado but across the country,” he said.

—CARINAJULIG,SentinelStaffWriter

Aurora rallies to support immigrants and refugees

Following the fall of the Afghan government last year and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Aurorans have rallied to support immigrants and refugees arriving to the city.

Between October 2021 and September 2022, Colorado welcomed more than 2,700 immigrants from Afghanistan and Ukraine, according to the state’s Refugee Services Program. Colorado expects to receive as many as 2,000 refugees from Ukraine alone through fall 2023. Around 900 refugees from Cuba have also arrived in Colorado in the past year.

Following the Russian invasion, Gov. Jared Polis met with Ukrainian Americans at Ukrainian-owned Wake and Take Coffee in Aurora. In a 2016 diversity report by the City of Aurora, Ukrainians were the 11th most populous immigrant group in the city of more than 360,000 people.

“We, as Coloradans all stand with Ukraine and your stand for peace, and we want to do everything we can to end the invasion and help make sure that your family members are safe,” Polis said in March.

In October, organization Welcome.US held a job fair at the Community College of Aurora specifically for immigrants and refugees. The fair was open to everyone, but specifically focused on recent arrivals from Afghanistan and Ukraine. Several hundred people attended, some of whom were hired right on the spot.

“We want to inspire employers to hire refugees,” said Maytham Alshadood, a director of partnerships for the organization and former deputy chief of staff for Congressman Crow.

The African Community Center also held its first refugee Thanksgiving since the pandemic began in Aurora, where immigrants get to experience their first American Thanksgiving and enjoy food from a variety of cultures. In a year that has seen a dramatic increase in refugee resettlement to Colorado, organizers said it was meaningful to be able to connect.

— SENTINEL STAFF

Blueprint APS work continues, despite protests

In the spring, the Aurora Public Schools voted to accept the superintendent’s recommendation to close Sable and Paris elementary schools as part of Blueprint APS, the district’s long-range facilities plan. As part of the plan the district has closed or is scheduled to close a number of neighborhood schools due to declining enrollment, which it says makes it harder to ensure that all students are getting the same resources and strains the district’s budget. The announcement was met with dismay from the Sable and Paris communities, who said that they felt blindsided by the decision and argued that the schools were important hubs for the neighborhood’s high immigrant population.

After a campaign from teachers and families to keep the schools open, the board initially voted to reject the superintendent’s recommendation but then voted to accept it at a later meeting, provoking frustration. The district is now accepting proposals for how the buildings will be repurposed after they close at the end of the current school year.

As part of Blueprint, two new magnet schools focused on visual and performing arts and entrepreneurship opened this school year, and more will follow in the coming years. The board also voted to create two P-TECH programs, a six-year program where students graduate with a high school diploma, an associate’s degree and workforce experience. One of the programs will focus on health and the other on construction management and be located in the new STEM building currently being constructed at the Community College of Aurora.

—CARINAJULIG,SentinelStaffWriter

CCSD day treatment center gets name, partner

The Cherry Creek School District announced this summer that it has partnered with Children’s Hospital Colorado and the CU Anschutz department of psychiatry to staff the mental health day treatment center it is constructing.

The center is a response to what providers have described as a pediatric mental health “state of emergen-

Aurora rolls out ban on homeless camping

Aurora’s City Council finalized their ban on homeless camping in the city, including a policy for storing some of the belongings of those displaced by homeless encampment sweeps.

The policy, passed May 9, promises that people working on behalf of the city to abate encampments will “recover personal documents and identifications observed in the trash and debris and turn this property over to the Aurora Day Resource Center.”

“City staff and City agents will not sort through the trash and debris to look for personal documents or identifications,” the policy says.

Council members finalized a ban on unauthorized camping earlier this year, which included an amendment initially proposed by Councilmember Crystal Murillo that directed the city manager’s office to come up with a policy for storing leftover personal property.

Murillo said she believed more work was needed to treat homeless campers humanely in light of the new camping ban, but that she was comfortable voting on the policy as it was.

“This is not the most comprehensive way to address storage, but given the conversation at the last meeting, I think that a policy is better than no policy,” she said.

Council members voted unanimously to introduce the policy. Items will be stored for up to a year at the Aurora Day Resource Center, which the city is also considering turning into a 24/7 shelter.

On May 2, Assistant City Attorney Tim Joyce told the group that the policy was the last thing standing in the way of stepping up enforcement to align with the goals of the camping ban, though the city was still in the process of creating more shelter space.

Based on local and federal estimates, there may be hundreds more homeless people than shelter beds.

Under pressure from conservatives, Aurora fires police chief Vanessa Wilson

After days of foreshadowing, Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly fired Police Chief Vanessa Wilson on April 6, saying it was time for a “change in leadership” of the city’s police department.

The termination brought Wilson’s two-year tenure as chief to an abrupt end, eliciting complaints from local activists and elected officials alike.

Wilson was appointed by Twombly in August 2020 after serving as interim chief for about seven months. She will be paid a year’s salary for the termination “without cause,” according to city officials and the terms of her contract.

Some Aurora officials said they backed Twombly’s decision to sack Wilson, despite the immediate blowback.

Mayor Mike Coffman endorsed Twombly’s decision during the news conference, though unlike the city manager, he did mention specific reasons for supporting a change in leadership.

“Given the challenges that we had when she came on, I think (Wilson) was the right person for the right time at that time,” Coffman said. “Given the fact that we have rising crime, given the fact that there was a lack of urgency in her leadership, and resolving the problem certainly caused me to support the city manager’s decision.”

The mayor insisted that the city would continue to carry out the reforms that Wilson began.

Twombly said neither the rise in crime in Aurora nor a scathing audit of the department’s records section released were grounds for the firing.

“Chief Wilson prioritized community involvement. This is something we all recognize as a strength of hers. However there is more to achieve that involves management of the police department,” he said.

“There also needs to be effective management of department operations, engagement with officers and staff, and a strategic approach to moving the department forward.”

Wilson’s

lawyer told The Sentinel the termination was “a concerted campaign by Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky and other conservative city council members to smear Chief Wilson’s reputation and credibility.”

Liliana Saffron, a family liaison at Sable Elementary, unrolls a sign thanking the school board for not voting to close Sable Elementary, Mrach 22, during an Aurora Public Schools school board meeting.

Photo by CARINA JULIG/Sentinel Colorado

Erin Kay, crouching, and Mikhail Smith are on the Street Outreach Team for Mile High Behavioral Health, which provides services to the homeless community in the metro region. The two were checking on a homeless camp off of Iliff Avenue and I-225.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

The chief said in a statement that she was “thankful for the opportunity to serve the people of Aurora” and “proud of its police officers and what we’ve accomplished together.”

Chris Juul, who formerly served as division chief, took over temporarily as acting chief. During previous vacancies, the deputy chief, currently Darin Parker, stepped into the role.

Many of those who advocated for reform in the wake of police scandals described the firing as a betrayal of the city’s commitment to reform.

Sheneen McClain, whose son Elijah died at the hands of Aurora police and paramedics in 2019, said she was pessimistic about the future of the department. McClain was disappointed by Wilson’s firing, calling the former chief a “good person” who “stepped in to clean up someone else’s mess.”

“So what (if) she’s not patting all the police officers on the back? Should she? The police department of Aurora has a history of killing people and justifying it with their rules,” McClain said. “She was cleaning it up, and they got rid of her. So, nobody should be trusting that Aurora, Colorado, is going to change. The ink hasn’t even dried on the consent decree before they’re totally going against it.”

— SENTINEL STAFF

On the morning of the explosion, a building alarm directed Brooks and other Parkside residents to leave their apartments due to an emergency.

“All of the sudden, there was this huge blast,” Brooks said. “I was standing right there, and it was like a movie. I was probably shaken for about two or three hours after that. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.”

—MAXLEVY,SentinelStaffWriter

Dan Oates, chief during Century 16 shooting, returns to lead Aurora Police Department

Former Police Chief Dan Oates was tapped to lead the Aurora Police Department again on an interim basis as the city continues its search for a permanent replacement for Vanessa Wilson, who was fired April 6.

Oates led the department from 2005 to 2014, a time period that included the Aurora theater shooting, which killed 12 people and injured dozens more.

He went on to lead the Miami Beach Police Department and later served as a consultant for the Baltimore Police Department and the St. Louis City and County police departments on crime reduction strategies and organizational reform efforts.

“I’m honored and flattered to be coming back to help out Aurora in this challenging time,” the new interim chief said during a news conference. “Aurora has a very special place in my life and the life of my family. We raised our two children during those formative nine years, from when they were in middle school through high school.”

He said building trust with the community was a top priority and also that he “loved the cops in the Aurora PD,” saying “there’s a lot of talent and dedication in that organization.”

“Dan brings focus to crime reduction, community engagement and internal leadership that will serve our community well during this transition. He will also provide critical guidance as we begin to seek community input in selecting a permanent chief,” City Manager Jim Twombly said in a statement.

Oates and Twombly also stressed the city’s ongoing commitment to the police and fire reforms outlined in the consent decree negotiated between the city and the state attorney general’s office.

Hundreds displaced after explosion at central Aurora apartment complex

More than 350 residents of a central Aurora apartment complex remain forced from their homes after an explosion inside the large complex blew a large hole through an outside wall Sept. 10.

Three people were injured, possibly from flying debris during the explosion, witnesses and officials said. All sustained minor injuries, fire officials said.

Some residents said fire officials were reporting structural damage to the building’s foundation.

“Volunteers are standing by to provide comfort and care,” Red Cross officials said in a statement. “Disaster health and mental health services as well as individual disaster assistance and feeding services are available.”

Hours after the explosion, some people living the complex were in bathrobes or under Red Cross blankets waiting to hear about retrieving personal items or temporary housing, residents waiting outside said.

Calls from The Sentinel to apartment property managers were not returned.

Aurora Fire and Rescue said they were called to Parkside Collective Apartments at 14565 E. Alameda Ave. just before 10 a.m. to investigate reports of smoke.

“At this time it is unknown what the exact origin of the explosion was but all searches have been negative, and all crews have mitigated hazards and are out of the structure at this time awaiting assistance with utilities control,” fire officials said.

A few days later, residents of the Parkside Collective apartments received more unwelcome news — their building would be uninhabitable for the rest of the year.

“This was a building that had kids, and veterans who were just discharged, and people with no relatives,” said Dexter Brooks, a Parkside resident who started a Facebook group with his neighbors who were impacted by the explosion. “We’re trying to connect with people so we can all be on the same page.”

“This is the roadmap to improving the image of the department, which, you know, cops may or may not acknowledge it, (but it) is terribly, terribly important to them. They want to feel good about the agency they work with,” Oates said.

Oates handed over the reins of the department to former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo, who was hired in November as another interim chief.

— MAX LEVY, Sentinel Staff Writer

Interim police chief dismissed police “behavior unbecoming” conviction, promotes commander

An Aurora detective was found guilty in December of violating a restraining order between her and her nowex-wife, in an incident where she was driven to the home she shared with her estranged wife by an Aurora police commander.

The case was part of a larger controversy surrounding former interim police chief Dan Oates in November. Then The Sentinel and Channel 4 News reported that Oates had altered two department oversight boards and unilaterally upended discipline of at least two officers amid demands for more police department transparency and accountability.

“As chief, it is my sole responsibility to decide what discipline is appropriate,” in a written statement to inquiries by Channel 4 investigative reporter Brian Maass.

“I know how to hold cops accountable for misconduct. But when an internal affairs investigation does not prove misconduct, it is also my job to stand by that finding as well.”

Julie Stahnke, a 20-year Aurora Police Department officer, was sentenced to 12 months of probation, 20 hours of community service and a mandatory domestic violence evaluation in connection with the incident, which occurred November 2021.

Denver Judge Barry Schwartz, who presided over the two-day bench trial, called Stahnke’s decision to re-

turn to the house to get her truck “poor judgment,” admonishing her and fellow Aurora police officer, Division Chief Cassidee Carlson, for their involvement in the commission of a crime.

“As an officer, Ms. (Stahnke) had some greater obligation to know better, that it would have been woefully inappropriate to go to someone’s house at night after you’ve been ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from that person,” Schwartz said Nov. 29.

“These are police officers, and if anybody should know — both officer Stahnke and Division Chief Carlson — they should understand that a technical violation of a protection order is a violation of a protection order, and it’s a violation of the law. … I found that to be troubling.”

The judge rejected a motion by the prosecution to amend their original complaint against Stahnke to include an incident the following day involving their return to the Denver home and the request of a civil assist where Carlson’s cousin, a Denver police officer, was contacted. Stahnke’s attorneys had said they were concerned about their inability to get information about the assist from Denver officials.

The Sentinel reported that Carlson’s involvement in separate episodes of Stahnke’s restraining order violations prompted the internal investigations into Carlson’s participation.

Carlson was accused by APD’s internal affairs unit of behavior unbecoming an officer as well as being untruthful during the investigation. Chief Oates set aside the accusation of conduct unbecoming and instead promoted her from commander to chief of the patrol division.

In an email following the verdict Nov. 29, department spokesman Matthew Wells-Longshore said Carlson would not face consequences related to her testimony. He said an internal affairs investigation against Stahnke would proceed now that the trial had concluded, and that she is currently employed by the department in a non-enforcement capacity.

Aurora’s most recent interim police chief, Art Acevedo, said earlier in December he would review each of the cases and Oates’ decisions to overlook Carlson’s IA discipline conviction and then promote her.

— SENTINEL STAFF

Ex-police chief’s partner charged for calling in phony child abuse tip against Aurora councilor

The former partner of ousted Aurora police chief Vanessa Wilson was accused in May of fabricating a report that claimed Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky sexually abused her toddler son, according to an arrest affidavit.

Robin Niceta, 40, faces charges of retaliation against an elected official, a sixth-degree felony, and making a false report of child abuse as a mandatory reporter, a second-degree misdemeanor. Police say Niceta worked in the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services at the time she made the false report.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said Niceta was booked May 16 at the Arapahoe County Jail and released in lieu of a $4,000 bond.

Jurinsky said she believes the false accusations were made in retaliation for criticism of Wilson. She emerged as one of Wilson’s most outspoken critics before the chief was fired by City Manager Jim Twombly in April.

The story was first reported by the Channel 4 News.

The affidavit, signed by an Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office sergeant, says Niceta called the Department of Human Services anonymously to report that Jurinsky had abused her son in the presence of her employees.

The call was placed on Jan. 28, the day after Jurinsky appeared on KNUS host Steffan Tubbs’ talk-radio show and criticized Wilson’s leadership, referring to Wilson as “trash.”

Investigators with the department later determined that the allegations against Jurinsky were unfounded, and law enforcement concluded that Niceta placed the call after finding that her number matched the number of the anonymous caller and in light of forensic analysis of Niceta’s cell phone and county-issued laptop.

It’s unclear whether Wilson knew about the allegations her partner made and when. Jurinsky said she believed that if Wilson knew, she should also be prosecuted.

Damage from an explosion at the Parkside Apartments can be seen from Alameda Ave. Residents of the entire complex were displaced as a result of the explosion.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Aurora used exemption to state records law to withhold details of sexual harassment allegations against councilor

Allegations that Aurora Councilmember Steve Sundberg made sexually suggestive comments around city staff were investigated and confirmed but kept from the public under a Colorado law that gives cities broad discretion to withhold records related to sexual harassment.

A group of three other council members decided not to discipline Sundberg, because, according to Sundberg, the allegations were “minor,” and he reportedly apologized. No recordings were made or minutes taken of the council group’s meetings.

A confidential source reported the allegations against Sundberg to The Sentinel, which requested relevant records from the City of Aurora, including an email sent to council members that contained a third-party report on the matter.

The city refused to turn over those records and initially refused to provide a specific legal reason for doing so. Senior assistant city attorney Dave Lathers eventually acknowledged that records were withheld under a portion of Colorado’s Open Records Act allowing local governments to block the release of records having to do with sexual harassment allegations.

The Sentinel obtained a copy of the April 20 report from a confidential source and confirmed the document’s authenticity with multiple council members.

Open government advocates say that, while the state’s public records laws were written to protect the privacy of victims, by allowing cities to withhold “any records of sexual harassment complaints and investigations,” the law also allows cities to hide the results of those investigations from the public, which may have the secondary effect of shielding perpetrators from scrutiny.

“There’s a strong public interest in knowing the outcome of these investigations,” Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition president Steve Zansberg said of the law. “Allowing those who have been accused of sex harassment to go unidentified for years on end is not consistent with the general view that this workplace conduct is unacceptable and should be eradicated.”

Sundberg later alluded to the situation at the conclusion of a City Council meeting and described some details of the incidents to The Sentinel. On May 9, Sundberg told the council that, in December 2021, he was in “a nervous and challenging situation in which I blurted out a joke or a story which was about a prank.”

“Upon completing that I realized it was an inappropriate thing to say,” he said. “I do genuinely care about other people and how I treat them, so I am meeting with a couple of staff tomorrow to apologize, have a crucial conversation about that and move on with important city business.”

Councilmember Ruben Medina, who along with Alison Coombs confirmed the authenticity of the report received by The Sentinel, said he was told by council evaluation committee members that no action would be taken against Sundberg after he apologized and completed workplace behavior training.

“When something like that happens, it taints us all,” Medina said.

Medina also shared an email that he sent to council members in May, in which he blasts Sundberg for his conduct toward city employees.

“It shows disregard for others and no respect or moral fortitude. Especially, someone in a power position telling subordinates,” Medina’s email reads in part. “You are a grown man, not a child who did not know. To me this shows a pattern because you not only did this once but twice.”

Since the 1990s, cities like Aurora have been broadly empowered to withhold records related to sexual harassment allegations. Zansberg said the law was meant to protect government workers from the stigma and retaliation that sometimes results from reporting sexual harassment as well as to protect officials from false accusations.

“But it is ironic that when people have been identified as having been the subject of a complaint that the public is not entitled to know the outcome,” he said. “If it’s possible to disclose the records and at a minimum the findings of the investigation without identifying the accusers, that would be a far better regime.”

Aurora Community College students recount racially-charged attack on mountain road

A Bailey man who in March allegedly attacked a group of Community College of Aurora film students while using racially-charged language has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and harassment.

When one of the students’ cars got stuck on the icy road near his home in rural Bailey, Jon Spencer, 29, reportedly confronted and attacked the group, after calling the driver a “dumb, Black b—h.” He was charged with two counts of third-degree assault and five counts of harassment. All charges are misdemeanors.

Spencer remotely attended a hearing overseen by Park County Court Judge Brian Green, who along with one of the students, Malarie Stafford-Mustacchio, expressed frustration about the lack of progress in the case. Green said he was reluctant to further postpone Spencer entering a plea.

“If we do it again, it just starts to feel like this doesn’t even matter to the court or anybody else involved,” Stafford-Mustacchio said.

Defense attorney Ehren Penix said attorneys involved in the cases needed additional time to comply with the state’s Crime Victim Rights Act, which requires that victims of certain crimes be informed and permitted to be present during critical stages of the criminal justice process.

“They still need some additional time to do VRA and to contact those individuals prior to us coming to a resolution here,” Penix said. “We believe a resolution is forthcoming.”

Regardless, he entered a plea of not guilty on Spencer’s behalf after Green insisted on him submitting a plea. Green said the plea would not “prohibit the parties from negotiating.”

Green tentatively scheduled the jury trial on the matter to begin Feb. 2 2023.

—MAXLEVY,SentinelStaffWriter

Aurora lawmakers reject Native American land acknowledgement: ‘This is God’s country.’

Conservative lawmakers rejected the idea of introducing city events with an acknowledgment that Aurora was established on former Native American lands, invoking God and gripes with the language of the statement.

While Councilmember Crystal Murillo said the statement would “show a sign of respect to our indigenous community,” Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky said she wouldn’t support a land acknowledgment unless the group would “also acknowledge that this is actually God’s country.”

“That’s the only way I’m going to in any way, shape or form be for this,” Jurinsky said.

Land acknowledgments have been adopted by cities across Colorado and the U.S. as a way of recognizing the unique relationship between indigenous Americans and the lands they inhabited before the arrival of European settlers.

Acknowledging the historical relationship between tribes such as the Arapaho and the lands they once controlled may encourage members of the public to research Colorado’s colonial past, said Lee Spoonhunter, a member and former chairman of the Northern Arapaho Business Council.

“I welcome it. The land of Colorado — all of the way from Lamar, to Denver, to Estes Park and Fort Collins — that’s our ancestral homeland,” Spoonhunter told The Sentinel. “I truly believe that more education and awareness of how we lived in those homelands helps everyone understand how far we’ve come in America’s history.”

Sara Valencich of the city’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion said the acknowledgment was meant to specifically recognize the groups that once called the area of Aurora home, and that the statement was “our way of simply acknowledging that the land that we live and work on was originally stewarded by individuals centuries and centuries ago.”

“Centuries and centuries ago, that’s God,” Jurinsky replied.

Mayor Mike Coffman later announced that he would read a land acknowledgement anyway at the start of council meetings, at his own discretion.

—MAXLEVY,SentinelStaffWriter

Second Chance Bikes founder, Ernie Clark, dies at 66 —

‘He made us who we are’

Ernie Clark — the affable ex-cop behind Aurora’s nonprofit Second Chance Bicycle Shop — died Nov. 9 following a “medical episode,” according to his family. He was 66.

Ernie leaves behind a decades-long legacy of helping thousands of people by providing bicycles to young children, homeless people and others in need.

He accomplished all of this despite having to pick up and move his shop several times. Most recently, the redevelopment of the East Bank Shopping Center in southwest Aurora forced the shop to close its doors in October.

Betty Clark said her father lived for the thank-you cards he received from elementary school children grateful for the free bikes they received through his shop. Whenever her dad met one of her friends, Betty said, he would ask if they had a child, so he could ask if their child owned a bike.

Even after undergoing surgery to remove a mass on his kidneys in July, Ernie was eager to keep up with the requests of schools and Aurorans desperate for a set of wheels.

“He might as well have had the middle name ‘bicycle,’ because he truly lived it,” Betty said. “This man spent his days when he wasn’t at the shop answering his phone and talking to people every day. He couldn’t not answer it at dinner. He wouldn’t let it go to voicemail.”

As news of Ernie’s death became public, city officials released statements recognizing his stature in Aurora.

“Ernie Clark gave everything to improve the lives of children, veterans and many others in our community,” wrote Councilmember Alison Coombs, whose ward includes the East Bank Shopping Center and who was involved in efforts to relocate Second Chance prior to Ernie’s death.

“He took great pride in giving so many the joy and freedom of having a bike,” she said. “He has inspired many to carry out this legacy. He will be greatly missed.”

Betty said the family is planning on holding a public memorial service for Ernie, and that they would release information once the details of the event are finalized.

While Ernie’s death and the East Bank redevelopment may have cast uncertainty over the future of Second Chance, Betty said she is committed to making sure her father’s legacy lives on.

“I told him, come hell or high water, we’re going to keep it going,” she said.

Ernie Clark was the founder and owner of Second Chance Bicycle Shop. For decades Ernie provided bikes for free or practiaclly free to those that needed them most.

Portrait by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Top: Vista PEAK Prep senior Leilani Caamal helped the Mile High Blaze win the Women’s Football Alliance Division 2 championship, while she also made the roster of the Vista PEAK football team again and qualified for the girls wrestling state tournament. In the 50th anniversary year of Title IX legislation, Caamal has become a beacon of progress for female athletes.

Middle right: From left, Luke Trinrud, David Maldonado, Charlie Dick and Evan Johnson left 2022 with an All-Colorado record and two track & field relay state championships and helped the Wolves repeat as Class 5A boys winners.

Bottom right: Lauren Betts won a Class 5A girls basketball state championship with her sister, Sienna, and also garnered Gatorade Colorado Player of the Year honors as well as earned McDonald’s All-American status before she headed off to Stanford.

Affected greatly by the coronavirus pandemic for nearly two years, high school sports got back to normal in 2022.

It was a welcome return to how it used to be for Aurora programs, which got back to pre-pandemic levels of success in a variety of sports, which brought a great deal of team and individual hardware back to the city from the track, basketball court, field hockey field, swimming pool and elsewhere.

Female sports in particular in Aurora earned their share of time in the spotlight.

course of the year for Lauren Betts of Grandview, who completed one of the finest seasons ever for a girls basketball player in Aurora or the state.

Year of titles

Here’s a look back at some of the top stories of 2022 in Aurora prep sports:

Vista PEAK’s Leilani Caamal shows off best part of Title IX’s 50-year anniversary

The 6-foot-7 Betts — who is now at NCAA powerhouse Stanford — then put the finishing touches on her senior season with a Class 5A state championship, Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year honors as well as selection to the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game. Betts helped the Wolves navigate a rollercoaster season, during which they were 5-9 after two games in Minnesota televised nationally by ESPN, and ended it with a state championship with 52-40 win over top-seeded Valor Christian March 12 at Denver Coliseum. Betts and fellow Division I signee Marya Hudgins (Santa Clara) did much of the damage for Grandview, while Amaya Charles, Betts’ younger sister Sienna, Isa Dillehay and Gabriella Cunningham all had key contributions in the title win.

BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor

In a year in which the country celebrated the 50th anniversary of the passing of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in publicly-funded education (which includes athletics), Leilani Caamal has become a beacon in Aurora.

The Vista PEAK senior has taken full advantage of the ever-widening path made possible by the legislation, and she has accepted a role in the vanguard of contuining to move the bar of possibility for female athletes.

Caamal has spent several seasons on the Vista PEAK boys football team, and she is also a member of the Mile High Blaze of the Women’s Football Alliance. She helped the Blaze win the WFA’s Division 2 championship with a 21-20 victory over the Derby City Dynamite July 9 in a game played at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Caamal also participated in girls wrestling for Vista PEAK and earned a chance to compete in the state tournament at Ball Arena.

Lauren Betts’ best year helps Grandview girls basketball team get back on top

Things couldn’t have gone better over the

With the game decided, Betts got to share a special moment on the bench with her sister, who was a huge contributor to the title run, as they embraced with tears in their eyes as they won a title in the only varsity season they got to play together.

Lauren Betts finished the season with an average of 17.2 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.6 blocked shots and 3.5 assists per game as she was picked as Colorado’s top player by Gatorade for the second straight season and also was the program’s second selection to the McDonald’s All-American game. She scored two points, pulled down eight rebounds and blocked two shots for Team West in a 95-75 loss to Team East at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Aurora athletes finish fantastic season in style at state track meet

The Grandview boys track & field team navigated the challenges of the weather and some spirited efforts by some other teams on its way to a second consecutive Class 5A state championship, as coach John Reyes’ team fulfilled its promise with a slew of returning athletes.

Besides scoring two runners in both the 100 and 200 meters, Grandview got state championships in the 4x200 and 4x100 meter relay events from the same group of seniors Charlie Dick and

PHOTOS BY COURTNEY OAKES/SENTINEL COLORADO

Evan Johnson and juniors David Maldonado and Luke Trinrud. The 4x100 team set the Colorado all-classification record.

In a dominant performance at the top level of the meet, the Cherokee Trail boys finished second to give Aurora a sweep of the 5A boys podium, while the Cherokee Trail girls finished second behind Cherry Creek in 5A. The Cherokee Trail boys had state champions in the two longest relay events, as the team of Reuben Holness, Beck Gutjahr, Evan Armstrong and Logan McGowan claimed the 4x800 meter crown on the first event of the meet and the group of Holness, Ciaran Hyslop, Kahari Wilbon and Peyton Sommers closed it with the 4x400 title.

The Cherokee Trail girls managed the runner-up finish with just one state champion and that was sprinter Symone Adams, who completed her recovery from injury to win the 5A girls 100 meter dash. The Eaglecrest girls had an absolutely remarkable season that saw a state championship in the 4x200 meter relay as well as an individual title in the 200 meter dash for Haley Esser, a multisport athlete who was new to track this season. Esser, Favour Akpokiere, Bianca Gleim and Jaylynn Wilson combined to bring home the 4x200 title and nearly added the 4x100 crown as well.

Regis Jesuit’s Fabiola Belibi swept the 5A state hurdles titles as well.

Cayko dominates as girls wrestling triumphs in second sanctioned season

Slowed in growth only briefly by COVID-19 in 2021, during its first season as a sport sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activities Association, girls wrestling exploded in 2022.

A full-sized state tournament (unlike the small one held the previous season in Pueblo due to the pandemic), joined the boys tournaments at Ball Arena and one of the sport’s emerging stars called the Aurora area home in Eaglecrest’s Blythe Cayko.

Cayko opened her junior season by winning the Reno Tournament of Champions to achieve All-American status, then won her first 31 matches to reach the 185-pound state title match against Calhan’s Taylor Knox, who had defeated her in the previous season’s state tournament. Cayko trailed Knox by a point in the third period, but hooked her arm and finished off her 32nd pin in as many matches to claim the state championship. Cayko jumped into the arms of coach Sparky Adair and celebrated with him and assistant Melissa Myers. A quick elevator trip up to the suite level provided the second surreal experience as she was mobbed by Eaglecrest teammates, coaches and supporters.

It was a strong showing for Aurora girls on the big state, as Katelyn Czerpak of Overland (which had a full team for the first time), Eaglecrest’s Savannah Smith and Vista PEAK’s Samiah Andrews all earned places on the podium with top-six places.

Aurora boys also had a good state tournament with 10 placers, including finalists Dorian Ervin of Eaglecrest (106 pounds) and Derek Glenn Jr. (113 pounds) and Matthew Buck (160) of Cherokee Trail. Glenn Jr.’s season ended in the state championship match for the third straight time, but he was unable to add a second title, while Ervin and Buck also went down to defeat in their first title matches.

Regis Jesuit boys swim team claims 23rd all-time state title

It had been a few years since the Regis

Jesuit boys swim team (one of Colorado’s all-time most successful programs) had brought home the Class 5A state championship, but coach Nick Frasersmith’s Raiders did so again in 2022. Luke Dinges, Gio Aguirre, Ronan Krauss and Hawkins Wendt ended the meet in style for Regis Jesuit with a victory in the 400 yard relay as the venerable program collected its first state title since 2018 and its 23rd all-time. Particularly motivated to win the meet were the team’s seniors, as they would have been the first senior class in school history to finish without a state title. The Raiders finished as runners-up to Cherry Creek in 2019 and 2021, while they lost the 2020 season due to the pandemic. Aguirre, Dugan and Dinges all finished fourth or better in two individual events, Carter Anderson, Charlie Klein and Truman Inglis scored in a pair events and Wendt had a sixth-place finish in the 50 and swam on all three relays, which all had top-three results.

formance in the postseason and virtually put the Grandview girls soccer team on her back on its way to a sixth all-time Class 5A state championship.

Academy at Stutler Bowl.

Colorado Academy snapped the Raiders’ 32-game unbeaten streak with a 2-1 win early in the season, won the second regular season contest and dealt Regis Jesuit its third loss in the state title game.

Eduard Tsaturyan gives Grandview boys tennis team ace it never had

The Grandview boys tennis team had never had a state champion or a victory over Cherry Creek in its history. The Wolves got both of those checked off with the addition of Eduard Tsaturyan, who arrived from Russia and took over the No. 1 singles position. His addition helped transform Grandview into a team that earned a spot in the new state team tournament and nearly all also made the individual state as well. Tsaturyan won the program’s first state championship with his second win of the season over Cherry Creek’s Aram Izmirian, the 2021 5A state champion.

For more YIR, visit sentinelcolorado. com/preps

The junior forward finished the season with 20 goals and eight of them came in four postseason victories, including game-winners against Legacy in the quarterfinals, Valor Christian in the semifinals (as the Wolves knocked out the top seed) and Broomfield in the title game at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Clark’s most spectacular effort came in the state championship game, when she recorded a second-half hat trick to send coach Brian Wood’s Grandview team to a 3-1 win. Clark scored less than five minutes into the second half to erase a 1-0 deficit, added another a minute later and a third in the closing minutes and goalie Jordan Nytes and a veteran defense made it stand up.

Regis Jesuit field hockey team fall short in three-peat quest

Naomi Clark leads Grandview girls soccer team to sixth all-time crown

Naomi Clark provided a spectacular per-

The Regis Jesuit field hockey team made the state championship game for a fifth straight season, but its three-peat hopes ended with a 2-0 loss to Colorado

Multi-sport star

Dallas Macias receives Freddie Steinmark award

Regis Jesuit’s Dallas Macias was the male winner of the prestigious Fred Steinmark Award, which was established in 1972 to commemorate the all-around excellence in athletics and character of the late Fred Steinmark, who starred in multiple sports in his prep days at Wheat Ridge High School in the 1960s. Macias was Colorado’s Gatorade Player of the Year in baseball and led the Raiders to the Class 5A Championship Series and he starred in multiple roles with the football team in the fall. He was Aurora’s first male Steinmark Award winner since Aurora Central’s Pat Manson in 1986.

Former Regis Jesuit star, CHSAA official Tom Robinson dies

Longtime Colorado High School Activities Association associate commissioner Tom Robinson died April 4 at the age of 76. The organization said Robinson died after a “short battle with multiple diagnoses,” which included cancer. Robinson — a former multiple-sport star athlete in his prep days and 1964 graduate of Regis Jesuit High School (before it moved to Aurora) and then a longtime teacher and coach there — was the second African-American administrator in the history of the CHSAA, the state’s governing body for athletics and activities.

Former APS AD Mike Krueger takes over as CHSAA Commissioner

Mike Krueger — who served a stint as the Aurora Public Schools’ Athletic Director from 2014-18 — was approved by CHSAA’s Board of Directors to become the governing body’s 10th commissioner. He takes over for Rhonda Blanford-Green, who retired at the end of the 2021-22 school year.

All smiles: Eaglecrest’s Blythe Cayko has her arm raised after a victory in the 185-pound state championship game at the girls state wrestling tournament at Ball Arena. Cayko finished the season 32-0 with 32 wins by pin to lead the way among four Aurora girls wrestlers to place as the girls state tournament was held alongside the boys for the first time. Photo by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado

ABOVE: Regis Jesuit’s Fabiola Belibi, right, won Class 5A state championships in the 100 and 300 meter hurdles. RIGHT: No. 1 singles player Eduard Tsaturyan gave the Grandview boys tennis program its first-ever state championship and helped the team reach new heights. Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado

Back on top: The Regis Jesuit boys swim team captured its first Class 5A state title since 2018 and its 23rd all-time . Photo by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado

Books a mile high

AS 2022 COMES TO A CLOSE, 3 OF THIS YEAR’S MUST-READS BY COLORADO AUTHORS

BY CARINA JULIG, Sentinel Staff Writer

Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge

by Ted Conover

Immersion journalist (and erstwhile Aurora Sentinel scribe, according to one interview) Ted Conover has worked at the Sing Sing prison, ridden the rails with hobos and followed coyotes across the U.S.-Mexico border for some of his previous books. For his most recent, he spent the past several years living on-and-off in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, first as a renter and eventually as a homeowner (a Denver native, he now spends the rest of his time in New York City).

Conover says he was initially spurred to spend more time in the Valley by the 2016 election, which he, along with pundits across the nation, was confident Donald Trump wouldn’t win. But this book, luckily, is more than another drive-by of rural America seeking to explain “Trump country” to everyone else. Conover never really answers his original question of why Donald Trump won, but he shows that there are as many answers for why someone would choose to live off the grid in the San Luis Valley as there are people doing it. Freedom and economic hardship, however, are two of the main ones. With some of the lowest land prices in the nation, many people are drawn to the region for the opportunity to become homeowners in one of the few places they can afford to do so.

“Cheap Land Colorado” details both the romantic and difficult parts of living such an existence, and discusses the lives of many of his neighbors at length, who include a gay man, one of the region’s few Black residents, antigovernment conspiracy theorists, a large homeschool family whose father is battling cancer and many others. Conover’s book only briefly touches on the events of 2020, and an entire separate book could probably be written about how the pandemic and protests for racial justice affected the valley. Some of the most interesting sections involve his reporting on how the valley became a place where people flocked to buy land, sight unseen, despite it being such an unforgiving place to live. Whether Conover’s book is proof of the American dream’s survival or its demise is up to the reader.

Season of Restorations by Thomas DeConna

Local author Thomas DeConna spent decades as an English teacher. Now retired, he’s arrived on the literary scene with his first novel, the intergenerational story “Season of Restorations.” While novels about different generations of a family aren’t all too uncommon, they usually focus on women. DeConna gives us the male perspective with his novel, which follows Franklin Bowman, son George and grandson Jack.

The three converge on Frank’s house in New Jersey (DeConna’s birthplace as well) to help assist him as he braces for his impending death. It’s an uncomfortable reunion at first. All three men are wrestling with their own issues and struggle to understand one another’s viewpoints or talk openly. Frank doesn’t know how to broach the subject of some of the secrets of his past, or how to connect with his son after decades of emotional repression. George is struggling to adjust both to retirement after many years as a teacher and to the recent death of his wife. Jack is struggling with a sense of direction and feels judged by his father, who is troubled by the fact that he lost both his job and a family inheritance. As the days and weeks pass, they each have their own revelations. DeConna also goes backwards in time to explore Frank’s difficult childhood and checkered past, much of which is unknown by his progeny. DeConna’s novel is moving without being saccharine. It doesn’t glaze over the difficult parts of aging and while some side characters feel a touch one-note, he doesn’t pull any punches about the flaws of any of his protagonists and the ways they’ve hurt each other over the years. Parts of the novel will be all too familiar for those who have witnessed the decline or death of an elderly relative, or who have a strained relationship with a family member of a different generation. DeConna handles these themes with grace, making sure of a rotating third-person perspective to show each character’s different perspectives on the same situation. “Season of Restorations” is a poignant reminder that we never truly know everything about the people closest to us — but that it’s also never too late to turn over a new leaf.

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Bestselling author Blake Crouch has returned with another trippy sci-fi thriller in “Upgrade,” his latest novel. Based in Colorado, Crouch has written a dozen novels but gained serious acclaim in 2019 with the publication of “Recursion,” a mind-bending sci-fi detective story about what it’s like to live with memories from more than one reality. “Upgrade” is his first book since then, and while it’s not quite as riveting, it doesn’t disappoint either. While some of Crouch’s previous novels explored classics of the genre such as time travel and the multiverse, “Upgrade” explores something a bit more close to home — the brave new frontier of human DNA editing.

The story starts in Denver as agent Logan Ramsay of the Gene Protection Agency cases a house with his partner. Due to a massive catastrophe caused by gene editing of plants (that Ramsay has a secret personal connection to), gene editing has become a federal crime and there has been a severe crackdown on scientific research — of which Ramsay is one of the enforcers. At the house, the duo don’t find any culprits but Ramsay is exposed to a virus and placed under quarantine (that part, at least, is relatable). But instead of getting sick, Ramsay starts to get better…and better. At everything. His DNA has been illegally manipulated, making him essentially superhuman. But by who? And why?

While some of the plot points in “Upgrade” are pretty far-fetched, many of the themes it wrestles with are all too familiar. Crouch extrapolates a future based on our current trajectory that minus some exaggerations doesn’t feel too far afield. It’s also the second blockbuster sci-fi book in two years — following the release of Kazuo Ishigurio’s “Klara and the Sun” in 2021 — to muse about the perils and promise of human gene enhancement. While it seems far-fetched, this is already becoming a reality thanks to CRISPR technology pioneered by scientists at Berkeley and MIT (a great nonfiction book about this is “The Code Breaker” by Walter Isaacson). “Upgrade” is fiction, and a fun read at that, but its ideas are worth taking seriously.

scene & herd

New Years Eve Beer + Food Pairing a Lady Justice Brewing

5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Lady Justice Brewing, 9735 East Colfax Ave., Aurora,CO 80010. $75. Visit https:// fb.me/e/33KIusV6n for more information.

Good food and drink. All a body needs to ring in a successful New Year… Maybe. This party looks promising, especially since it ends at 8 p.m. Aurora’s Lady Justice Brewing is hosting a beer and food pairing event, with freshmade Mediterranean appetizers, a main course, followed by dessert.

If you’ve really gone through it in 2022, this sounds like a good way to end on a high note. And if you’ve reached every goal and absolutely crushed it the last 12 months, good food and good beer seems like the perfect celebration. Tickets cost $75. Visit www.ladyjusticebrewing. com for more information.

Yoga at The Lume

8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St. Aurora, CO 80010. $30. Visit www.showclix. com/tickets/yoga-at-the-lume-colorado for more information.

Yoga on a warm beach or in a tropical rainforest sounds pretty good right about now. You won’t have to book an all-inclusive resort stay to get it though, thanks to the immersive art experts at The Lume, located in Stanley Marketplace. The people who’ve helped create the Dalí Alive exhibit and other recreations of famous art are bringing zen scenes to the exhibit while Vibe Yoga + Wellness instructors help you reach total relaxation. This $30 yoga class is a 360-degree multi-sensory experience. Motion-designed digital art surrounds yogis, so it’s actually like you’re really in some luxurious locale. Buy tickets at www.showclix.com.

Noon Year’s Eve at Southlands

Dec. 31 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. East Plaza Ave Outside of Southlands AMC Theatres. Visit www. shopsouthlands.com for more information

Some of us are not fit for ringing in the New Year. Try as we might, a midnight champagne toast just isn’t happening. Whether it’s because you’re tucking little ones in early or you just don’t think your tired eyes can stick it out, there are still ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve — just about 12 hours earlier.

On Dec. 31, join fellow early birds at Southlands shopping center in east Aurora for a Noon Year’s Eve celebration. There will be facepainting, a balloon ball drop, sparkling cider and a Hershey’s “noon year kiss.” This family-friendly event is the best way to pay homage to 2022 and still be able to hit the hay at a reasonable hour. You’re not missing out on much anyway.

Fitzsimons to Anschutz Exhibit

Now through March 13. 15051 E. Alameda Parkway. Free admission. Learn more about this and other exhibits at AuroraMuseum.org.

Let’s brush up on a little Aurora history. Before we had the massive Anschutz medical campus on East Colfax, Aurora had the Fitzsimons medical complex. For more than 100 years, important medical work has been happening in A-Town and there have even been a few famous patients (President Dwight D. Eisenhower stayed at Fitzsimons for a spell). The Aurora History Museum is offering a complete look at the evolution of Fitzsimons into Anschutz this winter. “Fitzsimons shaped modern Aurora. Today, the Anschutz Medical Campus employs over 15,000 people from the surrounding areas and is a major economic asset in Aurora’s economy,” museum staff say of their latest endeavor. “The new exhibition chronicles the people, places, and structures of the historic Fitzsimons medical complex.” Admission to the

exhibit is free, and staff have a few events lined up throughout the next few months. Visit www.auroramuseum.org to learn more.

Morning at the Museum at the Aurora History Museum

Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. 15051 Alameda Pkwy. Aurora, CO, 80012. Auroramuseum.org.

This weekly event at the Aurora History Museum is a great time for kiddos aged 3 to 6. Each week the program will offer plenty of fun things to do, like crafts, story time, and hands-on activities. The program is free and can take place either inside or outside of the museum, depending on the weather. Children must be supervised by an adult.

Dalí Alive at The Hangar at Stanley Marketplace

Oct. 21-Jan. 29 with ticketing times varying. 2501 Dallas St. Aurora, CO 80010. Visit www.thelumecolorado.com for more information.

The Immersive Art experience is returning to Aurora for a second year with the work of another renowned artist, Salvador Dalí. The Dalí Alive exhibit will provide the fullest extent of immersive experiences of large displays of classic works through projecting animated canvases on the walls and floors of the gallery created inside of The Hangar.

Beyond that, you will be able to hear the voice of the master himself through a specially produced Lobster Phone, plus experience a variety of aromas and a specially curated soundtrack both sure to tickle all of your senses, giving the guest what is referred to as a 360-degree experience.

Ticket prices vary depending on dates, with certain price breaks for mid-week visits, groups and families.

The Pond Ice Rink at Southlands Mall

Nov. 11 - Feb. 26 with hours varying based on the day. 6155 S Main St, Aurora, CO 80016. Visit www. shopsouthlands.com for more information.

Opening scene… A Charlie Brown Christmas. Now, replace yourself with the ever so graceful Snoopy and glide your way around The Pond, the skating rink located in the town square of Southlands Mall in southeast Aurora. It’s the quintessential holiday activity (even if we aren’t quite getting all that wintery blustery weather forecast just yet), so you’re going to want to do yourself a favor and check the schedule so you can head out east and show your best Kristi Yamaguchi impression.

Because the people must know

Federal Savings Bank, its successors and assigns

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC

Date of Deed of Trust

June 11, 2018 County of Recording Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

June 13, 2018

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

D8057295

Original Principal Amount

$325,395.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$293,553.66

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows:

Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the Deed of Trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE

A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 16, BLOCK 5, HIGHPOINT SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 10, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 4274 S Fundy Way, Aurora, CO 80013.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust and other violations of the terms thereof THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 2, BLOCK 4, VILLAGE EAST UNIT 2, 8TH FILING, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 11671 E COLORADO DR, AURORA, CO 80012.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/01/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/8/2022

Last Publication 1/5/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO

A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 09/30/2022

Susan Sandstrom,

Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Anna Johnston #51978

Ryan Bourgeois #51088

Joseph D. DeGiorgio #45557

Randall Chin #31149

Barrett, Frappier & Weisserman, LLP 1391

Speer Boulevard, Suite 700, Denver, CO 80204 (303) 350-3711

Attorney File # 00000009561960

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0522-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 7, 2022, the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

George Kofa

Original Beneficiary(ies)

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as Beneficiary, as nominee for USAA

deed of trust have been violated as follows:

Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the Deed of Trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

Lot 3, Block 8, Stratus at Eagle Bend Subdivision filing No. 1, County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado.

Also known by street and number as: 7611 South Yakima Ct, Aurora, CO 80016.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

COUNTY RECORDS, AND ANY APPLICABLE SUPPLEMENTS OR AMENDMENTS THERETO, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

APN: 1975-05-2-08-031

Also known by street and number as:

15777 E 13Th Place, Aurora, CO 80011. THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103 FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0518-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 4, 2022, the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

SHERYL FERTMAN

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/08/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/15/2022

Last Publication 1/12/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 10/07/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Amanda Ferguson #44893

Heather Deere #28597

Toni M. Owan #30580 Halliday, Watkins & Mann, PC 355 Union Blvd., Ste. 250, Lakewood, CO 80228 (303) 274-0155

Attorney File # CO-20014

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0535-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 14, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

David H. Fikes and Meghan E. Seabury

Original Beneficiary(ies)

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as Beneficiary, as nominee for Freedom Mortgage Corporation, its successors and assigns

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt Freedom Mortgage Corporation Date of Deed of Trust

December 11, 2019 County of Recording Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust

December 18, 2019

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

D9139252

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/15/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/22/2022

Last Publication 1/19/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED; DATE: 10/14/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Amanda Ferguson #44893

Heather Deere #28597

Toni M. Owan #30580

Halliday, Watkins & Mann, PC 355 Union Blvd., Ste. 250, Lakewood, CO 80228 (303) 274-0155

Attorney File # CO11900

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015 COMBINED NOTICEMAILING CRS §38-38-103 FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0514-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On September 30, 2022, the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

Hyun Jun AND Margarita Falcon

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR GUILD MORTGAGE COMPANY, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt COLORADO HOUSING AND FINANCE

AUTHORITY

Date of Deed of Trust

October 31, 2018

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

November 01, 2018

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

D8108118

Original Principal Amount

$164,900.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$157,357.18

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. SEE ATTACHED LEGAL DESCRIPTION.

LEGAL DESCRIPTION CONDOMINIUM UNIT NO. 37, BUILDING C, BERKSHIRE PLACE CONDOMINIUMS, ACCORDING TO THE RECORDED MAP THEREOF, AND ACCORDING AND SUBJECT TO THE CONDOMINIUM DECLARATION FOR BERKSHIRE PLACE CONDOMINIUMS, RECORDED IN BOOK 2162 AT PAGE 698 OF THE ARAPAHOE

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/01/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/8/2022

Last Publication 1/5/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel

NOTICE OF RIGHTS YOU MAY HAVE AN INTEREST IN THE REAL PROPERTY BEING FORECLOSED, OR HAVE CERTAIN RIGHTS OR SUFFER CERTAIN LIABILITIES PURSUANT TO COLORADO STATUTES AS A RESULT OF SAID FORECLOSURE. YOU MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO REDEEM SAID REAL PROPERTY OR YOU MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO CURE A DEFAULT UNDER THE DEED OF TRUST BEING FORECLOSED. A COPY OF SAID STATUTES, AS SUCH STATUTES ARE PRESENTLY CONSTITUTED, WHICH MAY AFFECT YOUR RIGHTS SHALL BE SENT WITH ALL MAILED COPIES OF THIS NOTICE. HOWEVER, YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE DETERMINED BY PREVIOUS STATUTES.

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE FILED PURSUANT TO SECTION 38-38-104 SHALL BE FILED WITH THE PUBLIC TRUSTEE AT LEAST FIFTEEN (15) CALENDAR DAYS PRIOR TO THE FIRST SCHEDULED SALE DATE OR ANY DATE TO WHICH THE SALE IS CONTINUED; A NOTICE OF INTENT TO REDEEM FILED PURSUANT TO SECTION 38-38302 SHALL BE FILED WITH THE PUBLIC TRUSTEE NO LATER THAN EIGHT (8) BUSINESS DAYS AFTER THE SALE; IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED; IF THE BORROWER BELIEVES THAT A LENDER OR SERVICER HAS VIOLATED THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT IN SECTION 3838-103.1 OR THE PROHIBITION ON DUAL TRACKING IN SECTION 38-38103.2, THE BORROWER MAY FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE COLORADO ATTORNEY GENERAL, THE FEDERAL CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB), OR BOTH. THE FILING OF A COMPLAINT WILL NOT STOP THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS.

Colorado Attorney General 1300 Broadway, 10th Floor Denver, Colorado 80203 (800) 222-4444

www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov

Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau P.O. Box 4503 Iowa City, Iowa 52244 (855) 411-2372

www.consumerfinance.gov

DATE: 09/30/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Alison L Berry #34531

N. April Norton #34861

David R. Doughty #40042

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112 (303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 22-028430

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

Original Beneficiary(ies) MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. ACTING SOLELY AS NOMINEE FOR AMERICAN FINANCING CORPORATION

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

PENNYMAC LOAN SERVICES, LLC

Date of Deed of Trust

January 21, 2020

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

January 29, 2020

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

E0012410

Original Principal Amount

$332,722.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$323,609.50

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust and other violations of the terms thereof THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 6, BLOCK 12 TOLLGATE CROSSING SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 2, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO. Also known by street and number as: 5012 SOUTH COOLIDGE STREET, AURORA, CO 80016-5870.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/01/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/8/2022

Last Publication 1/5/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED; DATE: 10/04/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Anna Johnston #51978

Ryan Bourgeois #51088

Joseph D. DeGiorgio #45557

Randall Chin #31149

Barrett, Frappier & Weisserman, LLP 1391

Speer Boulevard, Suite 700, Denver, CO 80204 (303) 350-3711

Attorney File # 00000009614363

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICE -

PUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0498-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On September 23, 2022, the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

CLAYTON C JONES AND KELLIE L

JONES

Original Beneficiary(ies)

EASTERN SAVINGS BANK, FSB

attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Anna Johnston #51978

Ryan Bourgeois #51088

Joseph D. DeGiorgio #45557

Randall Chin #31149

Barrett, Frappier & Weisserman, LLP 1391

Speer Boulevard, Suite 700, Denver, CO

80204 (303) 350-3711

Attorney File # 00000009607888

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICE -

PUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0524-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 7, 2022, the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

David Kemerer

Original Beneficiary(ies)

St Convin, LLC

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

D&E, LLC

Date of Deed of Trust

April 06, 2022

County of Recording

Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust

April 07, 2022

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

E2039304

Original Principal Amount

$35,000.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$35,000.00

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

Lot 104, Block 1, The Dam Filing No. 5 County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

Also known by street and number as: 13062 East Amherst Avenue, Aurora, CO 80014-3433.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST. NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/08/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/15/2022

Last Publication 1/12/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 10/07/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Alanna Boswell #51175

Jean C. Arnold #13126

Arnold & Arnold, LLP 7691 Shaffer Parkway, Suite A, Littleton, CO 80127 (720) 962-6010

Attorney File # 13062 EAST AMHERST AVENUE

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015 COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0530-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 11, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

SEAN MCCLAY

Original Beneficiary(ies)

COST FUND 1, LLC

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

County of Recording Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

March 02, 2022

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

E2024246

Original Principal Amount

$509,600.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$509,600.00

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 45, ARAPAHOE HEIGHTS, SECOND FILING, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO

Also known by street and number as: 7441 SOUTH ODESSA CIRCLE, CENTENNIAL, CO 80016.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/08/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/15/2022

Last Publication 1/12/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 10/11/2022 Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Robert T. Cosgrove #12217 Burns, Wall and Mueller, P.C. 303 East 17th Avenue, #920, Denver, CO 802031299 (303) 830-7000

Attorney File # 7441 SOUTH ODESSA

CIRCLE

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015 COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0531-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 11, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

GREGORY NELSON

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. ACTING SOLELY

AS NOMINEE FOR FCF SERVICES INC.

DBA FIRST CHOICE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC.

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

PHH MORTGAGE CORPORATION

Date of Deed of Trust

April 21, 2009 County of Recording

Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust

May 04, 2009

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

B9045250

Original Principal Amount

$195,395.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$156,333.64 Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows:

Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust and other violations

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/08/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/15/2022

Last Publication 1/12/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO

A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 10/11/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Anna Johnston #51978

Ryan Bourgeois #51088

Joseph D. DeGiorgio #45557

Randall Chin #31149

Barrett, Frappier & Weisserman, LLP 1391 Speer Boulevard, Suite 700, Denver, CO 80204 (303) 350-3711

Attorney File # 00000009626813

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0532-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 11, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

Beatriz Adriana Avila Lopez AND Gerardo

Avila Lopez

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR HOMEAMERICAN MORTGAGE CORPORATION, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

FREEDOM MORTGAGE CORPORATION

Date of Deed of Trust

December 09, 2016

County of Recording Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

December 14, 2016

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

D6144204

Original Principal Amount $381,058.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$379,827.28

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 6, BLOCK 3, TRADITIONS SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 4, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO

APN #: 1977-08-3-04-003

Also known by street and number as: 42 N Jackson Gap Way, Aurora, CO 80018. THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/08/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

DATE: 10/11/2022 Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Alison L Berry #34531

N. April Winecki #34861

David R. Doughty #40042

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112 (303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 22-028581

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICE -

PUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0536-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 24, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

Travis Moore

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR GUILD MORTGAGE COMPANY, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt COLORADO HOUSING AND FINANCE

AUTHORITY

Date of Deed of Trust

June 30, 2020

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

July 06, 2020

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

E0081198

Original Principal Amount

$203,741.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$196,418.89

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

SEE ATTACHED LEGAL DESCRIPTION LEGAL DESCRIPTION

CONDOMINIUM UNIT 201, BUILDING NO. 19, BRANDYCHASE CONDOMINIUMS, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DECLARATION RECORDED ON OCTOBER 6, 1978, IN BOOK 2863 AT PAGE 143, AND CONDOMINIUM MAP RECORDED ON OCTOBER 6, 1978 IN CONDOMINIUM MAP BOOK 36 AT PAGE 4, AND RECORDED OCTOBER 6, 1978 IN CONDOMINIUM MAP BOOK 36 AT PAGE 41, AND AMENDMENT RECORDED JANUARY 19, 1979, IN MAP BOOK 37 AT PAGE 15, OF THE ARAPAHOE COUNTY RECORDS, TOGETHER WITH THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE THE FOLLOWING LIMITED ELEMENTS: STORAGE SPACE NO. 19-201, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO. PARCEL ID: 1973-25-1-14-149 Also known by street and number as: 13494 E Jewell Avenue #201, Aurora, CO 80012. THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/22/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law. First

David R. Doughty #40042

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112

(303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 22-028426

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICE -

PUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0538-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 21, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

Oleg Dobrovolskiy and Loretta Guerrero

Original Beneficiary(ies)

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for Homeside Financial, LLC, Its Successors and Assigns

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

Date of Deed of Trust

November 26, 2018

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

December 19, 2018

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

D8124005

Original Principal Amount $233,250.00

Outstanding Principal Balance $232,761.78

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows:

Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 28, BLOCK 30, AURORA HILLS (THIRD FILING), COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO

Also known by street and number as: 323 S Vaughn Way, Aurora, CO 80012.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/22/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/29/2022

Last Publication 1/26/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED; DATE: 10/21/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Erin Croke #46557

Steven Bellanti #48306

Holly Shilliday #24423

Ilene Dell’Acqua #31755

McCarthy & Holthus LLP 7700 E Arapahoe Road, Suite 230, Centennial, CO 80112 (877) 369-6122

Attorney File # CO-19-863663-LL

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0541-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 24, 2022, the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

The name,

Original Grantor(s) Abenet A. Hayle and Henok Zewdu Ambelu

Original Beneficiary(ies)

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as Beneficiary, as nominee for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, its successors and assigns

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC

Date of Deed of Trust

August 27, 2021

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

September 01, 2021

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

E1137038

Original Principal Amount

$607,294.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$621,514.90

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 35, BLOCK 5, COPPERLEAF FILING NO. 17, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO, ACCORDING TO THE PLAT THEREOF RECORDED

AUGUST 8, 2018 UNDER RECEPTION NO. D8078280.

Also known by street and number as:

21756 E Stanford Cir, Aurora, CO 80015.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/22/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/29/2022

Last Publication 1/26/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 10/24/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Amanda Ferguson #44893

Heather Deere #28597

Toni M. Owan #30580

Halliday, Watkins & Mann, PC 355 Union Blvd., Ste. 250, Lakewood, CO 80228 (303) 274-0155

Attorney File # CO-20207

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0542-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 24, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s) Francisco Arteseros

Original Beneficiary(ies)

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as Beneficiary, as nominee for Pacific Union Financial, LLC, its successors and assigns

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

Nationstar Mortgage LLC

Date of Deed of Trust

September 29, 2017

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

October 05, 2017

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

D7113916

Original Principal Amount $171,703.00

Outstanding Principal Balance $156,773.76

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof. THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

Condominium Unit 13702 E in Condominium Building 25, Meadow Hills I Condominiums,

Office of the Clerk and Recorder of County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado, and as

Defined and Described in the Condomin-

ium Declaration for Meadow Hill I Condominiums, Recorded May 17, 1983 in Book 3865 at Page 136 in Said Records, County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado. Also known by street and number as:

13702 East Lehigh Avenue # E, Aurora, CO 80014. THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/22/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/29/2022

Last Publication 1/26/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO

A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 10/24/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Amanda Ferguson #44893

Heather Deere #28597

Toni M. Owan #30580

Halliday, Watkins & Mann, PC 355 Union Blvd., Ste. 250, Lakewood, CO 80228 (303) 274-0155

Attorney File # CO-20240

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015 COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0543-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On October 24, 2022, the undersigned Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

Leisa Thomas Cashman

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRA-

TION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR

Preferred Lending Services, LLC., ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

LEGACY MORTGAGE ASSET TRUST

2020-SL1

Date of Deed of Trust

December 15, 2006

County of Recording

Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust

January 18, 2007

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

B7007918

Original Principal Amount

$41,400.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$28,627.17

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 6, BLOCK 1, THE BLUFFS AT SADDLE ROCK RIDGE SUBDIVISION, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

A.P.N. : 2073-13-2-10-006

Also known by street and number as: 22111 East Belleview Place, Aurora, CO

80015. THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST. NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 02/22/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns

therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/29/2022

Last Publication 1/26/2023

Name of Publication Sentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED; DATE: 10/24/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Alison L Berry #34531

N. April Winecki #34861

David R. Doughty #40042

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112 (303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 22-028431

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

AVISO DE HALLAZGO DE IMPACTO

SIGNIFICANTE Y AVISO DE INTENCIÓN DE SOLICITUD DE LIBERACIÓN DE FONDOS

29 de diciembre de 2022

Ciudad de la División de Desarrollo de la Comunidad de Aurora 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy Aurora, CO. 80017 303-739-7921

SOLICITUD DE LIBERACIÓN DE FONDOS

En o alrededor del 16 de enero de 2022, la Ciudad de Aurora presentará una solicitud a HUD para la liberación de fondos de HOME bajo el Programa de Asociación de Inversión HOME, según enmendado. Esta empresa será para Community Housing Partners Colorado, actuando como afiliado del propietario y como desarrollador, utilizará los fondos de HOME para ayudar en el proyecto de desarrollo como Eagle Meadows, un desarrollo de viviendas asequibles multifamiliares de 93 unidades que se ubicará en 14875 E. 2nd Avenue, Aurora, CO 80011. Este proyecto será financiado con $500,000 de los fondos HOME de la Ciudad de Aurora. El financiamiento total para este proyecto se estima en $25,000,000 de varias otras fuentes.

HALLAZGO SIN IMPACTO SIGNIFICATIVO

La Ciudad de Aurora ha determinado que el proyecto no tendrá un impacto significativo en el entorno humano. Por lo tanto, no se requiere una Declaración de Impacto Ambiental bajo la Ley Nacional de Política Ambiental de 1969 (NEPA). La información adicional del proyecto está contenida en el Registro de Revisión Ambiental (ERR) archivado en el Centro Municipal de la Ciudad de Aurora ubicado en 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy y se puede examinar o copiar los días de semana de 8 a. m. a 5 p. m. COMENTARIOS DEL PÚBLICO Cualquier individuo, grupo o entidad podrán hacer observaciones por escrito sobre la ERR a la Alicia Montoya, Ciudad de Aurora, División de Desarrollo de la Comunidad, 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy, Aurora, Colorado, 80012; o amontoya@auroragov. org. Para preguntas e información adicional, por favor póngase en contacto con Alicia Montoya en la dirección arriba o llame al 303-739-7900. Todos los comentarios recibidos 15 de enero de 2023 serán considerados por la Ciudad de Aurora antes de autorizar la presentación de una solicitud de liberación de fondos. Los comentarios deben especificar qué Observe que se dirigen.

CERTIFICACIÓN AMBIENTAL

La Ciudad de Aurora certifica a HUD que Alicia Montoya en su calidad de Gerente de la División de Desarrollo Comunitario acepta la jurisdicción de los Tribunales Federales si se presenta una acción para hacer cumplir las responsabilidades en relación con el proceso de revisión ambiental y que estas responsabilidades han sido satisfechas. La aprobación de la certificación por parte del estado de HUD satisface sus responsabilidades bajo NEPA y las leyes y autoridades relacionadas y permite a Community Housing Partners Colorado usar los fondos del Programa.

OBJECIONES A liberación de fondos HUD aceptará objeciones a su liberación de fondos y la certificación de la Ciudad de Aurora por un período de quince días después de la fecha de presentación anticipada o la recepción real de la solicitud (lo que ocurra más tarde) solo si se basan en una de las siguientes bases: ( a) la certificación no fue ejecutada por el Oficial Certificador de la Ciudad de Aurora; (b) la ciudad de Aurora ha omitido un paso o no ha tomado una decisión o hallazgo requerido por las reglamentaciones de HUD en 24 CFR parte 58; (c) el beneficiario de la subvención u otros participantes en el proceso de desarrollo han comprometido

fondos, incurrido en costos o realizado actividades no autorizadas por 24 CFR Parte 58 antes de la aprobación de una liberación de fondos por parte de HUD; o (d) otra agencia federal que actúa de conformidad con 40 CFR Parte 1504 ha presentado una conclusión por escrito de que el proyecto no es satisfactorio desde el punto de vista de la calidad ambiental. Las objeciones deben prepararse y enviarse por correo electrónico de acuerdo con los procedimientos requeridos (24 CFR Parte 58, Sec. 58.76) y deben dirigirse a Noemi Ghirghi, Directora de CPD Región VIII, a CPD_COVID-19OEE-DEN@hud.gov. Los posibles objetores deben comunicarse con CPD_COVID-19OEE-DEN@hud.gov para verificar el último día real del período de objeción.

Alicia Montoya, Gerente de la División de Desarrollo de la Comunidad

Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel AVISO DE HALLAZGO SIN IMPACTO

SIGNIFICATIVO Y AVISO DE INTENTO DE SOLICITAR LIBERACIÓN DE FONDOS

deciembre 29, 2022

División de Desarrollo Comunitario de la Ciudad de Aurora 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy Aurora, CO 80017 303-739-7921

SOLICITUD DE LIBERACIÓN DE FONDOS En o alrededor del 16 de enero de 2022, la Ciudad de Aurora presentará una solicitud a HUD para la liberación de fondos de HOME bajo el Programa de Asociación HOME, según enmendado. Este compromiso será para Fitzsimons Gateway Apartments para la nueva construcción de viviendas multifamiliares utilizando fondos del Programa de Asociación de Inversión en el Hogar en Peoria y Colfax en Aurora, Colorado. Este desarrollo tendrá 210 unidades de viviendas asequibles, todas dentro de un edificio de 6 pisos cerca del campus de Fitzsimons Medical. Este programa estará disponible en toda la ciudad y se financiará con $640,000 de los fondos HOME de la Ciudad de Aurora. El financiamiento total para este proyecto se estima en $35,000,000 de varias otras fuentes.

HALLAZGO SIN IMPACTO SIGNIFICATIVO

La Ciudad de Aurora ha determinado que el proyecto no tendrá un impacto significativo en el entorno humano. Por lo tanto, no se requiere una Declaración de Impacto Ambiental bajo la Ley Nacional de Política Ambiental de 1969 (NEPA). La información adicional del proyecto se encuentra en el Registro de revisión ambiental (ERR) archivado en la Ciudad de Aurora, División de Desarrollo Comunitario, 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy, Aurora, CO. y se puede examinar o copiar los días de semana de 8 a. m. a 5 p. m.

COMENTARIOS PÚBLICOS

Cualquier individuo, grupo o agencia puede enviar comentarios por escrito sobre la ERR a Alicia Montoya, City of Aurora, Community Development Division, 15151 E. Alameda, Aurora, Colorado, 80012; o amontoya@auroragov.org. Si tiene preguntas e información adicional, comuníquese con Alicia Montoya a la dirección anterior o llame al 303-739-7900. Todos los comentarios recibidos antes del 15 de enero de 2022 serán considerados por la Ciudad de Aurora antes de autorizar la presentación de una solicitud de liberación de fondos. Los comentarios deben especificar a qué Aviso se dirigen.

CERTIFICACIÓN AMBIENTAL

La Ciudad de Aurora certifica a HUD que Alicia Montoya, en su calidad de Gerente de la División de Desarrollo Comunitario, consiente en aceptar la jurisdicción de los Tribunales Federales si se inicia una acción para hacer cumplir las responsabilidades en relación con el proceso de revisión ambiental y que estas responsabilidades han sido satisfechas. La aprobación de la certificación por parte del Estado de HUD satisface sus responsabilidades bajo NEPA y las leyes y autoridades relacionadas y permite que el Proyecto Fitzsimons Gateway Apartments use los fondos del Programa.

OBJECIONES A LA LIBERACIÓN DE FONDOS HUD aceptará objeciones a su liberación de fondos y la certificación de la Ciudad de Aurora por un período de quince días después de la fecha de presentación anticipada o la recepción real de la solicitud (lo que ocurra más tarde) solo si se basan en una de las siguientes bases: ( a) la certificación no fue ejecutada por el Oficial Certificador de la Ciudad de Aurora; (b) la ciudad de Aurora ha omitido un paso o no ha tomado una decisión o hallazgo requerido por las reglamentaciones de HUD en 24 CFR parte 58; (c) el beneficiario de la subvención u otros participantes en el proceso de desarrollo han comprometido fondos, incurrido en costos o realizado actividades no autorizadas por 24 CFR Parte 58 antes de la aprobación de una liberación de fondos por parte de HUD; o (d) otra agencia federal que actúa de conformidad con 40 CFR Parte 1504 ha presentado una conclusión por escrito de que el proyecto no es satisfactorio desde el punto de vista de la calidad ambiental. Las objeciones deben prepararse y presentarse de acuerdo con los procedimientos requeridos

(24 CFR Parte 58, Sec. 58.76) y deben dirigirse a Noemí Ghirghi Director interino de CPD CPD_COVID-19OEE-DEN@hud. gov. Los posibles objetores deben comunicarse con CPD_COVID-19OEE-DEN@ hud.govHUD para verificar el último día real del período de objeción.

Alicia Montoya, Gerente División Desarrollo Comunitario

Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO REQUEST RELEASE OF FUNDS

December 29, 2022 City of Aurora Community Development Division 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy Aurora, CO. 80017 303-739-7921

REQUEST FOR RELEASE OF FUNDS

On or about January 16, 2023 the City of Aurora will submit a request to HUD for the release of HOME funds under the HOME Partnership Program , as amended. This undertaking will be for Aurora Leased Housing Associates, acting as an affiliate of Owner and as Developer, will use HOME funds to assist in the development project as Aurora Metro Station, a 222 unit multi-family affordable housing development to be located at the cross streets of E. Center Ave/ E. Centrepoint Dr. / S. Chambers Road /E. Alameda Pkwy. The project will be located at the Northeast Corner of the site. This project will be funded with $960,000 of the City of Aurora’s HOME funding. Total funding for this project is estimated to be up $35,000,000 from various other sources.

FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT

The City of Aurora has determined that the project will have no significant impact on the human environment. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is not required. Additional project information is contained in the Environmental Review Record (ERR) on file at the City of Aurora’s Municipal Center located at 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy and may be examined or copied weekdays 8 A.M to 5 P.M.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Any individual, group, or agency may submit written comments on the ERR to Alicia Montoya, City of Aurora, Community Development Division, 15151 E. Alameda, Aurora, Colorado, 80012; or amontoya@ auroragov.org. For questions and additional information please contact Alicia Montoya at the above address or call 303739-7900. All comments received by January 15, 2023 will be considered by the City of Aurora prior to authorizing submission of a request for release of funds. Comments should specify which Notice they are addressing.

ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION

The City of Aurora certifies to HUD that Alicia Montoya in her capacity as Community Development Division Manager consents to accept the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts if an action is brought to enforce responsibilities in relation to the environmental review process and that these responsibilities have been satisfied. HUD’s State’s approval of the certification satisfies its responsibilities under NEPA and related laws and authorities and allows Aurora Metro Station Project use Program funds.

OBJECTIONS TO RELEASE OF FUNDS

HUD will accept objections to its release of funds and the City of Aurora certification for a period of fifteen days following the anticipated submission date or its actual receipt of the request (whichever is later) only if they are on one of the following bases: (a) the certification was not executed by the Certifying Officer of the City of Aurora; (b) the City of Aurora has omitted a step or failed to make a decision or finding required by HUD regulations at 24 CFR part 58; (c) the grant recipient or other participants in the development process have committed funds, incurred costs or undertaken activities not authorized by 24 CFR Part 58 before approval of a release of funds by HUD; or (d) another Federal agency acting pursuant to 40 CFR Part 1504 has submitted a written finding that the project is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of environmental quality. Objections must be prepared and submitted via email in accordance with the required procedures (24 CFR Part 58, Sec. 58.76) and shall be addressed to Noemi Ghirghi, CPD Region VIII Director, at CPD_COVID19OEE-DEN@hud.gov. Potential objectors should contact CPD_COVID-19OEEDEN@hud.gov to verify the actual last day of the objection period.

Alicia Montoya, Community Development Division Manager

Publication: December 29, 2022 Sentinel

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Aurora High Point at DIA Metropolitan District of Adams County, Colorado, will make final payment at the offices of CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP, 8390 E. Crescent Parkway, #500, Greenwood Village, CO 80111, at 10:00 a.m., on Monday, January 9, 2023, to: Dynaelectric Company, Inc. (Denali Street Project)

345 Sheridan Boulevard Lakewood, Colorado 80226 for all work done by said Contractor for the Denail Street Project, all of said work being within or near the boundaries of the Aurora High Point at DIA Metropolitan District, in Adams County, State of Colorado.

Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company, or corporation that has furnished labor, materials, provisions, team hire, sustenance provender or other supplies used or consumed by such Contractor or its Subcontractors or Suppliers in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done and whose claim therefore has not been paid by the Contractor or its Subcontractors or Suppliers at any time up to and including the time of final settlement for the work contracted to be done, is required to file a written verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim, Attn: Ann E. Finn, 141 Union Boulevard, Suite 150, Lakewood, Colorado, 80228, with a copy to Colin Mielke, Esq., Seter & Vander Wall, P.C., 700 E. Orchard Road, Suite 3300, Greenwood Village, Colorado, 80111, at or before the time and date hereinabove shown. Failure on the part of any claimant to file such written verified statement of claim prior to such final settlement will release Aurora High Point at DIA Metropolitan District, its Board, officers, agents, and employees of and from any and all liability for such claim.

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Aurora High Point at DIA Metropolitan District

By: /s/ Ann E. Finn

Secretary

First Publication: December 22, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel

BEFORE THE COLORADO GROUND WATER COMMISSION DETERMINATIONS OF WATER RIGHT KIOWA-BIJOU DESIGNATED GROUNDWATER BASIN AND NORTH KIOWA BIJOU GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT

DISTRICTARAPAHOE COUNTY

TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to section 37-90-107(7), C.R.S., and the Designated Basin Rules, 2 CCR 410-1, Andrea Manos and Philip J. Deter, Co-Trustees of the Administrative Survivor’s Trust under the 1997 Deter Revocable Trust dated October 3, 1997 have applied for determinations of rights to allocations of designated groundwater from the Laramie-Fox Hills and Arapahoe aquifers underlying 2,472.5 acres of four noncontiguous parcels generally described as follows:

Area A containing 1,650.5 acres and generally described as the W 1/2, SW 1/4 SE 1/4, E 1/2 SE 1/4, and SE 1/4 NE 1/4 of Section 22; the NW 1/4 and E 1/2 of Section 26; that portion of Section 27 lying northeast of the lands conveyed to the State of Colorado for US Highway 40 and Interstate 70; and that portion of the E 1/2 of Section 34 lying northeast of Interstate 70; all in Township 4 South, Range 60 West of the 6th P.M.;

Area B containing 121 acres and generally described as that portion of the E 1/2 of Section 34 lying between Interstate 70 and the right-of-way for US Highway 40, Township 4 South, Range 60 West of the 6th P.M.;

Area C containing 81 acres and generally described as that portion of the SW 1/4 of Section 27 lying south of the right-of-way for US Highway 40 and that portion of the NE 1/4 of Section 33 lying north of the right-of-way for the Union Pacific Railroad, all in Township 4 South, Range 60 West of the 6th P.M.; and

Area D containing 620 acres and generally described as those portions of Sections 33 and 34 lying south of the right-of-way for the Union Pacific Railroad all in Township 4 South, Range 60 West of the 6th P.M.

The applicant claims ownership of this land and control of the groundwater in these aquifers underlying this property.

The groundwater from these allocations is proposed to be used on the described property for the following beneficial uses: domestic, irrigation (indoor and outdoor), agricultural, commercial, industrial, stock watering, fire suppression, replacement, and fish and wildlife.

In accordance with section 37-90-107(7), the Colorado Ground Water Commission shall allocate groundwater from the above aquifers based on ownership of the overlying land. Only a 1,946.25-acre portion of the Overlying Land is underlain by the Arapahoe aquifer (Reduced Overlying Land). A preliminary evaluation of

the application finds the volume of water available for allocation from the LaramieFox Hills aquifer underlying the Overlying Land to be as follows: 34,700 acre-feet for Area A, 2,360 acre-feet for Area B, 1,580 acre-feet for Area C and 12,600 acre-feet for Area D. A preliminary evaluation of the application finds the volume of water available for allocation from the Arapahoe aquifer underlying the Reduced Overlying Land to be as follows: 1,910 acre-feet for Area A, 206 acre-feet for Area B, 138 acre-feet for Area C and 1,050 acre-feet for Area D. These amounts are subject to final evaluation, and subsequent to issuance of the determinations, adjustment to conform to the actual local aquifer characteristics.

In accordance with section 37-90-107(7) (a), well permits issued pursuant to subsection 107(7) shall allow withdrawals on the basis of an aquifer life of one hundred years.

In accordance with Rule 5.3.6 of the Designated Basin Rules preliminary evaluation of the applications finds the replacement water requirement status for the aquifers underlying the above-described property to be nontributary for the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer and not-nontributary (actual impact replacement requirement) for the Arapahoe aquifer.

Upon Commission approval of determinations of rights to the allocations, well permits for wells to withdraw the allocations shall be available upon application, subject to the conditions of each determination, the Designated Basin Rules, and approval by the Commission. Such wells must be completed in the aquifer for which the right was allocated and must be located on the 2,472.5 acres of Overlying Land for the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer or located on the 1,946.25 acres of Reduced Overlying Land for the Arapahoe aquifer.

Any person wishing to object to the approval of these determinations of rights to allocations must do so in writing, briefly stating the nature of the objection, the name of the applicant, a general description of the property, and the specific aquifers that are the subject of the objection. The objection, including a required $10 fee per application being objected to, must be received by the Colorado Ground Water Commission by close of business February 5, 2023. Objections should be sent via email to DWRpermitsonline@state.co.us, upon which the objector will be emailed an invoice for paying the fee online. If the objector is unable to provide the objection via email please contact 303-866-3581.

First Publication: December 29, 2022

Final Publication: January 5, 2023

Sentinel

DISTRICT COURT, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE

SUMMONS RE: PETITION FOR DECREE OF DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE WITHOUT CHILDREN Case No. 22DR31067

In re the Marriage of Petitioner: Oscar Luis Velasco and Respondent: Maribel Rico

TO THE RESPONDENT NAMED ABOVE this Summons serves as a notice to appear in this case.

If you were served in the State of Colorado, you must file your Response with the clerk of this Court within 21 days after this Summons is served on you to participate in this action.

If you were served outside of the State of Colorado or you were served by publication, you must file your Response with the clerk of this Court within 35 days after this Summons is served on you to participate in this action.

Your response must be accompanied with the appropriate filing fee. After 91 days from the date of service or publication, the Court may enter a Decree affecting your marital status, distribution of property and debts, maintenance, attorney fees, and costs to the extent the Court has jurisdiction.

If you fail to file a Response in this case, any or all of the matters above, or any related matters which come before this Court, may be decided without further notice to you.

This is an action to obtain a Decree of: Dissolution of Marriage.

Notice: §14-10-107, C.R.S. provides that upon the filing of a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage or Legal Separation by the Petitioner and Co-Petitioner, or upon personal service of the Petition and Summons on the Respondent, or upon waiver and acceptance of service by the Respondent, an automatic temporary injunction shall be in effect against both parties until the Final Decree is entered, or the Petition is dismissed, or until further Order of the Court. Either party may apply to the Court for further temporary orders, an expanded temporary injunction, or modification or revocation under §14-10-108, C.R.S.

Automatic Temporary Injunction – By Order of Colorado Law, You and Your Spouse are:

1. Restrained from transferring, encumbering, concealing or in any way disposing of, without the consent of the other party or an Order of the Court, any marital property,

except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life. Each party is required to notify the other party of any proposed extraordinary expenditures and to account to the Court for all extraordinary expenditures made after the injunction is in effect;

2. Enjoined from molesting or disturbing the peace of the other party;

3. Restrained from removing the minor child of the parties from the State without the consent of the other party or an Order of the Court; and

4. Restrained without at least 14 days advance notification and the written consent of the other party or an Order of the Court, from canceling, modifying, terminating, or allowing to lapse for nonpayment of premiums, any policy of health insurance, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, or automobile insurance that provides coverage to either of the parties or any policy of life insurance that names either of the parties or the minor children as a beneficiary.

Respectfully submitted, on August 22, 2022.

DULY SIGNED ORIGINAL IS FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE UNDERSIGNED /s/ Madeline Wilson Atty Reg #:24060 Attorney for Petitioner

First Publication: December 8, 2022

Final Publication: January 5, 2023 Sentinel IN THE DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE STATE OF COLORADO NOTICE Case No. 22DR31152

In re the Dissolution of Marriage Petitioner: JENNIFER REDMOND and Respondent: LOGAN MARC HARVILL

TO: LOGAN MARC HARVILL

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED a petition for Dissolution of Marriage has been filed in the following case no. 2022DR31152, that a copy of the Petition and Summons may be obtained from the Clerk of the Court during regular business hours, and that Default Judgment may be entered against that party upon whom service is made by such notice if he/she fails to appear or file a response within thirty-five (35) days after date of publication.

DATED: September 12, 2022

First Publication: December 1, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022 Sentinel

NOTICE CONCERNING PROPOSED 2023 BUDGET FOR WATERSTONE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 2

NOTICE is hereby given that a proposed budget has been submitted to the Board of Directors of Waterstone Metropolitan District No. 2 for the ensuing year of 2023; that a copy of such proposed budget has been filed in the office of Wolfersberger, LLC, 8354 Northfield Blvd, Building G, Suite 3700, Denver, Colorado 80238, where the same is open for public inspection; and that such proposed budget will be considered at a public hearing of the Board of Directors of the District to be held on Wednesday October 05, 2022. at 1:00pm. The online video conference meeting will be held at the following online location: https://www.gotomeet.me/Wolfersberger Members of the public may also participate via phone using the dial-in number (571) 317-3112 and access code #937-865-597. Any elector within the District may, at any time prior to the final adoption of the budget, inspect the budget and file or register any objections thereto.

WATERSTONE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 2

By: Charles Wolfersberger District Manager

Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT

Notice is hereby given that pursuant to Section 38-26-107, C.R.S., WHEATLANDS PARK AND RECREATION AUTHORITY, a contractual authority and political subdivision of the State of Colorado located in Arapahoe County, Colorado (the “Authority”), will make final settlement on January 16, 2023 to AP MOUNTAIN STATES, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company, of Aurora, Colorado (the “Contractor”) for all work done by the Contractor on the Wheatlands Recreation Center (a/k/a Wheatlands YMCA), performed within the Authority, Arapahoe County, Colorado. Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company or corporation that has furnished labor, materials, team hire, sustenance, provisions, provender, or other supplies used or consumed by such contractors or their subcontractors, in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done or that supplies rental machinery, tools, or equipment to the extent used in the prosecution of the work, and whose claim therefor has not been paid by the contractors or their subcontractors, at any time up to and including the time of final settlement for the work contracted to be done, is required to file a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid, and an account of such claim, to the Authority on or before the date and time hereinabove shown for final settlement. Failure on the part of any claimant to file such verified statement of claim prior to such final settlement will release the Authority, its directors, officers, agents, and employees, of and from any and all liability for such claim.

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WHEATLANDS PARK AND RECREATION AUTHORITY

First Publication: December 29, 2022

Final Publication: January 5, 2023

Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE

Notice is hereby given that PODS Enterprises, LLC, located at 3500 N Windsor Dr Suite 300, Aurora, CO 80011, will sell the contents of certain containers at auction to the highest bidder to satisfy owner’s lien. Auction will be held online at www. StorageTreasures.com starting on January 12, 2023 and ending on January 19, 2023. Contents to be sold may include general household goods, electronics, office & business equipment, furniture, clothing and other miscellaneous personal property.

First Publication: December 22, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022 Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE

Security Self Storage, in accordance with C.R.S. 38-21.5-103, hereby gives Notice of Sale, to wit: On JANUARY 26, 2023 at 2 P.M. at 9150 Pierce St., Westminster, CO 80021 will conduct a sale on Lockerfox. com prior to the sale date for each storage space in its entirety to the highest bidder for cash, of the contents of the following units to satisfy a landlord’s lien. Seller reserves the right to refuse any bid and to withdraw any property from sale. The public is invited to bid on said units.

Dannie Foulks: tires, propane tanks, ladder, boxes, tools, batteries, misc. Elizabeth Engle: TV, totes, clothes, misc. Catherina Romero: clothes, luggage, totes, table, misc. Jeffery Tong: luggage, totes, wheelchair, mini fridge, shelving, space heater, chest, misc. Heather Heilbrun: golf cart, luggage, heater, bike, totes, shelving, misc. Adam Mills: furniture, appliances, boxes, mirror, tools, vacuum, misc. Seven Ridgeway: golf clubs, space heater. Geneva Lyons: totes, dresser, car jacks.

First Publication: December 22, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE

Security Self Storage, in accordance with C.R.S. 38-21.5-103, hereby gives Notice Of Sale, to wit: On JANUARY 26, 2023 at 2 P.M. at 9750 W. JEWELL AVE. LAKEWOOD, CO 80232 will conduct a sale on Lockerfox.com prior to the sale date for each storage space in its entirety to the highest bidder for cash, of the contents of the following units to satisfy a landlord’s lien, Seller reserves the right to refuse any bid and to withdraw any property from sale, The public is invited to bid on said units. Peter Townsend: boxes, bookshelves, furniture, cart. Jaime Holcomb: computer, luggage, cart, level, totes. Michael Montoya: sofa, commercial food processors, mini fridge, misc. Brittany Adams: boxes, vacuum, office chair, bike. Ceiria Fox: toolbox, air compressor, sound mixer, rifle, misc. Frank Apodaca: car parts, AC unit, kids wagon, kids bike, furniture, misc. Parke Jones: miter saw, grandfather clock, microwave, totes, ladder, misc. Brittany Giardino: totes, trunk, backpacks, tool bag. Jessica Shreeves: boxes, totes, tool bag. Mark Mostek: file cabinet, boxes, exercise machine, entertainment center, misc. Kirby Mincberg: totes, dressers, misc. Jaz Allmer: air compressor, tires, lumber, misc. Peter Townsend: boxes, hand dolly, truck storage box, trunks, misc. Landon Roy: boxes, totes.

First Publication: December 22, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE

Security Self Storage, in accordance with C.R.S. 38-21.5-103, hereby gives Notice Of Sale, to wit: On JANUARY 26, 2023 at 2 P.M. at 2078 S Pontiac Way, Denver, CO 80224 will conduct a sale on Lockerfox. com prior to the sale date for each storage space in its entirety to the highest bidder for cash, of the contents of the following units to satisfy a landlord’s lien, Seller reserves the right to refuse any bid and to withdraw any property from sale, The public is invited to bid on said units.

Angela Whitmill: totes, speaker, bikes, fishing poles, misc. Lindsey Burks: boxes, space heater, CD holder, end tables

First Publication: December 22, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022 Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE

Security Self Storage, in accordance with C.R.S. 38-21.5-103, hereby gives Notice Of Sale, to wit: On JANUARY 26, 2023 at 2 P.M. at 10601 E Iliff Ave, Aurora, CO 80014 will conduct a sale on Lockerfox.com prior to the sale date for each storage space in its entirety to the highest bidder for cash, of the contents of the following units to satisfy a landlord’s lien. Seller reserves the right to refuse any bid and to withdraw any property from sale. The public is invited to bid on said units.

Carrie Marie Shoemaker: boxes, chairs, massage table, mini fridge, misc. Julia Freiberger: totes, boxes, toolbox, clothes, misc. Conrad Cahoj: boxes, misc. Bradford Browne: boxes, books, LP’s, misc. Benjamin Zrnchik: totes, clothes, shoes, misc. Trekeith Smith: ladder, furniture, vacuum. Ryan Boyle: totes, boxes, misc.

First Publication: December 22, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022 Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE

Security Self Storage, in accordance with C.R.S. 38-21.5-103, hereby gives Notice Of Sale, to wit: On JANUARY 26, 2023 at 2 P.M. at 2025 S Holly, Denver, CO 80222 will conduct a sale on Lockerfox.com prior to the sale date for each storage space in its entirety to the highest bidder for cash, of the contents of the following units to satisfy a landlord’s lien, Seller reserves the right to refuse any bid and to withdraw any property from sale, The public is invited to bid on said units.

NOTICE OF FINAL PAYMENT

On or after January 5, 2023, THE CHERRY CREEK SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 5 of ARAPAHOE COUNTY, STATE OF COLORADO, will make final payment to SUPERIOR ROOFING, INC. as the general contractor for the phase two roof replacement project at EASTRIDGE ELEMENTARY, located at 11777 E Wesley Avenue, Aurora, Colorado, 80014. All claims relating to this contract must be filed with David Henderson, Deputy Chief of Operations, Cherry Creek School District No. 5, 9301 E Union Avenue, Greenwood Village, Colorado, 80111 before January 5, 2023.

Board of Education Cherry Creek School District No. 5 County of Arapahoe State of Colorado

First Publication: December 22, 2022

Publication: December 29, 2022

NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION

PURSUANT TO §15-12-801, C.R.S.

Case No. 2021PR31045

Estate of Charles H. Writzmann, Deceased.

All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Adams County, Colorado, on or before April 22, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Attorney for Personal Representative

Amanda Halstead

Atty Reg #: 35477 Mills Halstead Zaloudek, LLC

600 17th Street, Suite 2800 S Denver, Colorado 80202-5428

Phone: 303-226-5861

First Publication: December 22, 2022

Final Publication: January 5, 2023

Sentinel

active role in creating what they want a just society to be, then we have no real opportunity to build one,” Hernández said.

try to minimize disruption as much as possible,” said APS chief operating officer Anthony Sturges during a presentation to the board.

The boundaries the board voted to approve are:

POLICE

Police: 2 dead after afternoon shooting

NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION

PURSUANT TO §15-12-801, C.R.S.

Case No. 2022PR31006

Estate of Tuman Granville Clayton, Deceased.

All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Adams County, Colorado on or before April 17, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Melany Ubel

Personal Representative 7496 County Rd. 10 Fort Lupton, CO 80621

Attorney for Personal Representative

Nicholas Klimas

Atty Reg #: 48658

Gendelman Klimas, Ltd.

517 E. 16th Ave. Denver, CO 80203

Phone: 720-213-0687

First Publication: December 15, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel

Before accepting the job in Aurora, Hernández taught at North High School, just two blocks from where he grew up. As a longtime resident of Denver’s heavily Latino northside, Hernández felt he had a unique ability to relate to students in his classroom at the school. During his one-year tenure at Denver North, Hernández taught about the same liberation movements he currently teaches in Aurora.

After his first semester, Hernández was told the school would not be renewing his contract. School administrator’s pointed to poor interview performance as justification for their decision, but Hernández believes the real reasons boiled down to racism and disagreement with what he was teaching.

“I’m working within an education system that is not interested in sustaining teachers like me,” Hernández said. “Education is political. Teaching is political.”

+ Paris students living west of Nome and Newark streets will be zoned for Crawford Elementary, while students living east of Nome and Newark will be zoned for Montview Elementary.

+ Sable students living south of Montview Boulevard and east of I-225 and students east of Sable Boulevard will be zoned for Altura Elementary. Students residing north of Montview Boulevard and west of Sable Boulevard and students living west of I-225 will be zoned for Park Lane Elementary. Students in the Copper Flats apartment complex will move from Park Lane to Vaughn Elementary.

+ A new P-8 school opening in the district at the site of the former Lyn Knoll Elementary in western Aurora will open in 2023-2024 with grades P-6 and will add a grade level each year. Students currently zoned for Sixth Avenue Elementary will be zoned for the new P-8.

Two people were shot Christmas eve afternoon in east Aurora and died later at a local hospital from their gunshot wounds, police said.

Officers were called to a home in the 17500 block of East Tennessee Place at about 12:30 p.m. to investigate a shooting, police said. “Once on scene, officers discovered two men outside who were suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.”

The victims were rushed to a nearby hospital but pronounced dead shortly after, police said.

No information was available about the circumstances that led to the shooting.

The shooting victims’ identities will be released at a later time by the Arapahoe County coroner office.

a state trooper hailed for stopping a gunman who entered the office of a previous governor over a decade ago but was accused of pointing a gun at a driver last year.

In one of a series of executive orders Thursday, Polis ordered Michael Clifton, who was convicted of committing an armed robbery with Rene Lima-Marin in 1998, be released on parole at the end of January.

Lima-Marin was mistakenly released from prison early and married and started a family before being sent back to prison nearly six years later in 2018. A judge later ordered Lima-Marin to be released again. But he was picked up by immigration authorities on a deportation order based on his conviction before he could return home, prompting then Gov. John Hickenlooper to pardon Lima-Marin.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION

PURSUANT TO §15-12-801, C.R.S.

Case No. 2022PR31360

Estate of Susan R. Tooley aka Susan Rae Tooley, Deceased.

All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Arapahoe County, Colorado on or before April 17, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Dale Culver

Personal Representative 3321 S. Bellaire St. Denver, CO 80222

Attorney for Personal Representative

Frank W. Suyat

Atty Reg #: 27514

Dill Dill Carr Stonbraker & Hutchings, P.C. 455 Sherman St., Ste. 300 Denver, CO 80203

Phone: 303-777-3737

First Publication: December 15, 2022

Final Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel VEHICLES FOR SALE

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Extreme Towing 303-344-1400

Publication: December 29, 2022

Sentinel

In Aurora, Hernández’s teaching philosophy remains the same: students deserve information and access to create a better world than the one they were born into.

“All I care about is educating students, young people who are going to be voters, young people who are going to be workers, young people who are going to be teachers,” Hernández said. “I want them to know that there are ways of existing in this world beyond what we’ve been taught.”

— ALISON BERG, Rocky Mountain PBS

APS approves new school boundaries

Students who currently attend Sable and Paris elementary schools in Aurora will be re-zoned for either Crawford, Montview, Altura or Park Lane after the two schools close at the end of this school year.

The Aurora Public Schools board voted unanimously to approve the district’s recommendations for the new boundaries at its board meeting last week, along with approving boundaries for two new P-8 schools.

Paris and Sable are closing at the end of the current school year as part of Blueprint APS, the district’s long-term facilities plan. After the board voted to approve the closures in the spring, the district started working on a re-boundary process to determine what nearby schools the students would be sent to.

The criteria for determining the new boundaries included minimizing impact to students and families, keeping existing neighborhoods intact and maximizing transportation resources, particularly now as APS and districts across the nation struggle with a bus driver shortage.

“Our criteria has always been to

+ A new P-8 school being constructed in The Aurora Highlands will open for the 2023-2024 school year with all grades. The boundary will include students currently zoned for Harmony Ridge P-8 north of I-70, including the Singletree, The Aurora Highlands, Green Valley Ranch East and Painted Prairie communities.

As part of the recommendations, the board also voted to waive any necessary policies to allow students in Sable or Paris to open enroll in the school they are not zoned for if they would prefer to attend the one they are not in the new boundary for. Students zoned for the P-8 school in west Aurora could also open enroll at Vaughn Elementary.

Typically, open enrollment requests can be revoked if the school in question is over-enrolled, but due to the vote students could not have their enrollment revoked. At the meeting, Superintendent Rico Munn said that open enrollment requests are not usually turned down in the district but this will give families additional peace of mind.

Students will be eligible for public transportation based on the district’s existing policies. At the board meeting, Sturges said the transportation department was part of the planning process and he feels “very confident” that the district will be able to provide the necessary transportation for the new boundaries.

The district has begun contacting Paris and Sable families to announce the decisions. Over the coming months families will have opportunities to meet their new principal and attend open houses, according to communications from the district.

— CARINA JULIG, Sentinel Staff Writer

Police said anyone with information can call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous and still be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000, police said.

— SENTINEL STAFF

Police investigating 2 shooting deaths

Police said two unidentified people were found dead the morning of Dec. 24 inside a house in northwest Aurora, both suffering gunshot wounds.

The bodies were discovered at about 11 a.m. after a welfare check call was made to dispatchers about the deaths in a house near East Colfax Avenue and Boston Street.

“Once on scene, officers discovered two adults inside of the residence with apparent gunshot wounds,” police said in a statement.

“The circumstances leading up to the shooting are still under investigation and detectives are actively pursuing leads,” according to Aurora police spokesperson Agent Matthew Longshore. “The relationship between the victims is not known at this time.”

Police said anyone with information can call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous and still be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000, police said.

— SENTINEL STAFF

COURTS

Polis pardons Michael Clifton

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has granted clemency to 24 people, including the co-defendant of a Cuban immigrant from Aurora who was pardoned in 2017 to prevent him from being deported as well as

In a letter to Clifton, Polis, a Democrat, said that Lima-Marin’s pardon was among the reasons he decided to issue a limited commutation of his 98-year sentence, as well as because his punishment was well beyond the typical range for such a crime and the work he has done in prison to help other offenders recognize the effect of their crimes on victims.

“You have taken accountability for your actions and recognize the mistakes you made in the past. You are remorseful and ready to advance to a new phase of life. I believe you will be successful upon your release,” Polis said.

Jason Kasperek, the assistant manager of one of two video stores robbed by Clifton and Lima-Marin, said Friday that he visited Clifton in prison with the help of a restorative justice councilor about six months ago after Polis’s office informed him they were considering clemency.

Five years after Kasperek opposed Lima-Marin’s pardon, he said he was impressed by Clifton and questioned his part in his conviction. At the time, Kasperek remembers being told to focus on what Clifton did, which instilled “anger and hate” and made him “base (Clifton’s) entire existence off those few minutes of what he did in that store.”

“I never had a chance to sit there and think. They never told me that he had children. They just said remember what he did,” said Kasperek, a photographer who ended up joining Clifton’s mother in campaigning for clemency for him. “He made a sporadic decision and robbed a store. I made a sporadic decision and put him in prison.”

When he got the call Thursday night from the governor’s office about Polis’ decision, said Kasperek, “I just came undone.” — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

››

Puzzles

Obituary

Doris Jean Gerhardt

May 15, 1951 - December 14, 2022

In May 1969, the local newspaper ran an article with the headline, “Dorie Rolls Into Her Future.” She was graduating with her class from Aurora High School, albeit in a wheelchair following a lengthy recovery from a single car rollover crash that left her a quadriplegic. She wasn’t expected to survive her injuries but proved doctors wrong and has been surpassing expectations since. Her earthly journey ended early morning on December 14. Courage and determination weren’t enough to ward off the RSV virus. She had been hospitalized several days prior to succumbing.

Dorie is a Denver native and attended Colorado Women’s College studying Early Childhood Education. She demonstrated her strong faith as a lifelong Lutheran and member at St. Mark’s in Aurora, where she served on the church council, taught Sunday School, and cultivated her church family. In later years she took advantage of the increased freedom a motorized wheelchair offered. She always had a good book going and kept up with the news along with her favorite TV shows. A top priority activity was socializing with her many friends and family members. A trip to Europe was a highlight, as well as traveling locally and to New York City, Arizona, California, North Carolina, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Florida.

Dorie was an inspiration to many. She always had a bright smile and quick quip. She was kind and demonstrated a generosity of spirit. Maintaining her bonhomie was a testament to her strength of character. Although unable to walk, she left behind large footprints to fill.

She is preceded in death by her infant sister Beverly Lynn, her loving grandmother, Emma (Nana) Murdock, and parents Margaret and Paul Gerhardt, who were key to her superlative care.

Survivors to cherish her memory are Abner Sanders, Terre G. Smith (John) and Nancy Walker, (Tom Lippitt), niece Caraly Walker, nephew Josh Walker (Denise), grandnephew Alex, Phoenix, AZ, nephew Nicholas Smith (Hayley), grandniece Evelyn and grandnephew Sawyer Colt, Covington, LA.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church,111 Del Mar Circle, a children’s charity, or to spinal cord injury research.

Black and white; another two of them are Black and white; and another two of them are Singapore and white. You think I’m a racist? I go and I give them kids kisses like nobody’s business.””

And when asked about the infamous chant “send her back” in reference to Muslim immigrant and Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, her sentiments were very paradoxical to her frustration with being called racist. “Look, but she is gonna get — you know, I don’t want her stinkin’ Muslim crap in my country,” Roseanna said. “Sharia law. That’s not America, she is a Muslim through and through…she wants that all here.”

When elected officials cannot recognize systemic racism in policy because their bigoted views have been normalized outside of city hall, the result is Councilmember Sundberg, who has clearly proven himself to be incapable of respecting all people he was elected to represent.

I’m not sure what’s more offensive, his desperate and pathetic attempt for financial gain at the expense of marginalized people while appealing to immature base humor, or that he is blatantly disregarding and offending people when he is elected

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to be a leader in a community needing to come together to decrease racial tension and increase inclusivity.

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It pains me that Aurora is now retraumatized, and having to deal with things like this only deepens those open wounds. As a Muslim and Arab American, these abhorrent stereotypes are reminiscent of decades past. Growing up in the wake of two Gulf Wars, 9/11, and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, seeing racist depictions of people who share my faith and heritage, became so commonplace that it was overwhelming to counter and dispel. But movements like Me Too and Black Lives Matter have opened the conversation around what undeserved and underrepresented communities need from others to recognize their identity and their cause, as well as what it should and should not look like.

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Having a city council member fail to recognize those cultural necessities and needs, as an elected official trusted to represent a diverse constituency, even when they do not share their same identity, signifies a betrayal of their belief in the system.

In “Dear fellow white people: Here’s what to do when you’re called racist,” an article published by the WashingtonPost,

that going this route of advertisement was OK in 2020 when they were published, and up until December 19, 2022, still thought it was OK, which is proof that he clearly never intended to serve a diverse population that would feel welcome in Sundberg’s establishment.

This makes me wonder which clientele he does want to serve exactly. I have no doubt that statements and apologies to affected communities are well under-

way. As such, I have been fielding emails, calls, and texts from allies, community leaders, and constituents — in Aurora and beyond — not asking for an apology or censure, but calling for his resignation. And I couldn’t agree more. A true apology would come in the form of resignation.

State Rep. Iman Jodeh is a Democrat and represents District 41 in central Aurora

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