Sentinel Colorado 4.21.2022

CAPITOL IDEAS

As the clock ticks out on the 2022 legislative session, lawmakers make big changes to fix big problems

2022/23 SEASON PASSES ON SALE NOW

U N LI M ITE D S K I I N G & R I D I N G F OR TH E 2022/23 S EAS ON

UNLIMITED SKIING RIDING FOR THE SEASON

FR E E B ON U S DAYS

AT 3 0 PARTN E R M OU NTAI N S F OR 2022/23 S EAS ON

FREE BONUS AT 30 PARTNER MOUNTAINS FOR 2022/23 SEASON

FR E E S K I I N G & R I D I N G F OR R E MAI N D E R OF TH I S S EAS ON

FREE SKIING & RIDING FOR REMAINDER THIS SEASON

Time to reel in spiteful statesmen partying hardy at their seemingly endless foul ball

After decades of watching people for a living, little surprises or mystifies me about humans — except for one thing.

I’ve never understood why some people, especially people in the public eye, are so spiteful.

I don’t mean pithy or willing to hand off a cleverly-worded slight. That just keeps things interesting.

I’m talking about an explosion of people who make it their trademark to say savagely cruel things about people they often don’t know and have never even met.

I’m not so naive as to think that bullying behavior was invented alongside social media, but I’ve never seen and heard so much raw savagery publicly flung by so many, only to be lauded for their ferociousness for “telling it like it is.”

Mean comics were all the rage long before there was anything more exciting than latenight color TV.

Joan Rivers brutally harassed other celebrities, and especially Elizabeth Taylor.

“Elizabeth Taylor, fat? Her favorite food is seconds,” drew rim shots on TV talk shows for years. “She’s the only person I know who stands in front of a microwave and screams, ‘hurry!’”

But what set Rivers and other insult comics apart from today’s bullies was how they dished out deprecating humor about themselves, too.

“I wish I had a twin, so I could know what I’d look like without plastic surgery,” was a Rivers standard.

Then, Twitter and Donald Trump came along. One night after a GOP presidential primary debate Trump was degrading former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly for her no-nonsense pursuit of questions for him.

“There was blood coming out of her wherever,” Trump said, to the delight of millions.

For years after, Trump hurled fabulously grotesque and vicious barbs across the Twitterverse and on TV. His go-to punch was calling women ugly, fat or stupid. Men he hates are “weak” and “losers.”

Rather than call out his bullying, many of his political allies began imitating him, even turning up the heat on heartless harangues.

Colorado first-term Congressperson Lauren Boebert has built her nascent political career on volumes of crass and ruthless remarks.

During the president’s state of union speech this year, Bobert tweeted, “Nancy looks a bit sad tonight, have they already put sanctions on the Russian vodka?”

Her thin repertoire focuses mostly on making fun of Pelosi and President Joe Biden for being old. “Will the new nursing home regulations apply to the White House, too?”

Boebert takes her cruel and bullying remarks to the limits sometimes, recently being called out even by her own Republican peers for inferring that a Muslim member of Congress is a terrorist and that Boebert was safe in an elevator because U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar wasn’t carrying a backpack.

It’s virtually a daily race to the bottom between Boebert and fellow GOP Congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene to see who can launch the most malicious sneer of the day.

After Boebert was recently called out by a fellow Republican congressperson for attacking Omar, Greene jumped to Boebert’s defense

by calling fellow GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina “trash” because Mace supported a rape exception in a failed bill outlawing abortions. Mace explained her support to fellow members saying she was sexually assaulted as a teen.

It’s unclear whether that vicious iniquity rolled downhill to Aurora, where some members of the city council lob venomous slurs at each other and others they don’t like.

Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky called nowfired Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson “trash” during a segment on a right-wing talk radio show a few months ago.

No one is above being targeted. Here in Aurora, at the State Capitol or in Congress, all are regular and fair game.

GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Greg Lopez told supporters during a recent campaign speech, “I think it’s time we had a real first lady,” slurring Colorado’s First Gentleman Marlon Reis, husband of Gov. Jared Polis.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who also preens to news that he’s fast with hurtful insults to anyone, told lifetime military veteran and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin he’s an unparalleled failure.

“I’m embarrassed by your leadership,” Gaetz said during a recent hearing. “It’s disgraceful that you would sit here and conflate your failures with those of uniformed service members.” Austin is a West Point grad and retired after 41 years in uniform as a four-star Army general.

There’s no shortage of answers why people behave this way. Sigmund Freud made a career out of explaining that people who do this

have deep-seated insecurities and lash out in a moment of transference. Other research shows that these people are often hurt badly by insults either lobbed at them or even self-inflicted. Current research reveals that people feeling threatened by tanking self-esteem or guilt are fast to hit the “cruel” button.

Clearly, though, these people keep on staying malevolent because there’s a payoff. People cheering rather than jeering these vicious spiteful jabs signal campaign dollars and a rush of approval endorphins.

Maybe it’s our fault they continue to be so savage.

It’s a fad in journalism right now to simply ignore politicians and other social media trolls that pour out hatefulness with massive megaphones day in and day out.

While millions of Twitter followers of people like Boebert and Greene just keep on liking every odious thing they post, fewer call them out for their cruelty.

Why not just ask them, “why are you being so mean?”

Letting them go on ad nauseum isn’t doing anything but growing market share in other people who enjoy and take part in the sadism.

I’m not the only one who thinks looking the other way is the wrong plan.

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything,” Albert Einstein famously said.

DAVE PERRY Editor

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., listens as President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Picture This

Home Edition

Subscription $42.00 Annually

Second class postage paid at Denver, CO 80217

Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown attaches Zeke’s badge, as the pup is sworn in as a deputy April 19 at the ArapCo Sheriff’s Headquarters. Zeke will serve as a therapy dog for Littleton Public Schools at Newton Middle School. The pup will work in obedience training over the next year and upon completion will attend the American Kennel Club’s class to become a therapy dog. Along with SRO Travis Jones, the two will work with students with special needs as well as help comfort students experiencing anxiety, depression or any form of crisis.

SEE STORY ON PAGE 13.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

The say this week

What we said

News this week you shouldn’t miss at SentinelColorado.com

• Aurora police monitor, city manager assure reforms will roll out despite...

• ON EDGE: Failed 2014 mental health overhaul shows how state political...

• Man shot Tuesday night in northeast Aurora

• OATH OF ARF-FICE: Zeke joins the force as another generation of...

• Paris Elementary School families at APS meeting push back against closure

• DA asks to drop charges in Colorado missing woman case

• Cherry Creek School District to reduce emissions by 25% with new...

• Aurora lawmakers scrutinize city plan for stemming youth violence

• Rep. Crow after review from Poland: More support needed for Ukraine

What they said

Comments to us from readers

Aurora lawmakers scrutinize city plan for stemming youth violence

AndwhatroledoAurora councilmembersexpectPARENTStoplay inkeepingtheirkidssafe?How aboutexpectingparentstoget theirchildrentoschool?Orkeepingtheirkidsathomeafter10 P.M.?Orhavingparentscommit tosafe,legalgunownership?Or havingparentscommittosupportingtheirchild’ssport,music, volunteer,art,oremployment activities?

—BluebirdviaSentinelColorado. com

Fax 720-324-4965

Editorial news@sentinelcolorado.com letters@sentinelcolorado.com events@sentinelcolorado.com sports@sentinelcolorado.com

Advertising sales@sentinelcolorado.com

Circulation subscribe@sentinelcolorado.com Obituaries obits@sentinelcolorado.com

Editorials Sentinel

Youth anti-violence plans need more guncontrol, school strategies

At long last, there’s some good news coming from city hall and the State Capitol in how Aurora, Denver and much of the state are going to stop teens and young adults from killing and maiming each other with guns.

Gov. Jared Polis and lawmakers from both parties agree youth violence has become so bad, and so widespread, that the state must step in and step up with the most important thing the Legislature can offer, money.

Likewise, Denver and Aurora city councils have wisely agreed that youth violence and shootings cross those two cities’ boundaries every single day. Because of that, a nascent regional effort to better understand the problem and treat the problem has a real chance in making a difference in a crisis here, across the state and across the nation.

The plague of shootings and lawlessness among teens and young adults is astonishingly widespread, deadly, pervasive and growing.

While there have actually been some bi-partisan agreement in Aurora and at the state level, Job One for lawmakers must be to avoid and call out mistakenly blaming the problem on politics.

Violence and especially gun violence is a growing problem in cities and states run by liberals and conservatives alike.

The Aurora-Denver reorganized Youth Violence Prevention Program is taking shape in promising ways. It is moving millions of dollars into projects that seek to ensure accurate, meaningful data is collected about Aurora children and that programs addressing problems are data-based.

But the YVPP effort has two fatal flaws, regularly overlooked when addressing community problems that affect troubled kids and families: schools and guns.

Everyone agrees that much of the problem in Aurora and Denver has to do with how shockingly cheap and easy it is for kids to get guns and ammunition. So-called “ghost guns” chat-room sales and thousands upon thousands of guns dangerously unsecured in homes with young kids and teenagers is a major part of the problem that conservative lawmakers refuse to admit or budge on and liberals lawmakers cower from.

Also state and local officials give regular lip service to how important it is for schools to be tied into programs that address youth violence and other problems, but these programs are almost always “bolt on” ideas that either involve schools only on a cursory level or plug outside programs into school spaces.

What the state and local programs overlook is that tens of thousands of school employees in the region have a front-row seat to what’s really happening in the lives of kids — every day, in real time. It’s information rarely tapped and often passed over because “experts” know better.

Aurora and Denver schools are in the thick of dealing with troubled kids, but the need for more resources to provide for children who not only are imminently about to become part of a gun-violence event, but for those whose lives are so disrupted or distraught that their crises comes from far different kinds of violence, just as dangerous and sometimes just as deadly.

While Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek schools have stepped up to create more opportunity for kids to get the mental health care they need, it’s not nearly enough.

Schools are the perfect conduit for quality child care for families who in the real world cannot afford it and cannot afford to stay home.

And schools are the perfect place to start conversations about a true dual-diploma system that is able to launch kids into the world at 17 with a solid, real-world education, an employable skill they like and the chance at further education when, and if, they want it.

For too many generations, millions of people have lost out from an education system that insists one size fits all, and rarely fits anyone.

As many, many real experts have pointed out, we cannot police or arrest our way out of this complicated and pervasive crisis. We must do more and do something different.

Aurora and Denver efforts are good places to start, but unless schools are tied into the issue and fully funded to provide what’s needed, Aurora can expect marginal results, more injuries and more deaths.

Learning to appreciate the flu

Irecommend the seasonal flu — but please allow me to explain.

About a week ago, I felt suddenly rundown and weak. I just wanted to lie down.

I thought nothing of it at the time. My family is facing some difficulties at the moment, difficulties we all must face now and again — and all of us are getting beat down.

But it wasn’t just fatigue. Was it the big C, I wondered?

Nope.

I’d never tested positive for having COVID-19. Did that dreaded virus finally find a way to feast on my blessed good health?

Nope.

It turned out to be just a regular flu — but there was nothing regular about it.

A particularly nasty and highly contagious bug that’s spreading rapidly around my region, it turned out to be the worst case of flu I ever recall having in my life.

With the intense national — and global — focus on a deadly “novel coronavirus” these past three years, it’s easy to forget how deadly the regular flu is.

According to the CDC, which has always had a hard time pinning down the exact numbers, the flu has been killing anywhere from 17,000 to 97,000 Americans every year since 2012.

Healthline says the flu has caused at least “3.5 million flu illnesses, 34,000 hospitalizations, and 2,000 deaths” in the United States this season.

And I was among its victims.

I went to the ER to make sure it was the bug causing my issues, and that my heart and fundamentals were sound — and I am very lucky they were (and are).

Then I returned home and commenced immediately lying in the same spot without moving — no food, nothing — for the next four days.

My teeth itched. I felt like a piano was sitting on my chest. The nausea would not relent. It was one of the best weeks of my life.

It’s a challenge all too common in affluent America: you can easily lose sight of how good you have it until you are reminded how bad things can get.

I recall filling my truck up for $40 a tank not

long ago — and now it costs $70 a tank.

All I can think of as I stand there pumping is how hard I worked the prior few years and how I was able put a nice little buffer in my savings account to prepare for a rainy day.

Now I think of the 1% return my savings account is paying against the 8.4% inflation rate from last month — and the 9.6% rate it is going to be this month — and I realize how much I took for granted the low-low inflation rate we’ve been enjoying for several decades.

Having your good health taken from you suddenly — but temporarily in my case, thankfully — makes me want to focus my energy on important matters, not trivial ones.

From now on I do not want to waste one fraction of a single second discussing politics on social media, but I do want to spend as much time as possible with my mom and dad as long as we have them to enjoy.

Every time I see them now — and I wasn’t able to do so at all the past week — I ask them a new question about their lives and other family members.

They are a fountain of wisdom and I want to capture as much of their experience and knowledge as I can while they are still able to share it.

And now you know why I recommend the seasonal flu!

TOM PURCELL, CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST

Tom Purcell is an author and humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Email him at Tom@TomPurcell.com.

Unraveling APD’s records backlog

OUTSIDE CONSULTANT STANDS BEHIND SCATHING POLICE RECORDS REPORT

Lawmakers who supported leadership changes in the police department questioned police officials and a representative of PRI Management Group on Thursday amid ongoing criticism of an explosive report by PRI about a record-keeping backlog.

BY MAX LEVY, Staff Writer

At an April 14 policy committee meeting, council members Danielle Jurinsky and Dustin Zvonek also tried to refute key points of an April 13 Sentinel Colorado article, which exposed inconsistencies between allegations made in the report and the realities of the record-keeping process in Aurora’s Police Department.

In the report — made public April 5, the day before City Manager Jim Twombly fired Wilson — PRI founder Ed Claughton characterized thousands of police reports that were awaiting transcription by APD’s records section as a serious threat to public safety.

Chief Wilson, through her attorney, said last week that some members of city council and city management purposely misconstrued the issue and the report to justify her firing, a maneuver based on antipolice reform politics, not public safety.

Neither city council members nor Claughton addressed information from a Sentinel story revealing numerous social media posts he’s made over the past few years lambasting police reform efforts across the country as well as Black Lives Matter. Claughton be-

came embroiled in a controversy where police questioned his objectivity during his bid for a contract in Wisconsin about 10 years ago. Claughton stood behind his review on Thursday, saying that the transcription backlog was dangerous.

Transcription in this context refers to the process of checking reports submitted by police officers for inaccuracies in form and attaching national crime category numbers that help with the collection of criminal justice statistics.

Also on April 5, Mayor Mike Coffman and others criticized police leadership over the findings of the report, with Coffman posting on social media that “there is absolutely no excuse for this, and the safety of our residents has been compromised because of a catastrophic failure of leadership within the department.”

Jurinsky shared a link to a news article about the report and said it was “time for significant leadership changes in the APD.”

While the report blamed police leadership for the struggles in the records section, PRI and Claughton himself have since said the report was not meant to “evaluate or impact the employment of the Chief of Police.”

Claughton wrote that police reports “do not get routed by the system for follow-up action or investigation until the transcription process is complete.” Police told The Sentinel last week, however, that investigations regu-

larly take place prior to and during transcription, and that reports awaiting transcription are still immediately viewable in the department’s Versadex records management system.

Claughton and police qualified those statements under questioning by Jurinsky and Zvonek Thursday, with Claughton pointing out he had also written that “in some situations, detectives are directly advised of serious crimes and specifically request to have reports transcribed/approved so they can be printed or filed for prosecution.”

Sgt. Faith Goodrich, who on April 8 said reports are accessible in the transcription queue, acknowledged that untrained officers may have difficulty locating backlogged reports in Versadex.

“There’s truth to both statements. They are able to get into there and see all of that, but a lot of them probably don’t know how,” Goodrich said. “If they haven’t done a stint with detectives or some extra training, they may not know how to do that.”

While Acting Capt. Chris Amsler previously told The Sentinel that he did not believe the backlog impacted investigations, Lt. Bob Wesner said the investigations of four child abuse cases and two missing persons cases were delayed by weeks.

On Friday when meeting with The Sentinel, Amsler said a police lieutenant work-

Members of the Aurora Police Department speak about records protocols during a city council public safety meeting. Screen shot Sentinel Desk

Aurora lawmakers scrutinize youth violence plan

After reviving an anti-gang program earlier this year, Aurora’s city council continued to express skepticism this week about staff proposals for dealing with youth violence, splitting on the appropriateness of a new strategic plan.

Three members raised formal objections and two others voiced concerns about the plan, which aims to address youth and gang violence, and shootings specifically, through outreach to youth ages 1024 and families.

Mayor Mike Coffman and Councilmember Angela Lawson said they thought the strategic plan was out of step with the council resolution that reorganized the Youth Violence Prevention Program along the lines of the Aurora Gang Reduction Impact Program, dedicating 80% of program funding to violence intervention and 20% to prevention.

Lawson also said she thought the plan didn’t go far enough in offering short-term ways of addressing the violence.

“Youth are getting shot every single day,” she said. “I’m just trying to figure out ... how we’re going to be dealing with those critical incidents that we’re dealing with pretty much on an everyday basis in Aurora.”

In 2021, police say 33 people were shot to death in the city, including two children. Among 157 non-fatal shootings, 39 of the victims were children, and a total of 16 non-fatal shootings were said to have been gang-related.

Mark Hildebrand, metro division chief for the Aurora Police Department, previously estimated that between 20% and 50% of violent crime is gang-related, depending on how police define gangs.

The manager of Aurora’s Youth Violence Prevention Program, Christina Amparan, presented the results of community interviews on Monday which indicated the type of violence viewed as most impactful on the city — gang violence topped the list, followed by domestic violence, gun violence and other categories.

Amparan also mentioned drug use, bullying, mental health problems, family issues and “racial tensions” as reasons why young people get embroiled in violence.

“Many of these behaviors are very complex and require a specialized response, which is even more of a reason why we want to ensure we’re taking that multidisciplinary response,” Amparan said.

She said a multidisciplinary team could begin working as soon as next month, referring at-risk and high-risk youth to one of the two outreach specialists who will be a part of the program’s full staff or to an outside agency.

Other points of the strategic plan presented by Amparan include supporting police and courts by acting as a “resource hub” and continuing to assess the impacts of violence, expanding other partnerships to break down what Amparan called the city’s “siloed” response to vio-

lence, and undertaking prevention work, like serving runaway youth with the help of police and offering mental health services and safe spaces in the wake of gun violence with the help of churches.

Councilmember Dustin Zvonek said he also objected to the strategic plan moving out of Monday’s study session.

While council members Francoise Bergan and Danielle Jurinsky did not formally raise objections, Bergan said she thought the focus of the program was still too broad and Jurinsky said she wanted to see which organizations would be selected to benefit from an offer of funding to groups willing to run some of the violence mitigation efforts.

“I don’t think there’s any cost we should spare to keep our children alive and stop these shootings,” Jurinsky says.

Amparan told Jurinsky that finalists for the $500,000 notice of funding opportunity would be selected later this week.

Because a majority of council members did not oppose the item moving forward, the strategic plan was scheduled to move forward to a regular meeting, where the council may vote to approve it.

Those who did not oppose the item still asked logistical questions of city staffers — Juan Marcano asked whether the city could collect anonymized data about the challenges facing Aurora youth and families.

“I think that will also help us steer our policymaking as well, because I think that we have a strong role to play in addressing youth violence as well,” he told Amparan. “I think it’s community, it’s the work you’re doing through your program, parents, but also us in our legislative capacity.”

Amparan said staffers would be presenting updates during policy committee meetings, which could include trends seen by members of the program’s intervention workgroup.

— MAX LEVY, Sentinel Staff Writer

Crow visits Poland amid Ukraine crisis

Ukraine’s European neighbors have gone to heroic lengths to support the besieged country but more military and financial support will be needed as Russia continues its assault, Congressman Jason Crow said Monday.

Aurora Democratic U.S. Rep. Crow spoke Monday from his office in Washington, D.C. about his recent trip to Eastern Europe as part of a Congressional delegation to oversee efforts to assist Ukraine. Crow is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, and is a former Army Ranger.

The delegation visited Poland, Romania and Slovakia, and as part of the trip Crow met with paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Poland, including several from Colorado. Crow said this was especially significant to him because he was a member of the 82nd

during the Iraq War.

Crow said that the trip underscored the “sheer brutality of Vladimir Putin’s unjustified illegal invasion of Ukraine” as well as the scope of the refugee crisis the war is creating. People he spoke to during the trip said that not since World War II has Europe had so many refugees in such a short span of time.

Roughly 10 million Ukranians

have been forced to flee their homes in the past five weeks, Crow said, 25% of the country’s entire population. Of those, an estimated 5 million to 8 million have fled the country, mostly to neighboring Eastern European nations. Children have borne the brunt of the crisis, he said, with over 80% being displaced from their homes.

Crow said that he was extreme-

ly impressed with the way Europe has responded to the refugee crisis, particularly the people of Poland.

“It was amazing to see the outpouring of support,” he said.

He also praised the intelligence work of the U.S. government, which he said “will go down as one of the greatest intelligence successes in

See METRO, 8

ARAPAHOE COUNTY

In May, our Conversations with a Commissioner events return to in-person gatherings! Learn more about our latest efforts to address homelessness and provide feedback to your district commissioner about all County business. Featuring special guest Kathy Smith, director of Arapahoe County Community Resources. All events are from 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., and refreshments will be provided.

Visit arapahoegov.com/townhall for full details.

• Thursday, May 5, Carrie Warren-Gully (District 1), Malley Rec Center, Englewood

• Wednesday, May 11, Jeff Baker (District 3), Byers American Legion Hall

• Thursday, May 12, Bill Holen (District 5), Aurora Public Library, Central branch

• Thursday, May 19, Nancy Sharpe (District 2), Greenwood Village City Hall

• Thursday, May 26, Nancy Jackson (District 4), Mission Viejo Library, Aurora

U.S. history” and said it was heartening to see an increase in support for NATO in Europe and a renewed commitment to defense spending.

Crow said that Ukranians have “shown fierce heart in this fight” but that without more support, “it will be hard for them to meet the Russian onslaught.”

He said it was clear to him that Putin is still determined to win, and that he believes this will be  a longterm conflict, not one that will end in a number of weeks or months.

Crow’s remarks came just as Russian forces launched a full-scale offensive on Ukraine’s Eastern front, according to reporting from the Associated Press.

“No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight,” Zelenskyy vowed. “We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day.”

Military support for Ukraine has drawn new threats from Russian officials.

Russia has strongly complained about the increasing flow of Western weapons to Ukraine and warned that such aid could have consequences. On Russian state media, some anchors have charged that the supplies amount to direct Western engagement in the fight against Russia.

Zelenskyy continues to plead for increased military assistance from the United States and other allies around the globe.

Crow said the aid is warranted

and critical on several levels.

“This isn’t just about Ukrainian survival, this is about democracy versus autocracy,” Crow said.

He said that people he spoke to during his trip, including Ukrainian refugees and politicians, said that it meant a lot to them to see demonstrations of support for their country from all across the world, including in Colorado.

“This has been incredible for their morale and it shows them that they’re not forgotten and the world stands behind them,” Crow said.

— CARINA JULIG, Sentinel Staff Writer

Aurora lawmakers move forward new censure rules

Aurora City Council members moved forward with a proposal to simplify an arcane peer censure process currently part of a potential lawsuit by Sentinel Colorado.

City lawmakers gave initial approve to a new system that allows council members to introduce resolutions of censure, offer evidence and ask for a vote. A conviction of breaking city council rules and warranting censure would require a two-thirds vote of the city council.

The censure issue arose a few weeks ago when City Councilmember Juan Marcano initiated the censure process against Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky after she made defamatory comments about Aurora’s former police chief.

That process led to a closed city

council meeting and allegations of the city council violating state open meeting laws.

Attorneys for Sentinel Colorado and the Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press insisted in a letter sent to the City of Aurora last week that a recording of a closed-door meeting regarding the attempted censure of a City Council member be released to the public.

Jurinsky, the target of the censure attempt, said recently she was considering censure action against Juan Marcano, who first sought censure against Jurinsky.

Since the meeting issue became public, Jurinsky has indicated she might seek a censure effort against Marcano for disclosing information to the media. It’s possible the new rules, once finalized could be used in a censure question then.

Marcano was joined by council members Alison Coombs and Ruben Medina in pushing back against the proposed changes to the process, saying an independent entity or commission should hear the complaints.

“Otherwise, the city council is the judge, jury and executioner,” Marcano said. He and Coombs said the process would become a partisan affair.

Proponents said the reformed system would allow for the public to decide whether a censure question is legitimate.

“You’re going to have to make a case,” Councilmember Dustin Zvonek said.

Coombs, who said the Jurinsky

censure was mishandled in the city council’s closed meeting, said that was the case under existing rules.

“The current rule actually does provide for a public hearing,” Coombs said, referring to allegations of impropriety about how the process was conducted. “We just didn’t do that last time.”

The first censure was initiated by Marcano regarding Jurinsky’s comments on a regional conservative talk radio program in January, where she called former Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson “trash” and called for her and deputy chief Darin Parker to be removed from his post.

Marcano accused Jurinsky of violating a council regulation that requires members to act “in a professional manner” toward city staffers as well as a section of the charter that bars council members from meddling in the appointment of employees who fall under the authority of the city manager.

Jurinsky described the censure attempt as an infringement on her First Amendment rights and retained attorney David Lane, who warned that she would consider suing Marcano and the city if the censure process wasn’t halted by March 4, later pushed back to March 14.

On March 14, City Council members met in closed session to discuss the issue, effectively dismissing the action and directing city staff to negotiate and pay Jurinsky’s legal fees, estimated to be about $16,000.

The Sentinel, through its attorney, says the vote on the censure action and other activities in closed session were inappropriate and a violation of state open meeting laws.

“Because the action taken behind closed-doors, and in secret, was in violation of the (Colorado Open Meetings Law), the record of the discussion, the recording, and all other meeting materials must be made available for public inspection,” attorney Rachael Johnson said in the letter addressed to City Attorney Dan Brotzman.

According to prior reporting from The Sentinel, a majority of Aurora’s City Council voted in private in a closed session at the beginning of their March 14 meeting to dismiss a censure process pending against Jurinsky. The council also gave direction to city staff to work with Jurinsky’s attorney to reach a settlement to pay her legal fees.

To read more of this story visit www.sentinelcolorado.com

— MAX LEVY, Sentinel Staff Writer

EDUCATION

APS plans new logo

Aurora Public Schools has contracted with a branding firm to produce a new logo for the 2022-2023 school year as part of a larger goal of developing a stronger visual identity.

›› See METRO, 9

METRO

scripts and documents provided by the attorney general’s office.

“I am getting through them … but for the record, the court still has a full docket,” Loew said. “I’d rather have a little more time to make sure that I’m done.”

The probable cause hearing will determine if there’s enough evidence for the case to move forward, which requires Loew to review all of the grand jury transcripts and exhibits before she can make a decision.

Unlike in other criminal cases, requests for preliminary hearings cannot be made in a case with an indictment. However, each defendant is entitled to ask the judge to review the grand jury’s findings for probable cause.

“State law...allows a court to review a grand jury indictment for probable cause,” Colorado Judicial Department spokesperson Jon Sarché said in an email. “Each of the defendants has asked for a probable cause review.”

The closed door portions of the hearing were related to conflict of interest issues involving counsel Loew was discussing with the defendants.

In August 2019, McClain was detained and placed in a chokehold during an encounter initiated by APD officers Randy Roedema, Jason Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard. Paramedics Peter Cichuniec

and Jeremy Cooper injected McClain with what investigators have described as an overdose of the sedative drug ketamine while the 23-year-old was handcuffed and restrained on the ground McClain went into cardiac arrest and died soon after.

McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, was present in court Friday in person for the hearing.

His death prompted ongoing protests to bring charges against the officers and reform the police department, demands that gained national attention in 2020 following the death of George Floyd and played a critical role in the state and federal investigations of the department announced in August 2020, one of which found that the department had engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination and excessive use of force against people of color.

Woodyard and Roedema are still employed by the department. Rosenblatt was fired after responding to a text message of a photo of several other officers reenacting the chokehold used in McClain’s death.

In 2021, a state grand jury indicted the five first responders for felony manslaughter and criminally-negligent homicide, in addition to lesser crimes. All five are free on bond.

— CARINA JULIG and MAX LEVY, Sentinel Staff Writers

ing with the backlog issue said no murder cases were identified that were substantially affected by the backlog and that while not every one of the cases in the backlog had been reviewed, “we do not believe that any of those cases that were in the transcription queue affected any of our investigations.”

Police spokesman Matthew Longshore later wrote in an email that police determined the delay was due to the transcription backlog because “after finding out about the cases from other sources (DHS, Victims etc.) a search of the database resulted in finding the delays and cases not yet being routed to detective units.”

Police did not immediately respond to the question of whether it is typical for those types of cases not to be investigated until after transcription takes place. Officials said on April 8 that serious cases, including crimes against children, are usually forwarded for follow-up independent of that process.

Twombly said police developed “workarounds” in fall 2021 to be able to examine cases in the backlog — at least five of the cases mentioned by Wesner were reported in July 2021 or earlier that year.

As he dismissed “misinformation” that he said had been published by the media in relation to the PRI report, Claughton defended statements in the report

about problems such as those facing APD’s records section making the city vulnerable to violent incidents like the 2015 mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Claughton said one of the reasons that shooter Dylann Roof was able to acquire a firearm was a data entry mistake made by a records employee in connection with a prior drug arrest. Claughton and media outlets that reported on the shooting did not say that the mistake was associated with any transcription backlog.

“There’s no question that (records) is a high-risk area,” Claughton said.

The PRI founder also dubbed as misinformation claims that none of the thousands of reports in the backlog had been investigated. Zvonek previously posted on Twitter that “over 2500 victims … didn’t have their case investigated” because of the backlog.

Claughton said again that he believed a backlog could pose a potentially serious public safety issue.

“I recognize through the PRI report the risk we were facing, and I think there can be debate about what level of risk that was,” Twombly said.

The city manager and others spoke about the importance of transcription for proofreading reports and as a quality-control measure.

“When we’re trying to protect

our community and keep our officers safe, we want the minimal risk possible, so that’s what we’re shooting for,” he said.

Police reported Thursday that the backlog had been reduced to 59 reports.

When Zvonek asked why Amsler told The Sentinel that no investigations were believed to have been impacted if that was untrue, Twombly did not weigh in definitively on the statement’s accuracy but said that “no one from police or city staff has presented facts or research to me that proves that there has not been an impact.”

“I’m not disputing those statements,” Twombly said. “However, I have to reserve judgment about its accuracy until we can research timelines of crimes, transcriptions and initiation of investigations.”

Zvonek also referred to “a very public effort to minimize the seriousness of it” in the context of The Sentinel article.

“The thing that’s bothersome to me is … instead of trying to focus on what is potentially a very serious threat to our city … instead of focusing on that, there’s such a desperate effort to discredit it that we’re now having quotes from city officials in the paper that (are) countering a report that was put out by this firm,” he said.

Claughton estimated PRI’s staffing study in the records section would be completed in the next one to two months.

the preferred Segment 5 transmission line route and substation locations

Xcel Energy continues to make progress identifying the preferred transmission line route for Segment 5 of Colorado’s Power Pathway. Final route selection will incorporate link-specific feedback received from landowners, community members and other project stakeholders. Updated project maps showing the preferred transmission line route will be available at ColoradosPowerPathway.com by the end of April.

Please join us at one of our upcoming Segment 5 in-person public open houses to provide input on our preferred route and substation locations. Project staff will be available to provide information about transmission line routing activities and answer questions about the new transmission line project, including the overall timeline and construction process, and topics related to easements and right-of-way. We want to hear from you about this important project and any factors we should consider in your area.

No formal presentation is planned, so please attend at any time during the open house. If you are unable to attend, meeting materials and an electronic comment form will be available on the project website.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Colorado’s Power Pathway is a $1.7 to $2 billion investment proposed by Xcel Energy to improve the state’s electric grid and enable future renewable energy development around the state. This project will increase electric reliability, boost the regional economy and create jobs during construction. We estimate the system will cross more than a dozen counties and include:

• Approximately 560 to 650 miles of new 345-kilovolt electric transmission lines in eastern Colorado.

• Four new and four expanded substations.

If approved, construction could begin in 2023 and the first transmission segments could be in service in 2025, with other segments completed in 2026 and 2027.

SEGMENT 5

OPEN HOUSE SCHEDULE

Monday, May 2 4-7 p.m.

Arapahoe County Fairgrounds Main Hall 25690 East Quincy Ave Aurora, CO 80016

Tuesday, May 3 3-7 p.m.

Elbert County Fairgrounds Exhibit Building 95 Ute Ave Kiowa, CO 80117

Wednesday, May 4 5-7:30 p.m. Big Sandy Schools Cafeteria 18091 CR 125 Simla, CO 80835

Thursday, May 5 5-7:30 p.m. Edison School District Cafeteria 14550 Edison Rd Yoder, CO 80864

Note about COVID-19: If local, state or corporate guidance prevents in-person meetings or affects venue capacity, these open houses may be rescheduled or moved to an online format. Please check ColoradosPowerPathway.com or call 855-858-9037 for up-to-date information.

Mental Health

ONE EDGE:

BY BEN MARCUS, Colorado Public Radio

Aschizophrenic man had opened fire on a packed movie theater in Aurora, killing 12 and injuring dozens more.

Something had to be done.

The Aurora theater shooter had tried to get mental health treatment before the killings. That provided a possible opening for then-Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper to search for preventive solutions. He turned to his cabinet and asked for a plan to expand crisis mental health services. He got a comprehensive blueprint to spend millions more, but it came with strings attached: To get the money, the system might have to change.

“If you keep putting more money into that system, you’re likely to get more of the same result,” said Reggie Bicha, former head of the Colorado Department of Human Services. “And we felt as a leadership team at CDHS, and the governor’s team supported this, that we needed some new ideas and new perspectives, and we wanted these new dollars to go out in a competitive array.”

Ultimately, that didn’t happen.

As Colorado embarks on a new attempt to reform the delivery network for mental health care in the state, the events of 2014 offer a look at how difficult it can be to impose change on the politically connected, deeply-entrenched group of community-based providers that have managed the system for decades.

That year, everyone from the governor to the head of the state Department of Human Services and legislative leaders announced their intention to change the system and increase access to psychiatric care for poor Coloradans in crisis.

But after a bid was awarded to a new provider with an innovative plan, the state reversed course, sweeping aside their declared desire for reform and challenging their own bid procedures. Then, when the winning bidder also won in court, the current providers stepped in, settling the case, tightening their hold on mental health treatment in the state and seemingly permanently eliminating the biggest threat to their dominance they had ever faced.

Experts at the state who had long worked for change were crushed.

“That was the most difficult, probably, time in my career I’ve ever had,” said Chris Habgood, a former staffer at the state Department of Human Services who wrote the plan for change in the 2014 effort. “Because when you know you’re doing something that is the right

thing to do, to help people, you’re so excited about creating this new system that will help Coloradans.

“And then all of a sudden it comes to a crashing halt because the service delivery system didn’t like what the outcome was … there’s winners and losers, and the losers didn’t like losing and they were gonna make sure that they were not the losers.”

In partnership with COLab and news organizations across the state, CPR News has spent months examining how Colorado’s system for treating people who are both poor and mentally ill came to be, and how it has survived challenges to its structure.

Previous stories from the consortium have shown how some of the state’s 17 community-based mental health providers have failed to provide treatment to the toughest and most expensive cases while avoiding competition.

And while the companies point out that thousands of people are helped through the system each year, studies have shown that Colorado has the highest rate of adult mental illness in the nation and one of the lowest rates of access to care.

George DelGrosso, who in 2014 oversaw the Colorado Behavioral Health Council, the lobbying group that represents the existing providers, did not return multiple messages seeking comment. Doyle Forrestal, who took over from DelGrosso as head of the CBHC in 2015, said she believes the terms of the 2014 settlement preclude her from commenting on it. She declined an interview, and claimed it was unlawful to discuss details of the centers’ secret agreement to stifle the competitor.

The current head of the Jefferson Center for Mental Health, which was among the centers that drove the settlement, noted that it happened under previous leadership, and questioned why CPR News and COLab were continuing to examine the performance and history of the current providers.

“It seems there exists an intent to harm the integrity and reputation of community mental health centers, at a time when it is critical that we remain available to thousands of people in our community who need and trust the care we provide,” wrote Kiara Kuenzler, president and CEO of the Jefferson Center for Mental Health, in an email to CPR News. “Jefferson Center serves more than 25,000 people each year, and CMHCs serve more than 200,000 people across Colorado each year.”

FAILED 2014 MENTAL HEALTH OVERHAUL SHOWS HOW STATE POLITICAL CONNECTIONS MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO

We have a duty…

On Dec. 18. 2012, five months after the Aurora theater shooting and on the eve of the state legislative session, Hickenlooper stood in front of the media and announced the plan to revamp mental health treatment in the state.

“We have a duty to look at how we help each other,” said Hickenlooper. “I believe these policies will reduce the probability of bad things happening to good people.”

The news caught the attention of David Covington, an executive at a behavioral health company in Phoenix, AZ.

“This was a national story,” Covington told a Denver District Court judge in 2014, according to court recordings obtained by CPR News. Covington testified that Hickenlooper and his team “really wanted cutting edge. They were seeking innovation. They wanted community collaboration in a way that they hadn’t seen before. I think that was what really attracted us to this opportunity.”

Covington had spent a career in mental health services, starting as a licensed counselor, working his way up to an executive role with Magellan Health Services, which had the contract to serve Maricopa County, covering Phoenix. At one point they served 100,000 active clients in the county.

But Covington, after hearing news of what Hickenlooper wanted to do, decided Colorado would be his new home.

“We thought this is where the country’s going,” said Covington. “This is what people will be looking at. So we wanted to bring the

A-team to that.”

That would first require some gymnastics on Covington’s part. Habgood said that in response to the lobbying by the existing providers as the new legislation worked its way through the General Assembly in 2013, the state would be restricted to selecting only a Colorado-based company to provide the crisis services called for and funded in the new bill.

So Covington testified he tapped the best in mental health crisis services across the country and together formed a Colorado company called Crisis Access of Colorado. He tendered his resignation from the Arizona company, so his resume could be added to the proposal to Colorado.

His gamble paid off.

On Oct. 16, 2013, Colorado informed Covington that Crisis Access had won the bid.

In an internal letter at the Colorado Department of Human Services, Habgood wrote to the head of procurement, “the Committee found Crisis Access of Colorado’s proposals to be the most innovative, integrated and recovery focused proposals for transforming Colorado crisis delivery across the state.”

A secrecy provision binds the parties from the 2014 suit, and Covington said he could not comment. But he told the court that he wasted little time.

“Immediately we were on the ground here,” Covington testified. “I was looking at houses to move here, looking at schools, beginning to craft out how we would engage employees in the hiring of 150 to 200 plus staff here in Colorado.”

Two weeks later the euphoria of the notice of award of contract would come crashing down. Covington was told first that the request for proposals process was under investigation by the state, and within weeks he was informed he would not get the contract, that the program would go out to bid again.

He was also informed that his competitors – the state’s existing centers – got a copy of his full proposal, but he couldn’t get a copy of theirs.

“It was very frustrating,” testified Covington. “We had carefully thought out what we hoped would be a winning strategy, and put together companies, took their unique product lines and melded them into something that had never been done before.

“And that competitive advantage was now available to entities that had finished second to us in those four regions. So it felt like our competitive advantage was completely eliminated by what seemed like a very unfair process.”

So Covington sued the Colorado Department of Human Services to stop another bid process. What resulted, according to testimony reviewed by CPR News, was a bizarre alignment of shifting interests in which the same state agency that wanted competitive bidding argued that its own process was flawed. At the same time, the state’s existing centers that lost the bid functioned as shadow defendants unnamed in the suit, but supporting the state’s legal strategy. Ultimately they settled the case themselves in the secret agreement.

Mind Springs Health in Grand Junction, Colo., on Friday, March 18, 2022. State officials withheld the findings of a pattern of “severe, life-threatening” prescription errors in an official investigation for more than nine months. File Photo

Getting so much pressure from the Governor’s office

Almost from the moment the legislature voted to require the new program to be competitively bid, there was concern at the state about the reaction of the existing centers, represented by the Colorado Behavioral Health Council, CBHC, and its powerful leader, George DelGrosso.

Shortly after the state announced Covington’s company won the bid, an email came into Habgood’s inbox from his boss Patrick Fox, who wrote, “Who is going to talk to George?”

The losing bidders made up DelGrosso’s board, representing centers from every corner of the state: AspenPoint (now Diversus Health), Community Crisis Connection (a group comprised of the metro area centers), Northeast Behavioral, and an affiliate of Mind Springs.

Harriet Hall, who ran the Jefferson Center for Mental Health at the time and was part of the Community Crisis Connection group that bid on the crisis program sent an email to supporters, saying “We are exploring all legal options for review of the awards process…”

At stake was a crisis program that at the time was projected to add about $45 million in new money for services, just for the first two years. But beyond that, the entry of Covington’s new company into a market that had been controlled by the community-based centers for decades promised to disrupt the delivery of mental health care in Colorado in new and unpredictable ways.

Emails entered as evidence along with testimony in Covington’s suit indicate that the groups used their web of political connections to put pressure on the Department of Human Services and the governor’s office to kill Covington’s innovative proposal, according to Covington’s attorneys.

The leader of Human Services at the time, Bicha, quickly ordered a review of the RFP process by a separate state agency, the Department of Personnel and Administration. The agency produced a short, one page summary of its findings, which CDHS relied upon to cancel the bid award, according to evidence presented in court.

The Denver District Court judge found the summary to be “trumped up” by the state in a deliberate effort to overturn the bid. The full DPA investigation wasn’t delivered to Bicha until after the RFP was invalidated.

Covington’s lawyer, Todd Miller, relying on email evidence, provided his theory to a Denver judge of why the department did that.

Leadership at CDHS were “getting so much pressure from the Governor’s office, that all they wanted was some cosmetic cover, which they thought they had in that one page summary to cancel.”

People who had been a part of scoring the bids were surprised when there were suddenly concerns.

Chris Olson, then the executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado was on the RFP com-

mittee. Law enforcement officials tracked the process closely because, until that point, deputies and police officers had often been responsible for dealing with and transporting people undergoing mental health crises. He remembers an interview he did with state investigators from DPA.

“Gave them pretty much what I’m telling you right now,” said Olson in an interview. “That I thought it was a fair process and that we were not motivated politically on this. And, yeah, the out-of-state firm got it. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s just, they won the bid.”

Despite the lopsided scores in favor of Crisis Access of Colorado, David Covington’s company, and despite the participants in the RFP committee at the state feeling that it was clearly a fair process, leadership at CDHS canceled the RFP and announced they were putting it out for bid again.

The existing centers declared victory, sending out an email thanking supporters for putting on the pressure. Harriet Hall, at the Jefferson Center for Mental Health, wrote: “I know that many of you expressed your concern to CDHS and/or the Governor’s office, and I want to thank you for this. I believe that the concerns expressed by many of you and the strong community support were vital to this solution.”

Though the additional funding and creation of a new system for delivering crisis mental health services was a signature initiative for Hickenlooper, those who ran his office said they couldn’t recall much, if anything, about how the 2014 effort unraveled.

In an interview, Roxane White, Gov. Hickenlooper’s chief of staff at the time couldn’t recall anything about the episode.

She suggested reaching out to Hickenlooper’s then-chief strategy officer, Alan Salazar, who is now chief of staff to the Denver mayor. Salazar also couldn’t recall anything about the crisis services controversy. He suggested Katherine Blair Mulready, who was a health care specialist in Hickenlooper’s office.

“I remember that the original bid was given to an out-of-state entity without an existing footprint in Colorado,” said Mulready, in an email. “And that when that was announced, the community mental health centers were very upset. While I don’t remember any specific conversations on this topic, I spoke with leadership of CBHC – the trade association for the CMHCs/BHOs –frequently during my tenure in the Gov’s Office (2011-2014), and the issue may have come up in discussions with them.”

Pressure was intense from the state legislature too. Then-state senator Irene Aguilar who sponsored the law that directed money to the program sent emails that made their way to the Department of Human Services that were described in testimony as pointed. It’s unknown exactly what she said, but it was revealed in court that it helped prompt specific inquiries in the internal review. Aguilar did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Her emails were introduced as exhibits but are no longer

in the court file.

In court, Covington’s lawyers focused on the impact of Aguilar’s concerns, which were forwarded down the chain of command at CDHS to Clint Woodruff, lead of the Division of Financial Services, who officially initiated the DPA review and ultimately invalidated the bid.

“Particularly Senator Aguilar’s email,” said Todd Miller, Covington’s lawyer in closing arguments on the preliminary injunction. “That very day, all of a sudden, we get a notice that the DPA is going to be asked to review this thing, and an email that says ‘Clint, be sure when the DPA looks at this, they take care of Senator Aguilar’s concerns.’”

In an interview, Woodruff denied there were any political motivations behind invalidating the bid. “I was asked to do a review just because it was a lot of money,” said Woodruff. “It was a very significant bill, right?”

Woodruff said that the request to review the bid came from his boss at the time Susan Beckman, and he maintains that there were fatal flaws in the process and the bid deserved to be invalidated.

Multiple messages left at phones listed as belonging to Beckman were not returned.

Emails also came from Dean Toda, who handled media for the State House Democrats at the time, checking on the status of the bid.

CPR attempted to obtain copies of the emails, but the exhibits could not be located by the court.

A manufactured reason

After listening to testimony over four days in early 2014, the judge agreed with Covington’s attorneys and issued a preliminary injunction to stop the second RFP from going forward.

The judge said from the bench that the state’s cancellation of the first RFP, “just defies reason … and it does suggest a manufactured reason to cancel, a trumped up reason, whatever you want to call it.”

The judge also called out the state for giving copies of Covington’s winning bid to the losing bidders, allowing the existing centers to potentially incorporate his already state-endorsed ideas into their proposal.

Bicha, in an interview with CPR News, disputed that there was any outside pressure, from the existing centers or the governor’s office to overturn the bid results.

“No, there wasn’t pressure to do it from outside. The pressure was internally and mine,” said Bicha. “I had concerns about their approaches and methodologies. And so I asked DPA, ‘would you independently review the work that my team had done, because I didn’t have confidence in what I was seeing.’ So that was the nature of the request of DPA. There was no political pressure.”

Whatever the motivation, crisis mental health services were now on hold after the preliminary injunction. The state and the existing centers appealed all the way to the state supreme court, but the appeals were all denied.

The state and the centers entered into mediation with Covington and his company Crisis Access to seek a settlement.

Eventually he agreed to drop his lawsuit as long as a “separate agreement” was reached between the existing centers and his company, Crisis Access. The separate agreement is not a state record, and not subject to open records laws. It’s unknown how much, or even if, the centers paid Crisis Access to drop the claim against the state.

Also unknown: Where any funds that might have been paid to Crisis Access would have originated. The centers and CBHC refused to say, citing the non-disclosure agreement. The publicly available tax returns for the non-profit centers involved, which derive their revenue from a mix of state, federal and private funds, reflect no payments to settle claims. The centers refused to disclose the terms to CPR News.

What is known is that, though his department was a defendant in the case, Bicha was not in the meeting outside of court when the deal was reached between the centers and Crisis Access. The case just went away.

“From our perspective what happened was the two of them reached some sort of agreement,” said Bicha. “We never were notified of what the terms were. All we know is that the lawsuit’s going away.”

Asked if he had questions about the nature of the settlement, Bicha said, “Absolutely, but we had no right to find out what the settlement was,” since it was settled between two private parties in mediation.

But even while arguing that he wanted the system to change and that he had little choice in the decisions surrounding the crisis care contract in 2014, Bicha also still questions the entire structure of behavioral health delivery in the state, as the legislature tries to begin a realignment.

“These nonprofit corporations have guaranteed no-compete contracts with the state,” said Bicha. “But they don’t have accompanying transparency into their financials, into lawsuit settlements, to board appointments, into all of those other factors that the public ought to be able to see and know about if they’re going to get nearly exclusively state and federal dollars in no compete contracts.”

David Covington said he could not comment. He now runs a widely respected crisis mental health services company called RI International, based in Arizona. The company has direct care services in nine states, but not Colorado. Covington and RI’s approach is routinely cited in best practice guidelines by federal agencies and national behavioral health associations.

Experts in the field said the decision to reverse the award to Crisis Access meant Colorado missed out an opportunity to become a national model for crisis mental health care management.

David Covington and RI International have, “really been at the forefront of what a crisis system should look like,” said Dr. Amy Watson, a professor in the Social Work Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Watson was surprised to hear that Covington was essentially kicked out of Colorado. “He really has pushed things forward” in be-

havioral health innovation.

With Covington out of the picture, the state awarded the contracts and additional funding for crisis services to the existing centers.

The centers ran services until they found themselves battling the state again.

In 2018, Human Services again put the crisis services out to bid. This time, the center’s trade group, CBHC, sued the state directly, claiming changes to the existing system were unneeded.

But by bringing the program back to court, it allowed for some unflattering testimony, making clear that the existing centers, especially Mind Springs, which managed the crisis services for the Western Slope, were not fulfilling key parts of the 2014 contract they had fought so hard to win.

The assistant Summit County manager Sarah Vaine testified that she saw a map once that indicated the county had mobile mental health crisis services, provided by MindSprings.

“It says we have this in our community,” testified Vaine, yet it was not actually available in the community.

The attorney for CBHC and Mind Springs asked how Vaine knew that.

“It’s based on community experience of calling the crisis line and being told to go to the emergency center and then having the CEO, and the local director, say ‘we won’t go to people’s homes because there could be a risk to our staff.’ And I then said, ‘well, you could call dispatch and ask for someone to go with you. And they said, that’s not part of our policy.”

Staffers from the state’s Department of Human Services said that those problems were really widespread. Habgood said in an interview that for all the people who are well served by the community-based centers, there are still times when they fall short.

“They do great work. They really do. They do serve people really well. And I want to be very clear on that is, and it’s not just cuz I had relationships with them,” Habgood said. “There are people who are being served. There are times where they…they don’t always do good.”

A Denver District Court judge dismissed the 2018 lawsuit from the bench, ruling on the narrow grounds that the state is entitled to put programs out to bid if they see fit.

The centers never bid on the new program. A group of so-called Administrative Services Organizations, or ASOs, now manage the state’s crisis services. It was meant as a way for the state to diversify away from the community mental health centers a bit, but the centers still provide the majority of mental health services in the state by contracting with the ASOs.

Still, the lawsuit sent a message.

“I think it’s an intimidation tactic, right?” said Nancy VanDeMark, the former head of CDHS’s Office of Behavioral Health. “If you make it so difficult,” the state will think twice about adding competition to the existing centers.

“And I think it’s been to some degree successful.”

The Magazine

OATH OF ARF-FICE

Zeke joins the force with another generation of cops

BY MAX LEVY, Staff Writer

Newton Middle School students have a furry friend on the force.

On Tuesday, Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown lifted the paw of five-month-old Zeke, swearing the Labrador retriever puppy in as the agency’s newest therapy-dog-in-training.

“It’s been a great experience so far working with this dog,” deputy and school resource officer Travis Jones said of Zeke, who is being trained to work with students at the middle school in Littleton.

“We go into law enforcement to help people, and if we can make kids want to go to school, too, we’ll do what it takes.”

Zeke is available to help students with special needs as well as those suffering from anxiety and depression, sheriff officials say. Travis Jones said the dog will also be around in the case of a crisis or times of stress.

“Zeke” isn’t new. Although this puppy is.

The black Lab puppy is the latest “Zeke” to join the ranks of the Jones family — Travis Jones named the animal after a narcotics dog that worked alongside his father, retired Aurora police officer Dan Jones, and was also a beloved family pet.

“My first word as a kid was ‘Zeke,’” Travis Jones said. “He died when I was 4, but I still have really fond memories of him being really sweet, and loyal, and cuddly.”

“When we were at home, he was off-duty, and it was like he was a regular house dog,” Dan Jones said of his former canine companion. “It was amazing to see how gentle he could be. … But the moment I put on that uniform, he knew it was time to go to work.”

Dan Jones said he was “humbled” when he learned

of his son’s decision to name the K-9 after his former partner.

But unlike the first Zeke, the newest member of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office won’t be trained to sniff out drugs — instead, Travis Jones said the dog is undergoing extensive obedience and socialization training to make sure he’s comfortable and confident around children.

At home, the deputy said 5-month-old Zeke has already become “part of the family” and gets along well with his own children, especially his 6-year-old son. He and his father both said the dog coming home was a “full-circle” moment for the family.

“Those memories that I hold so dear and cherish, you want to give your kids those same memories,” Travis Jones said. “They play together and act like siblings. It was the same way with the first Zeke. It was exactly the same.”

Zeke is also reportedly a hit at Newton Middle School, where he’s being trained on-duty. The sheriff’s office news release said Zeke’s obedience training will continue over the following year, and he will eventually attend an American Kennel Club class to become certified as a therapy dog.

Travis Jones said Zeke is the first dog he’s worked with as a K-9 handler. He said he saw firsthand how a therapy dog can help students with special needs when Zeke’s sibling, Rex, visited Newton earlier in the school year and calmed a sixth-grader with autism.

Travis Jones said Rex consoled the student when they refused to return to class after taking a picture

outdoors with classmates.

“At that point, I was sold on the program,” he said. Since then, Travis Jones said multiple teachers have reached out to him asking to meet the dog.

“The program we implemented a year ago with Rex at Littleton Public Schools has proven to be a huge success, and we’re so proud of the partnership we created with the LPS School District,” Sheriff Brown said in the press release.

“I have no doubt the kids at Newton will love Zeke, and he’ll touch lives in a very positive way.”

Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown, left, swears in the newest deputy Zeke, who will work as an emotional support animal for Littleton Public Schools, April 19, at the ArapCo Sheriff Headquarters. Zeke’s and his handler Safety Resource Officer Travis Jones, right, are assigned to Newton Middle School in Littleton.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/ Sentinel Colorado

SRO Travis Jones as a child with his father Danny Jones’s K-9, who was also named Zeke. Travis named his K-9 Zeke in memory of his father’s dog.

Photo provided by Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department

Aurora’s 131st Birthday Party

scene & herd

Skyward: Breakthrough in Flight at Wings Over the Rockies

April 24, starts at 3 p.m. 884 S Buckley Rd Aurora, CO 80017. $13/ lb. Buy tickets at www.coclawtail. com.

The drive time from Aurora to good Cajun food is about 16 or 17 hours. Four, plus airport time, on a plane. If that’s a little far out for your weekend plans, you’ll only have to plug a local address into your GPS for a proper crawfish boil. Launchpad Brewery isn’t quite Baton Rouge, but they’re serving crawdads and all the fixins on Sunday at $13/lb. There will be lots of beer along with the catering by Colorado Claw & Tail (which almost sounds like an oxymoron, but they’ve been around the Mile High for almost 20 years, so kudos). Buy tickets online at www.coclawtail.com or contact Launchpad Brewery for more details.

Clyfford Still, Art and the Young Mind

April 28 through May 8 at Town Center of Aurora mall, times and prices vary. Starting at $10. Find tickets at www.gold.cirqueitalia.com. The acrobats are back in Aurora. Find Cirque Italia under water under the big blue tent at Aurora Town Center mall from April 28 through May 8. If trapeze artists or jugglers stress you out, you’re bound to love that the troop is now adding slippery surfaces to the mix. It is 2022 afterall and the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been. After twoplus years of living under the siege of COVID-19, watching an insurrection happen live on TV, and awaiting the murder hornet invasion, it takes a lot to spike one’s adrenaline these days, but Cirque Italia could not be deterred. So if things haven’t gotten weird enough for you yet, grab your tickets, your popcorn and prepare to be amazed. And maybe a little damp.

Spring it On at Gaylord Rockies

April 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 15151 E Alameda Pkwy, Aurora, CO 80012. No tickets necessary.

The year was 1901 and it was official. Aurora was born. Kinda. The new suburb outside of Denver went by “Fletcher,” named for its founder, and it was only four square miles of prairie, stretching from Yosemite Street east to Peoria Street and 6th Avenue north to 26th Avenue. More than a century later, little baby Fletcher has grown into Colorado’s third largest city with approximately 370,000 residents, a fifth of them foregin born, making Aurora a Mecca for food and culture enthusiasts. The city has seen its fair share of trials and tribulations, but on April 30 it’s time to celebrate everything that Aurora has been for 131 years: home to military installations, booming growth, a place people from around the world found a new beginning. Those things have been true for decades and have raised this patch of prairie into something fine. The Aurora History Museum is paying tribute with a scavenger hunt, cake, face painting and balloons. A proper celebration for a proper city. Those who built it would be proud.

Open through June 19, exhibit included in the price of admission. 7711 E. Academy Blvd. Denver, CO 80230. Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday: 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. Visit www.wingsmuseum.org for more information.

In the span of one lifetime, mankind went from having no instances of significant flight to landing on the moon. It’s the kind of innovation that makes anything feel possible, and it’s all on display at Wings Over the Rockies through June 19. “Skyward: Breakthrough in Flight” examines all of the major milestones that have gotten us to where we are today: simultaneously curious about commercial flights to the final frontier and also wondering how Frontier could possibly give us less leg room. From the very beginning through today and what’s next for flight, you won’t want to miss the stories and artifacts collected by curators at Wings. The exhibit is on through the beginning of the summer.

March 11 — Aug. 7 Clyfford Still Museum 1250 Bannock St., Denver Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tickets $10 adults and free for children 17 and under, purchase online at clyffordstillmuseum.org

Have you ever wondered what an art exhibit designed by young children would look like? Through August, the Clyfford Still museum is bringing this unique idea to life in an exhibit that was “co-created” with children across the Front Range. Clyfford Still was a leading figure in the abstract expressionist movement, and the Denver museum that houses a large collection of his work is carrying on his iconoclastic legacy with this exhibition, which is part of an initiative to welcome children into the museum. The first four galleries will feature Still’s work, with paintings hung at a low eye-level specifically for young viewers. The rest will display artwork that children from six months to eight years old from Fort Collins, Denver, Lafayette and Boulder helped curate. According to the museum website, these local children “selected and arranged their favorite artworks; shared their perspectives for the gallery and audio content; and helped design interactive activities.” Really puts a new spin on the jab that modern art is so abstract that “a child could do it.”

Beginning April 3 through early-May. Admission varies. 6700 North Gaylord Rockies Boulevard, Aurora, CO 80019 Aurora, CO 80019. Phone: 720-452-6900

Welcome to a Rocky Mountain spring time! It’s windy, cold, warm, cold, hot, snowing?! If your soul needs a little reset from the whiplash weather, trek no farther than Gaylord Rockies for a staycation. Between the pools and the spa, it’s easy to find some R&R. Spring It On specials are available now for families (think: Easter bunny visits, live animal encounters and a springthemed scavenger hunt). For the more mature among us, a detox and renewal body treatment at Relâche Spa and a few days where you don’t have to make your bed. You’ll feel brand new before you know it. Isn’t that what the season is all about anyway? For more information on spring specials, visit www.marriott. com.

Latin Dance Classes at Stanley Marketplace

Every Monday evening at 7 p.m. and Saturday morning at 10 a.m. $6 per person. 2501 North Dallas St., Aurora, CO 80010.

Attention! There’s an easier way to get a good workout in Aurora these days, and it comes with halfpriced beer afterward. No, we’re not talking about a long walk to the neighborhood liquor store (but you do you). We’re talking about Latin dance instructor Carmen Duran’s two classes per week at Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace. It’s a great option for those needing a spicier workout, something socially distanced and, most importantly, interesting and fun. Make it your weekly self-care treat or bring a friend. Heck, bring your Hinge date. With half-priced beers at Cheluna after, it’s bound to be a good time. For more information visit www.stanleymarketplace.com.

Let Us Know Your scene & herd

Water Circus: Gold

2022 capitol gains and losses

If you’re looking west to the State Capitol for answers to Colorado’s growing and pressing problems, it’s later than you think.

problems they see. “The city of Aurora is strapped to find ways to improve crime prevention and safety. I live in Aurora, and I’ve done my homework.”

Juneteenth made a state holiday

BY SENTINEL, AP AND CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Omar Montgomery of Aurora holds up his arm during a parade to mark Juneteenth, Saturday, June 19, 2021, in Denver. Colorado lawmakers on Monday voted to make the day a paid state holiday.

AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Colorado’s 180 days of legislating ‘til you drop is nearing the finish line, this year pegged for May 11.

Amid the virtually forgotten pandemic, legislators are plowing through ways to address mushrooming crime and violence, mostly in urban areas, which has given Colorado a highly unwanted place on the national registry of crime.

Connected to that is an equally unwanted crisis and reputation regarding drug overdoses and deaths, especially related to a growing fentanyl scourge.

A partisan tug of war in the state House and Senate has emerged with one side pushing for more arrests and more and lengthier prison sentences. Others say the “lock ‘em all up” scheme is nothing but a tried and true failure for reducing crime.

“We’re not talking about old, failed policies that did not work,” Aurora Democratic State Sen. Janet Buckner said recently, addressing a state crime bill. She and others want to see funds distributed to local communities to address the

Crime — or the perception of rising crime — and the soaring cost of living are key issues this midterm election year. Colorado’s minority Republicans in the Legislature have seized upon a national GOP playbook to argue that policy reforms after George Floyd’s killing in 2020 have led to a dramatic rise in violence in Democrat-led cities such as Denver and Pueblo.

Outside of that, some bills are addressing how to fund schools, especially those like in Aurora, which are bound to teach large populations of students from immigrant and struggling families.

While some big bills, such as a guarantee of abortion rights and top-line spending priorities are done or on their way to being solved, issues such as how to legislate a growing drug overdose problem and bring the state into the dilemma of local homelessness are far from over.

Here are some highlights of the session so far.

Lawmakers passed a bill designating Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S., as an official state holiday, and Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign it.

Aurora lawmakers created Juneteenth as a paid city employee holiday earlier this year, deciding to also eliminate the day after Thanksgiving as a paid holiday.

The House on Monday overwhelmingly passed legislation recognizing the June 19 paid holiday. It easily passed the Senate in March.

Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day, commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers told enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, that they were free. It was two months after the Confederacy surrendered and more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The federal government made it an official holiday last year. ›› Continues on 16

Nearly all states recognize Juneteenth in some fashion, and at least nine states have designated it in law as an official paid state holiday.

“We have to reckon with our very tough past of slavery and what this country was built upon. But we also have to honor the freedoms that have come and the liberation that is here,” said Democratic Rep. Leslie Herod, a bill sponsor.

Juneteenth would be Colorado’s 11th state holiday, with most schools and state offices closed.

— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Colorado lawmakers reject bill to protect natural gas use

Lawmakers rejected state Republican attempts to protect the use of natural gas as cities across the U.S. move toward decarbonization and renewable energy requirements in new buildings.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Dan Woog, would have protected private and public use of natural gas, propane, solar panels, micro wind turbines or small hydroelectric power for cooking, hot water, heating or electricity.

The measure, which had little hope of passing out of committee, was ultimately rejected by the House Energy and Environment committee.

Opposition to the bill said its inclusion of renewable energy options is purposefully deceptive and part of a larger scale attempt to prop up the fossil fuel industry.

“This legislative concept fits really well into a nationwide campaign launched by fossil industry interests to buck up their profits, their bottom lines, at expense of American consumers,” said Alejandra Mejia Cunningham who testified in opposition to the bill on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But Woog said the goal of his bill was to address affordability and preserve Colorado residents’ ability to “heat their home and still put food on the table” — citing increased energy costs as adding to the state’s unaffordability.

Proponents of the bill testifying for the fossil fuel industry said the bill is important for consumer choice.

“Bans on natural gas would prevent American families from using a domestically-produced, cleaner-burning, affordable and reliable fuel source and jeopardize the very things they’ve come to depend on,” said Justin Prendergast, spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute.

— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Polis signs Colorado law codifying the right to abortion across state

Colorado joined a handful of other states earlier this month in codifying the right to abortion in statute, a party-line response to efforts across the country to limit abortion access in anticipation of a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a challenge to the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that banned states from outlawing abortion.

Gov. Jared Polis signed into law the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which passed the Democratic-led Legislature after dozens of hours of testimony by residents and fierce opposition by minority Republicans. The law guarantees access to reproductive care before and after pregnancy and bans local governments from imposing their own restrictions.

It also declares that fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses have no indepen-

dent rights. That’s a response to failed ballot initiatives that sought to restrict abortion by giving embryos the rights of born humans. In 2014, voters rejected a proposal to add unborn human beings to the state’s criminal code, allowing prosecutors to charge anyone who kills a fetus with a crime.

Colorado was the first state to decriminalize abortion in most cases in 1967, and it allows access to abortion but had nothing in state law guaranteeing it. New Jersey, Oregon and Vermont had previously codified the right to abortion throughout pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.

Colorado panel advances security bill for elected officials

Spurred by an increase in threats against public servants, Colorado legislators are advancing a bill that would provide extra security to the state’s chief elections officer and other statewide elected officials.

The bill would allow the Colorado State Patrol to assign at least one officer to the secretary of state, the attorney general and the state treasurer up to 80 hours per week, upon request, with additional security resources available if the chief of the patrol deems it warranted.

passed on a party-line 3-2 vote on Tuesday would ensure the 80 hours of protection and allow the patrol chief to decide if more is warranted.

Legislative economists estimated about $825,000 would be needed to pay for the added security under the original bill.

Griswold noted that the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin in January warning of potential of violence by political extremists relating to election-fraud conspiracies heading into the 2022 midterm elections and beyond.

Griswold cited a few of the threats she’s received: “You will never walk the streets in peace again,” and, “What is your neck size?”

“You shouldn’t have to worry about your safety. Let that be with us, and do your work for the state of Colorado,” said patrol Capt. Mike Hahn, whose agency worked on the legislation with Griswold and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ office. Republican Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg said he had problems making a patrol escort mandatory for the three statewide elected officials, instead of allowing security experts at the state patrol to determine when it is warranted. He ultimately voted against the bill, as did GOP Sen. Cleave Simpson.

— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bill increasing penalties for fentanyl possession making its way through legislature

Following several years of skyrocketing fentanyl overdoses in the state, the Colorado legislature is seeking to pass a controversial bill increasing the penalties for possessing the deadly drug.

Proponents say the new legislation is necessary to combat the preponderance of the drug, while others say it’s just a return to the “war on drugs” mentality that has incarcerated many people while failing to curb addiction.

Republicans would still be able to introduce legislation and ballot measures to reverse the new law. For that reason, abortion rights groups are weighing a 2024 constitutional ballot measure, much like Nevada did in 1990.

Colorado Democrats cited the high court’s consideration of a Mississippi case that could overrule Roe v. Wade, as well as a new Texas law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. If Roe is overturned fully, at least 26 states are likely to either ban abortion outright or severely limit access, the Guttmacher Institute says.

Idaho and Oklahoma have enacted laws modeled after the Texas statute. Missouri lawmakers have introduced a bill to make it illegal for the state’s residents to get abortions in other states. Arizona’s legislature has approved a ban on abortion after 15 weeks and, like other states, has a law that would automatically ban abortion if Roe is overturned.

In California, Democratic leaders are considering more than a dozen bills this year to prepare for a Roe reversal. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law last month to make abortions cheaper for people on private insurance plans. Washington state enacted a law banning legal action against people who aid or receive an abortion, responding to the Texas law’s provision allowing people to sue abortion providers or those who assist them.

State lawmakers may request security under procedures to be developed by legislative leadership and the patrol, which is entrusted with security at the Capitol and surrounding state government offices.

Sen. Faith Winter, a Democrat, and Kevin Priola, a Republican, said their measure is designed to respond to thousands of threats against Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who’s become a nationwide advocate for secure elections and a prominent debunker of fraudulent claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from President Donald Trump.

Women — and especially Black, Indigenous and women of color, as well as transgender women — are dissuaded more and more from seeking public office because they worry about their own and their families’ safety in an increasingly vitriolic political environment, Winter and Priola told the Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

“I see this as a direct threat to our democracy,” Winter said. “We’ve seen increased threats against all 100 of us. Not just one side,” she said, referring to Colorado’s 100-member Democratic-led Legislature.

The secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer must request security for public appearances or for travel through the governor’s office.

An original version of the bill gave discretion to the state patrol to decide the merits of each request. A version that

Fentanyl is a super-powerful synthetic opioid about 50-100 times more potent than morphine. What makes it especially dangerous is that many times, people don’t even know they’re taking it, as drug dealers mix it into everything from opioid pills to cocaine and meth. In 2020, more than a third of overdose deaths in Colorado involved fentanyl.

The new bill would make it a level 4 felony to knowingly possess at least one gram of fentanyl, fentanyl analogues or compound pills or powder that contain fentanyl.

People who manufactured, distributed or sold fentanyl or its analogues to someone who then died of an overdose would face 1st degree felony charges.

The bill made it out of the House Judiciary Committee last week one day before lawmakers heard over 14 hours of testimony on the bill from members of the public, some who viewed the bill as too lenient and others as too punitive and unlikely to deter people from possessing the drug.

“This bill fails to fully address the crisis we’re in. The smallest amount of this drug is powerful enough to kill and this bill does not do enough to confront that reality,” 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner said earlier.

Speaker Alec Garnett, the bill’s prime sponsor, said that the bill was not a “silver bullet” but that something had to be done to address fentanyl deaths. The bill must next go before the entire House for approval.

— CARINAJULIG, Staff Writer

A warning sign for a natural gas pipeline sits underneath a power line structure. Lawmakers rejected state Republican attempts to protect the use of natural gas as cities across the U.S. move toward decarbonization and renewable energy requirements in new buildings.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Victims’ Rights Act update would allow victims to attend hearings remotely

One of the hardest things that state Sen. Rhonda Fields sat through during the trial of her son’s murderers is listening to the tape of the 911 call from the neighbor who found his body.

“The piercing of her voice and her plea for help and describing what she saw and she heard left a lasting impression on me,” Fields said.

Fields’ son, Javad Marshall Fields, was shot and killed along with his fiancee Vivian Wolfe in 2005 as retaliation for agreeing to serve as a witness in the trial of his best friend’s murder. His death spurred Fields’s entrance into politics, and in 2010, she was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives, and then in 2017 to the state senate.

From under the gold dome, Fields has continued to be an advocate for victim’s rights, and this legislative session is co-sponsoring an update to Colorado’s Victim’s Rights Act. The bill is pending approval again in the Senate after it passed the House with amendments on April 18.

“This gives the victims the right to be heard, to be present and to be informed,” Fields told The Sentinel. “And all of that is the responsibility of the prosecution.”

If passed, Senate Bill 49 would update the act to allow victims to attend court proceedings remotely in perpetuity, something that began during the pandemic as a significant portion of the state’s legal proceedings were moved online. That’s important because court cases can drag on for years, Fields said, and if the victim has moved away, or even out of state in the meantime, they can incur significant expenses.

The update would also require the defendant to be present during the reading of the victim impact statement, a statement that the victim (or their family, in murder trials) has the opportunity to read to the judge at the end of a court case about the ways the crime has affected them.

In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said that the bill is “a meaningful update to the rights guaranteed in our laws to support victims, and I’m proud to support this bipartisan bill.”

“As attorney general, I’m committed to enforcing the Colorado Victims Rights Act and ensuring our criminal justice process protects, supports, and respects all crime victims,” he said.

Other updates include requiring the victim to receive translation or interpretation services if necessary, guaranteeing that victims have a right to attend parole board hearings and ensuring that prosecutors explain defendant sentencing terms.

Sentencing can be complicated for victims because prison terms can be reduced for good behavior and other factors, Fields said, leaving some people to be upset if a perpetrator is released earlier than they were led to believe.

This update guarantees “a level of information sharing in reference to, that that sentence doesn’t mean they’re going to serve all that time,” Fields said.

Fields’ co-sponsor is Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, and the bill has garnered bipartisan support in both chambers, which is important to her.

“Because when you’re a victim you don’t get a chance to declare what party affiliation you’re from,” she said. “Nobody raises their hand and says ‘I want to be a victim today.’”

—CARINAJULIG,StaffWriter

Polis, Democrats roll out package of public safety bills to reduce crime

measures will go a long way towards improving security at school and keeping our kids safe,” he said.

Senate Bill 147 has passed the Senate and was introduced in the House on April 4.

The package earned the endorsement of 17th Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason, who called it a “historic” investment in community safety and mental health concerns in particular, which he said “disproportionately impacts the criminal justice system.”

abuse care statewide.

Dr. Morgan Medlock, the crisis care psychiatrist Gov. Jared Polis hired out of Washington D.C. to lead the new cabinet-level agency set to launch in July, promised to help carry out “a complete transformation of a system that we know is failing so many of our families, friends and neighbors.”

The Colorado News Collaborative detailed those failures in an investigation published in December.

One of the most ambitious reforms in the 232-page bill would prohibit publicly-funded mental health safety-net providers from refusing to treat clients based on their insurance status, level of aggression, involvement in the criminal justice system or the complexities of their cases. The need for that rule stems from an established pattern by some of Colorado’s 17 regional community mental health centers (CMHCs) of “firing” hard-to-treat or indigent clients, with impunity from state regulators. The centers have been paid higher rates than other providers because they have been expected to serve as caregivers of last resort.

But the bill does not clearly state that the centers would, in fact, be subject to the no-right-of-refusal rule.

The bill also instructs the new agency to contract with regional organizations that would coordinate behavioral health care for clients with complicated needs.

The bill also seeks to:

A collection of public safety bills endorsed by Sen. Janet Buckner, Gov. Jared Polis and others would devote $113 million to improving public safety over the next two years.

Colorado ranks 23rd safest in the nation for violent crime and 29th for property crime compared to other states, according to the governor’s office.

“That’s not good enough for Colorado,” Polis said at a news conference in February announcing the rollout. “We deserve to be one of the safest places to live and raise a family and this package of bills will help get us there.”

The bills include efforts to improve retention of law enforcement, reduce recidivism and increase behavioral health resources. Polis stressed that the approach will be “data driven” and said that the state plans to create an online dashboard soon that will track crime in Colorado.

Buckner, D-Aurora, is one of the legislators introducing bills that are part of the package. She is cosponsoring Senate Bill 1 along with colleagues Naquetta Ricks, Leroy Garcia and Kerry Tipper, which would allow local governments to apply for about $10 million in grant money to make infrastructure upgrades in highcrime areas.

The legislation will create more co-responder programs in Colorado as well as devote more resources towards violence interrupter programs and programs deterring at-risk youth from entering the criminal justice system.

“Rising crime is not an easy topic to address,” Buckner said. “That’s why we have put in the legislative work to ensure these reforms will be fair, equitable and effective.”

Senate Bill 1 passed the Senate in late March and is currently under consideration in the House.

State Sen. Chris Kolker (D-Centennial) is cosponsoring a bill to invest in school safety, providing school districts with grant funding to improve safety and mental health among students.

“We know we must do more, and these

Specifically, he praised the package’s investment in law enforcement co-response, violence interruption, trauma screening for children and intervention in domestic violence, which he said has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This package will allow us to address mental health problems before people get into the criminal justice system and seek to keep them out of it altogether,” he said.

On the other hand, the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Fraternal Order of Police’s Colorado State Lodge declined to endorse the package in an open letter to Polis.

“At this time, our organizations do not have an official position of support on your public safety budget package in its entirety due to its failure to advance policy changes alongside ongoing budgetary proposals,” they wrote.

The letter went on to blame increases in certain crimes on recent legislative changes, saying the “inability to arrest and hold offenders results in offenders continuing to commit criminal acts,” and that “confusing and rapidly changing legislative standards on policing have caused officers to question what they can and cannot do to address a threat, protect victims and the community, and protect themselves in violent situations.”

—CARINAJULIGandMAXLEVY, Staff Writers

Colorado bill for new state behavioral health agency seeks sweeping safety-net

State lawmakers are in the process of determining the role of a soon-to-launch behavioral health agency and the extent to which it will reform Colorado’s tattered mental health safety net system.

A bill introduced this session seeks to carve out responsibilities for the Behavioral Health Administration and for the private contractors paid hundreds of millions of federal and state tax dollars a year to provide mental health and substance

Develop for the first time a set of comprehensive statewide standards for quality of care, including timeliness of service (although the specifics of those standards would be decided later).

Ensure that regional mobile crisis teams respond to people in need within two hours. Currently, response times run from five minutes to half a day, and some teams don’t show up at all.

Improve data collection and analysis to identify gaps in services and improve treatments and outcomes

Reduce bureaucracy by using one “universal contract” rather than many different ones for state mental health and substance abuse care providers

Update payment models so providers’ compensation reflects their performance and the quality of their care, and doesn’t reflect unreasonable administrative costs

Enhance reimbursement to safety-net providers other than the CMHCs based on access to and quality of care

Work to diversify and expand Colorado’s behavioral health workforce

By 2024, the bill seeks to make it easier for the public to file complaints about care providers. Again, the specifics of how this would work are absent. Among those missing details: whether a dedicated investigative staff would handle grievances and regularly inspect and audit state mental health contractors – including community mental health centers – for problems with quality of care, contract compliance, failure to serve indigent clients or accept sliding scale payment, and possible fraud.

With such language in the bill, enforcement would hinge on the culture Medlock or her successors create within the new agency and their willingness to insist on compliance with the new standards. Colorado’s Department of Human Services (and its Office of Behavioral Health) as well as the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing have for decades caved to pressures from community mental health centers to avoid stricter rules around transparency and accountability, and failed to enforce existing rules. More on this bill at www.sentinelcolorado.com.

Sen. Rhonda Fields is co-sponsoring an update to Colorado’s Victim’s Rights Act. Sentinel Colorado File Photo

Preps

Five weeks ahead of the state track meet, Aurora teams provided a glimpse of the performances that might be ahead at the finish line.

TRACK & FIELD

In meets April 14-16 at various sites, city teams won team championships at the Don Osse Lakewood Invitational (Regis Jesuit boys and girls), Littleton Lion Classic (Grandview boys and girls) and Mountain Range Invitational (Cherokee Trail boys and girls), while individuals dazzled at the loaded Pomona Invitational.

Regis Jesuit senior Fabiola Belibi didn’t better her 5A-leading marks in the 100 meter hurdles (14.31 seconds set at the Legend Track Clash) and long jump (19 feet, 1 inch, achieved at the Aurora City Championships), but she won both at the Don Osse Invitational at Jefferson County Stadium, home of the state championships.

Belibi — the reigning 5A state champion — did pop a long jump of 18-7 1/4 that established a meet record, as it easily surpassed the previous mark of 17-10 1/4 set in 2011 by Lakewood’s Lauren Brunsdale. Belibi won the 100 hurdles

On right track

Cherokee Trail junior sprinter Symone Adams had the meet of the weekend as she won the 100 and 200 meter dashes at the Mountain Range Invitational, while her time of 12.11 seconds in the 100 put her atop the state in the event regardless of classification.

BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor

At the same meet, the Cougars’ 4×100 meter relay took the Colorado lead with a time of 48.98 seconds. Cherokee Trail bested Eaglecrest’s winning Pomona Invitational time of 48.99 by 0.01 of a second.

The Raptors tied with Chatfield for first place in that event and after contributing to that, senior Haley Esser went on to win the 400 meters with a time of 57.44 that ranks third in the 5A classification thus far.

in 14.81, which gave her a 2.5-second cushion.

Vista PEAK junior Kendall McCoy topped a large field in the 100 meter hurdles at the Pomona Invitational with a time of 14.80 seconds that was just off her 4A-leading time of 14.76 established at the Aurora City Championships.

On the boys side, Grandview junior David Maldonado swept the sprint championships at the Littleton Lions Classic at Littleton Public School Stadium to lead a commanding effort by the defending 5A state champions that saw wins in nine events. Junior Andrew Fox also grabbed two titles by winning the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Coach John Reyes’ Wolves didn’t deploy their full lineup, which includes a 4x200 relay team that currently leads the state regardless of classification with a time of 1:28.55 set earlier at the Broomfield Shootout.

The Cherokee Trail boys won the Mountain Range Invitational by 53.5 points after an effort that saw a sweep of the four relay events in addition to individual wins for Peyton Sommers (200 meters), Reuben Holness (1,600 meters) and Hunter Strand (3,200 meters).

At the Don Osse Invitational, the state’s 100 meter dash leader — Regis Jesuit junior D’Andre Barnes — lost to Chatfield’s Hayden Marx in the race by a lean (0.04 of a second), but contributed to a Raiders’ victories in the 4×200 and

Aurora teams will be spread out during the upcoming weekend between meets hosted by Denver East, Dakota Ridge (which will be another held at Jeffco Stadium) as well as one at EchoPark Stadium.

4×400 meter relays.

ABOVE: With this jump of 18 feet, 7 1/4 inch, Regis Jesuit senior Fabiola Belibi set the Don Osse Invitational track meet record in the girls long jump during the meet held April 14 at Jefferson County Stadium, where Belibi won the Class 5A state championship in the same event last season. BELOW: Bryce McCutcheon and the Rangeview boys 4x400 relay team didn’t have its best day at the loaded Pomona Invitational April 16, but the Raiders — last season’s state champions — hold a spot in the eight and McCutcheon is 5A’s sixth-fastest 400 meter runner so far. (Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado)

The last National Letter of Intent Signing Day arrived April 13 and all over the city, senior prep athletes took advantage.

A variety of ceremonies were held in several locations around Aurora to honor the signees or some that signed with their respective schools on a previous occasion.

Here’s a look at the honorees/signees from Aurora schools on or around April 13:

Final signs

AURORA SIGNEE/HONOREE LIST BY

BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor

SCHOOL: CHEROKEE TRAIL: Caden Cole, volleyball, Sacred Heart Univ.; Sierra Culbreath, basketball, Sterling College; Devin Gilbreath, golf, Regis University; Gage Gordon, football, University of Jamestown; Jaelyn Greer, soccer, Jackson State; Jackson Gridley, football, Minot State; Hudson Harms, volleyball, Arizona Christian; Emma Hogan, volleyball, Arizona Christian; Brooke Scott, softball, St. Charles C.C.; EAGLECREST: Shane Boyer, football, Fort Lewis; Jackson Bryant, baseball, Missouri Western State; Mike Comeau, football, Dakota State; Taylor Dooley, baseball, Garden City C.C.; Logan Glueckert, baseball, Moberly Area C.C.; Amir Hall, football, William Penn; Mason Harris, football, CSU-Pueblo; Addie Knighton, track & field, Nebraska Wesleyan; Alfred Maiava, volleyball, Central Christian; Brayden Mann, baseball, Culver-Stockton College; Kylie Martin, volleyball, University of Redlands; Brayden McCollough, baseball, Missouri Western State; Garth Morgan, baseball, Nebraska Wesleyan; Molly Sherwood, softball, Univ. of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Sa-

vannah Smith, wrestling, Doane College; Nathaniel Tizazu, football, Colorado Mesa; Mike Witt, wrestling, St. Ambrose; Ashton Wolf, baseball, Western Technical College; GRANDVIEW: Tristan Burris, football, Trine University; Charlie Lucero, soccer, St. Francis; Ella Mahffy, tennis, Nebraska Wesleyan; Kohl Rullo, baseball, Mid-America Nazarene; Emma Tucker, volleyball, William Smith; Lyric Waterman, volleyball, University of Redlands; OVERLAND: Khalil Ali-Fisher, football, Fort Lewis; Achraf Bouhallab, soccer, CSU-Pueblo; Katelynn Czerpak, softball, Lamar C.C.; Damaris Davis, football, CSU-Pueblo; Jackeline Castro Flores, soccer, Western Nebraska C.C.; Victor Harp, basketball, Trinidad State; Ryan Hensley, wrestling, Northeastern J.C.; Jamille Humphrey, football, Fort Lewis; Naamon Levias-Korey, football, Santa Barbara City College; Annette Lopez-Monzon, soccer, Northeastern C.C.; Anthony Miranda-Sanchez, soccer, CSU-Pueblo; Remy Wedgeworth, basketball, North Central University; RANGEVIEW: Austin Appiah, football, CSU-Pueblo; Elijah Jamison, football, Hamline University; Grace Solarin, track & field, Metropolitian State College of Denver; KK Stroter basketball, Northeastern J.C.; REGIS JESUIT: Ellie Johnson, Georgetown, field hockey; Conor Kaczmarczyk, tennis, Trinity; SMOKY HILL: Daniel Bechle, cross country, Fort Hays; Hannah Kim, lacrosse, Carthage College; Isabelle Giroux, softball, Fort Lewis; Kenedy Sandoval, softball, Luther College; Marvin Jones, football, Citrus College; Amrajie Bass, softball, Colorado State;

Aaron Elgersma, baseball, Hastings; Annelise Thomas, swimming, University of the Pacific; Malik Daniels, football, Shasta College; Yessenia Valenzuela, soccer, Northeastern Junior College; VISTA PEAK: Breanna Jefferson, basketball, CSU-Pueblo; Mikenzie Jones, basketball, University of Denver; Silas Gordon, football, Fort Lewis

Above: From left, Annelise Thomas, Daniel Bechle, Aaron Elgersma, Malik Daniels, Yessenia Valenzuela, Hannah Kim, Kenedy Sandoval, Izzy Giroux and Amrajie Bass pose for a group photo at a NLI Signing Day Ceremony held April 13 at Smoky Hill High School. Middle: Charlie Lucero, a soccer player head to St. Francis University, was one of six athletes that were part of the late Signing Day ceremony at Grandview High School. Below: Softball player Brooke Scott, who is headed to play at St. Charles C.C., took part in Cherokee Trail’s Signing Day ceremony, (Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado). Signing Day photo gallery at courtneyoakes.smugmug.com

Preps

FOOTBALL

Aurora

senior trio

honored by National Football Foundation

Three Aurora football players were among elite company around the state honored by the Colorado chapter of the National Football Foundation April 18.

At the chapter’s annual banquet held at the Denver West Marriott, 16 of the state’s top senior student-athlete football player were recognized, a group that included locals Logan Brook of Cherokee Trail, Grandview’s Malique Singleton and Eaglecrest’s Braden Miller.

Singleton, a defensive back, (Wyoming) and Miller (a Michigan State-bound offensive lineman) have both signed with Division I programs, while Brook — a quarterback who led the state in passing in his one and only season as a starter — is going the DII route with Colorado State-Pueblo.

The 16 seniors were picked by a selection committee from approximately 2,000 players across Colorado according to NFF/CHF official Clair Gausman. The criteria for selection was All-State selection by a media outlet, a current composite 3.2 Grade Point Average or alternative grading system and meeting the “standards of citizenship and sportsmanship” verified by a school administrator.

Honorees received an award plaque and another to go to their respective schools, a commemorative football with the names of the recipients and a canvas action photo.

Buffs flex, especially in breaststroke, to win Smoky Hill Invite

If anybody can appreciate a good 100 yard breaststroke, it’s Scott Cohen, who has had many a state champion among elite talents under his tutelage in the event.

So, the Smoky Hill boys swim coach couldn’t help but smile as he watched his Buffaloes finish first, second and fourth in the event as the final exclamation point to a commanding performance that delivered the Smoky Hill Invitational championship April 16.

At the first full-scale edition of the annual meet since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Smoky Hill got two wins from sophomore Daniel Yi — who led the Buffaloes’ big wave in the breaststroke — and took two of the three relays to win an event that saw seven new meet records and three new pool standards established.

Cherokee Trail racked up 518 points to finish third behind the Buffaloes (804.5 points) and Heritage (665.5), while Overland finished 13th to round out Aurora teams in the field.

Smoky Hill won the 2019 Invitational title, then the meet was lost along with the entire spring season in 2020 and consisted of only three teams — the Buffaloes, Cherry Creek and Cherokee Trail — in 2021 as part of very restrictive season.

The return of the meet saw big performances from visitors Heritage, Columbine and Chatfield (which had a slew of top swimmers from the most recent Class 5A rankings combined by PrepSwimCo.com and combined to win six events), but Smoky Hill left no doubt that it was the top team in the field with its performance.

Nowhere was the strength more

evident than in the breaststroke, where Yi finished first with senior Joshua Nieves and Yi’s older brother, Isaac, in fourth.

Daniel Yi’s time of 56.80 seconds bettered the previous Smoky Hill Invitational meet record of 57.17 set in 2017 by Liberty’s Josh Lenzmeier — which at the time took down a mark that had stood since 1997 — and also gave him the new pool record. It also knocked out the 56.98 clocked by Cherry Creek’s Henry Batson in 2021. It was the second pool record of the season thus far for Yi, who took that honor at Grandview earlier.

Nieves finished in 58.44 (just off his season-best of 58.37) for second and Isaac Yi also finished just a shade off his season-best of 58.63 with a 58.69 in the finals. The race went on without Chatfield’s Joshua Corn, who had 5A’s best time in the event of 57.97 coming into the week of competition.

Daniel Yi went 4-for-4 on the day,

as he swam a season-best time of 47.14 in the 100 freestyle to take that event (with Cherokee Trail’s Tucker Meeks in second), while he also swam legs on Smoky Hill’s 200 yard medley and 200 freestyle relay teams that won in meet-record fashion.

In the 200 medley relay, Yi, Nieves and fellow senior Brayden Pearce and junior Antonio Goris touched the wall in 1:35.29 to unseat Heritage’s 1:35.70 in 2019 as the meet’s top all-time mark, while the Yi brothers, Nieves and Goris turned in a time of 1:27.66 in the 200 freestyle to top a mark set by the Buffaloes last season.

Smoky Hill also had three of the top-six finishers in the 200 freestyle (sophomore Jake Baker second, freshman Ian Noffsinger fourth and sophomore Patrick Adams sixth) and two of the top-four placers in the 100 butterfly (Goris in third and Pearce in fourth) to lead the way. Baker — who had 5A’s top 500 yard freestyle time coming into the week

— also took second that event to what should be the new No. 1 in Tristen Davin of Chatfield.

Senior Brandon Bicknell placed third for Smoky Hill in the 1-meter diving competition, which was held in its entirety April 15.

Cherokee Trail had no event wins, but got a strong showing in the 50 freestyle as Tucker Meeks and Hugh Mullen tied for third, Meeks captured runner-up status in the 100 freestyle and Mullen and Andrew Wilson were each two-event championship finalists.

Overland landed its first 5A state-qualifying time in the 200 medley relay from Eli Post, ALex Czyzowicz, Eric Kelly and Minhtam La in the meet prelims.

WEEK PAST

The week past in Aurora prep sports

TUESDAY, APRIL 19: Tyler Godfrey scattered three hits and allowed an unearned run in a complete game effort that led the Cherokee Trail baseball team to a 4-1 win at Eaglecrest Bowen Tabola doubled among two hits and joined Braeden Reichert and Coby Austin with RBI for the Cougars, while Logan Glueckert doubled as the only extra-base hit for the Raptors.

... The Grandview baseball team opened a two-game Centennial League set with Cherry Creek with a 10-7 home win. ...The Aurora Central baseball team kept hitting with 13 more knocks in a 9-4 win over Thornton. German Villalobos struck out 10 hitters over six innings to earn the win, while Alexis Vega tripled twice and scored twice, Andrew Aragon had three hits and Luis Gardea drove in a pair. ...Niko Gonzales and Ayuba Mensah

BOYS SWIMMING

Swim stampede: Seniors Joshua Nieves, left, and Brayden Pearce, right, and sophomore Daniel Yi pose with the Smoky Hill Invitational championship trophy the Buffaloes won with a commanding performance in their home pool April 16. Yi won twice individually and helped two relays to victory in a meet that saw seven meet records and three pool marks established. (Photo by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado)

Goal-saver: Gateway sophomore goalkeeper Leilani Lopez racked up 27 saves in an EMAC girls soccer game against Hinkley April 19, but the Olys fell to the Thunderbirds 5-0. (Photo by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado)

Brook

Big honor: Grandview’s Malique Singleton was one of three Aurora senior football players honored for his play, work in the classroom and citizenship. (Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado) Miller

drove in two runs apiece, but the Overland baseball team fell to Araphaoe 18-7. ...The Eaglecrest girls soccer team dropped a 6-0 Centennial League contest to Arapahoe. ...A four-goal explosion for Brighton in the second half broke a 1-1 tie as the Rangeview girls soccer team fell 5-2 in EMAC play.

Swendy Cabrera opened the scoring and was joined in the scoring column by Yazmin Chavez, Melissa Pedrozah, Karen Peprah and Ixel Soto Gonzalez in the Hinkley girls soccer team’s 5-0 win over Gateway Vicky Jara assisted on three of the goals for the Thunderbirds, while keeper Leilani Lopez made a whopping 27 saves for the Olys. ...Naomi Clark racked up four goals and six other members of the Grandview girls soccer team had goals in the Wolves’ 10-0 Centennial League win at Smoky Hill Isa Dillehay, Taylor Held and Zoe Park each had a goal and an assist.

Torie Turner had the lone goal for the Cherokee Trail girls soccer team in a 4-1 loss to Mullen. ...The Vista PEAK girls soccer team matched its season-high output in goals in a 10-0 win over Adams City. ...The Aurora Central girls soccer team earned its first win of the season with a 6-0 shutout on the road at Englewood. ...The Grandview boys lacrosse team trailed Cherry Creek by just a goal at halftime at Stutler Bowl, but the Wolves were outscored 9-2 in the final two quarters of a 15-7 Centennial League loss. ...The Regis Jesuit boys lacrosse team kept rolling with an 18-0 win over Chaparral. ...A onegoal road game at halftime at Colorado Academy got away from the Cherokee Trail boys lacrosse team in the second half of a 13-8 defeat. ...The Cherokee Trail boys volleyball team had a chance to close out a road win over Cherry Creek, but the Bruins rallied for a 1925, 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 17-15 victory. ...The Grandview boys volleyball team fell to Valor Christian 27-25, 25-17, 25-22. ...Tristan Rowley had seven kills and Jaryd Peterson added five and the pair combined for nine blocks as well as the Vista PEAK boys volleyball team rolled past Aurora West College

Prep 25-23, 25-16, 25-11. ...Aarzoo

Aggarwal (No. 1) and Megan Monforton (No. 3) picked up singles wins, but the Cherokee Trail girls tennis team fell to Arapahoe 5-2 in a Centennial League dual. ...The Vista PEAK girls tennis team topped rival Rangeview 5-2 in an EMAC dual meet that saw the Bison sweep singles from Navaeh Lujan, Julia McReynolds and Emily Rothrock. The Raiders picked up wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles. ...The Regis Jesuit girls golf team placed seventh at the Heritage Classic with Audrey Whitmore coming in 10th with a plus-10 73. ...Daniel Yi won twice and the Smoky Hill boys swim team took nine of the 12 events in a 117-49 Centennial League win over Mullen. ...The Grandview boys swim team earned a 115-61 Centennial League win over Cherokee Trail as the Wolves prevailed in eight of 12

events, including two by Oliver Schimberg. Schimberg, William Schimberg, Robert Hall and Evan Higgins on the 200 medley relay and each won an individual event as well. The Cougars’ captured both freestyle relays and got wins from Bronson Smothers and Andrew Wilson MONDAY, APRIL 18: Following a nine-day hiatus after they played a tournament in North Carolina, the Regis Jesuit baseball team returned to Colorado play with a 9-2 home win over ThunderRidge. Nate McHugh had two hits and three RBI, while Dallas Macias doubled twice and scored three

times to back Brooks Gerig, who allowed one hit over four innings for the win. ...The Vista PEAK and Aurora Central baseball teams combined for 26 runs and 23 hits with the Bison coming out on top in a 19-7 decision. Trey Gray homered in the first inning to start a game in which he had three hits and four RBI, while Yancy Morales also had three hits and joined Brody Severin with two RBI. Luis Gardea homered among three hits with four RBI for the Trojans. ...Tristan Christofferson piled up 16 kills and Logan Henry added nine with six blocks and five aces as the Regis Jesuit boys

volleyball team downed Highlands Ranch 25-15, 25-6, 25-16. ...Tristan Rowley notched 15 kills and Ian Lozano was credited with 27 digs in the Vista PEAK boys volleyball team’s 15-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-23 win over DSST: College View. ...Shylin Collins scored and Alexis Pettes made 19 saves, but the Rangeview girls lacrosse team lost to Ralston Valley 18-1. ...SATURDAY, APRIL 16: Gavin McKown’s bases-loaded hit brought home Isaiah Chavez-Seppeldt with the winning run as the Smoky Hill baseball team rallied for a 3-2 walk-off Centennial League win over Arapahoe. Joe McDermott scattered six hits with seven strikeouts and led off the winning two-run rally with a double for the Buffaloes. ...Tyler Wilcox struck out seven and allowed five hits and three runs (one earned) as the Cherokee Trail baseball team earned a Centennial League spit with Grandview with an 8-3 road win. Thomas Munch went 4-for-4 with two doubles and Bowen Tabola knocked in three runs for the Cougars. ...Logan Glueckert and Jackson Bryant homered and

Garth Morgan drove in three runs to pace the Eaglecrest baseball team in an 11-3 Centennial League road win against Overland Brayden Mann allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings for the win, while the Trailblazers got two hits and two RBI from Nico Gonzales. ...The Grandview girls soccer team played to a 0-0 double-overtime tie with ThunderRidge. ...The Eaglecrest girls lacrosse team rolled to an 18-4 win over Rangeview, while the Raiders were led by Shylin Collins with two goals and two assists. ...The Cherokee Trail boys volleyball team earned a 25-16, 25-11, 25-15 victory at Overland. ...The Eaglecrest boys volleyball team went 3-1 at the Douglas County Tournament, which also saw Grandview and Vista PEAK finish 1-3. ...The Eaglecrest girls tennis team finished in sixth place among eight teams at the Ralston Valley Invitational. ...FRIDAY, APRIL 15: Ben Willer scattered two hits with seven strikeouts over five innings and also drove in three runs to pace

Above: Alfred Maiava, left, celebrates with teammate Ayden Shaw after the Eaglecrest boys volleyball team pulled off a three-set sweep at Cherry Creek April 14.Below left: Vista PEAK No. 1 singles player Navaeh Lujan serves on her way to victory that helped the Bison to a 5-2 EMAC girls tennis dual win at Rangeview April 19. Below right: Trey Gray connects on a high pitch and sends it out for a home run during Vista PEAK’s 19-7 baseball win at Aurora Central April 17. (Photos by Courtney Oakes/ Sentinel Colorado)

the Rangeview baseball team to an 11-1 EMAC win over visiting Adams City. Yahir Estrada added three hits and three RBI for the Raiders. ...The Rangeview boys lacrosse team rolled to a 13-2 victory over Littleton as the Raiders won their third straight game. ...The Cherokee Trail boys lacrosse team dropped a 10-8 contest to Kent Denver. ...The Smoky Hill girls soccer team fell to visiting Douglas County 7-1. ...THURSDAY, APRIL 14: The Eaglecrest boys volleyball team turned the tables on Cherry Creek, paying back a three-set loss to the Bruins on their home floor with a 25-17, 25-22, 2516 victory in the rematch at Cherry Creek. Alfred Maiava racked up 10 kills and also dished out 24 assists to go with six blocks, Ayden Shaw added 10 kills and Ikechukwu Onwuegbu eight to go with four rejections in the Raptors’ win. ...For the fourth time, the Grandview girls soccer team won a 1-0 decision, this time against Eaglecrest in a battle for the Centennial League lead waged at Legacy Stadium.

Naomi Clark ended up with her third game-winning goal of the season when she converted a pass from Zoe Park, while keeper Jordan Nytes and the Wolves had another shut out. Hannah Flores made 10 saves for the Raptors.

Adeleine Walick had three assists and Anna Lantz had a goal and assist for the Regis Jesuit girls soccer team in a 4-1 road win over Chaparral. ...Luis Gardea finished with five hits and drove in runs to lead a 16-hit attack for the Aurora Central baseball team, which started fast and kept adding on for a 12-9 home win over Weld Central. Manny Gongora earned the win on the mound. ...Daniel Zaslavsky earned the win with three innings on the mound and drove in four runs for the Overland baseball team in a 24-5 win over visiting Gateway Daniel Bejerano and Connor Geiss also had 4 RBI for the Trailblazers, while Ethan Brennenholtz and Joshua Lee drove in two runs apiece for the Olys. ...Hudson Harms piled up 15 kills, while Caden Cole added seven aces to 31 assists as the Cherokee Trail boys volleyball team downed Grandview 2515, 25-10, 25-16. ...Carlos Garcia recorded 15 kills, Pragyan Gurung had 30 assists and Malietoa Fifita contributed 17 digs as the Hinkley boys volleyball team topped Overland 25-18, 25-17, 21-25, 25-15.

...The Grandview girls tennis team defeated Cherokee Trail 5-2 in Centennial League play, keyed by singles wins at No. 1 from Shriya Ginjupalli and No. 2 from Halia Pena, while the Cougars got a No. 3 singles win from Megan Monforton and also took No. 1 doubles. ...No. 2 singles player Josie Frantz and the No. 4 doubles team of Caroline Hyyppa and Olivia Krenzel earned wins, but the Smoky Hill girls tennis team fell to Mullen 5-2.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13: The Cherokee Trail boys lacrosse team got back on the winning track in a big way with a 10-9 overtime

victory over Arapahoe. …The Regis Jesuit girls lacrosse team lost for the first time this season, as the Raiders were topped 9-7 by Valor Christian in a rematch of a semifinal game from last season also won the Eagles. …Carlos Garcia had 12 kills and Malietoa Fifita added nine (with 12 blocks), but the Hinkley boys volleyball team lost to DSST: College View 25-23, 24-26, 24-26, 25-18, 15-8. …The Regis Jesuit boys volleyball team took the first set from Bear Creek, but dropped the next three to the Bears, who prevailed 23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 27-

25. …Regis Groff rallied past the Gateway boys volleyball team 21-25, 25-13, 25-10, 25-23 …The Grandview girls lacrosse team fell to Fairview 19-4.

WEEK AHEAD

The week ahead in Aurora prep sports

THURSDAY, APRIL 21: The diamond heats up for a baseball matinee when Regis Jesuit plays host to Eaglecrest in a matchup of local programs slated for a noon first pitcher. The rest of the baseball slate is mostly

Overland’s Scooter Thomas, center, blocks a shot at the net during a three-set loss to Cherokee Trail April 16.

scored the lone goal for the Grandview girls soccer team in a 1-0 lead over Eaglecrest April 14 that gave the Wolves the Centennial League lead. Above: Bode Thielen heads upfield during Cherokee Trail’s boys lacrosse loss to Kent Denver April 15. (Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado)

in the Centennial League with Grandview at Cherry Creek at 4:15 p.m. ...Almost all of Aurora’s girls soccer teams take the pitch and six of them will be at home in Vista PEAK (vs. Hinkley at 4 p.m.), Gateway (vs. Brighton at 4:30 p.m.), Eaglecrest (vs. Mullen at 5:30 p.m.), Cherokee Trail (vs. Cherry Creek at 6 p.m.) and Rangeview (vs. Prairie View at 6:30 p.m.) capped by Grandview’s big Centennial League home game against Arapahoe at 8 p.m. at Stutler Bowl. ...Almost every city girls tennis team is on the court, highlighted by

a rescheduled dual between Regis Jesuit and Cherry Creek at 4 p.m. on the Bruins’ home court. Smoky Hill visits Eaglecrest at 3:45 p.m. in what could be one of several competitive Centennial League duals. ...FRIDAY, APRIL 22: The Aurora Public Schools Cherokee Trail Grandview and Regis Jesuit boys swim teams head to Cherry Creek for the Joe Strain Invitational, which begins with prelims at 4:30 p.m. ...The Regis Jesuit girls lacrosse team plays host to Cherry Creek at 5:30 p.m. in a clash of two of the state’s top powers. ...The Rangeview baseball team entertains Denver South in a 4 p.m. contest. ...The Grandview boys volleyball team plays host to Cherry Creek at 6:30 p.m., while Hinkley has an 8 p.m. first serve at D’Evelyn. ...SATURDAY, APRIL 23: Diving prelims for the Joe Strain Invitational boys swim meet at Cherry Creek begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by swim and dive finals at 4:30 p.m. ...The Dakota Ridge Invitational at Jeffco Stadium gets an early 7:40 a.m. start with a field that includes Gateway, Grandview and Regis Jesuit track teams, while the Huskie Invitational at EchoPark Stadium includes Cherokee Trail, Overland, Regis Jesuit and Vista PEAK and the Denver East Angel Invitational includes Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Rangeview, Smoky Hill and Vista PEAK MONDAY, APRIL 25: A large Continental League baseball matchup is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. when Regis Jesuit pays a visit to Mountain Vista, the defending 5A state champion ...TUESDAY, APRIL 26: The boys volleyball regular season concludes with final records determining the makeup of weekend regional tournaments. Eaglecrest visits Overland and Grandview plays at Littleton in 6:30 p.m.

Top:

Left: Naomi Clark

Because the people must know

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0014-2022

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

On January 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)

LOUIS T SCOTT

Original Beneficiary(ies)

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. as nominee for Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC, Its Successors and Assigns

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt Gateway Mortgage, a division of Gateway

First Bank Date of Deed of Trust

January 19, 2018

County of Recording

Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust

January 22, 2018

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

D8007085

Original Principal Amount

$240,562.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$233,994.50

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 thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

See Attached Exhibit A EXHIBIT A CONDOMINIUM UNIT 103, IN BUILDING 9, LOUISIANA PURCHASE II CONDOMINIUMS, IN ACCORDANCE WITH AND SUBJECT TO THE DECLARATION OF COVENANTS, CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS FOR LOUISIANA PURCHASE II CONDOMINIUMS RECORDED SEPTEMBER 30, 1998 UNDER RECEPTION NO. A8155656, AND ANNEXATION RECORDED APRIL 14, 1999 UNDER RECEPTION NO. A9060970 AND AS FURTHER DEFINED AND DESCRIBED ON THE CONDOMINIUM MAP OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE II CONDOMINIUM, PHASE VII, RECORDED APRIL 14, 1999 IN PLAT BOOK 160 AT PAGE 71,72,73, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO. Also known by street and number as: 1326 S DANUBE WAY UNIT 103, AURORA, CO 80017.

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, 05/25/2022, 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 3/31/2022

Last Publication 4/28/2022

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: 01/21/2022

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-22-897687-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. 0016-2022

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

On January 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)

Emmett Ladd II and Miesha Ladd

Original Beneficiary(ies)

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for Citywide Home Loans, a Utah Corporation

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

PennyMac Loan Services, LLC

Date of Deed of Trust

April 25, 2016

County of Recording

Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust

April 26, 2016

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

D6042515 Book: n/a Page:

Original Principal Amount

$427,069.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$395,171.07

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 22, BLOCK 2, TOLLGATE CROSSING SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 10, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 4738

S Biloxi Way, 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.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 05/25/2022, 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 3/31/2022

Last Publication 4/28/2022

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: 01/21/2022

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:

David W Drake #43315

Scott D. Toebben #19011

Randall S. Miller & Associates PC 216 16th Street, Suite 1210, Denver, CO 80202 (720) 259-6710

Attorney File # 19CO00375-2

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. 0017-2022

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

On January 25, 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) BRETT BROCKETT

Original Beneficiary(ies) MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., AS NOMINEE FOR NBANK, N.A.

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt COMMUNITY LOAN SERVICING, LLC A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY

Date of Deed of Trust

November 16, 2005

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

November 28, 2005

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

B5177764

Original Principal Amount

$180,800.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$159,632.72 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 2, MEADOWOOD, SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 7, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE STATE OF COLORADO

Also known by street and number as: 3298 SOUTH FAIRPLAY STREET, 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, 05/25/2022, 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 3/31/2022

Last Publication 4/28/2022

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: 01/25/2022

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

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:

Britney D. Beall-Eder #34935

Jonathan A. Goodman, Esq. #15015

Karen J. Radakovich, Esq. #11649

Frascona Joiner Goodman and Greenstein PC 4750 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, CO 80305-5500 (303) 494-3000

Attorney File # 7192-14580

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. 0021-2022

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

On February 1, 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)

JANET LYNN SIEDELMANN

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRA-

TION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR STEARNS LENDING, LLC, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.

Date of Deed of Trust

December 12, 2016

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

December 19, 2016

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

D6146418

Original Principal Amount

$138,000.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$129,845.23

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 8, BLOCK 3, PHEASANT RUN FIL-

ING NO. 3, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO. Also known by street and number as: 4625

S. KALISPELL WAY, 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, 06/01/2022, 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 4/7/2022

Last Publication 5/5/2022

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: 02/01/2022

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

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

David R. Doughty #40042

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

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

Attorney File # 22-026282

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. 0024-2022

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

Deed of Trust:

On February 1, 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)

JOHN SAFFER

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., AS NOMINEE FOR AMERICAN FINANCING CORPO-

RATION, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

COLORADO HOUSING AND FINANCE AUTHORITY

Date of Deed of Trust

March 22, 2019

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

March 26, 2019

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

D9025545

Original Principal Amount

$270,019.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$268,742.80

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 PURSUANT TO AFFIDAVIT OF SCRIVENER’S ERROR RECORDED ON 02/04/2020 AT RECEPTION NO. E0015093 TO CORRECT LEGAL DESCRIPTION. EXHIBIT A LOT 108, BLOCK 1, THE TIMBERS FILING NO. ONE, TOGETHER WITH RIGHTS AND EASEMENTS APPURTENANT TO SUBJECT PROPERTY AS CREATED IN THOSE INSTRUMENTS RECORDED NOVEMBER 30, 1972 IN BOOK 2080 AT PAGE 276, DECEMBER 10, 1974 IN BOOK 2296 AT PAGE 169, APRIL 21, 1975 IN BOOK 2327 AT PAGE 174, AUGUST 19, 1975 IN BOOK 2364 AT PAGE 579 AND APRIL 27, 1977 IN BOOK 2579 AT PAGE 230, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 15195 EAST JEFFERSON PLACE, AURORA, CO 80014.

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

If applicable, a description of any changes to the deed of trust described in the notice of election and demand pursuant to affidavit as allowed by statutes: C.R.S.§ 38-35-109(5) LEGAL DESCRIPTION HAS BEEN CORRECTED BY SCRIVENER’S AFFIDAVIT RECORDED 02/04/2020 AT RECEPTION NO. E0015093 IN THE RECORDS OF ARAPAHOE COUNTY. 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, 06/01/2022, 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 4/7/2022

Last Publication 5/5/2022

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: 02/01/2022

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

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

David R. Doughty #40042

Lynn M. Janeway #15592 Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112 (303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 20-023933

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. 0032-2022

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

Deed of Trust:

On February 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)

CATHERINE D MBOZI MBULIIRO

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. ACTING SOLELY AS NOMINEE FOR AME FINANCIAL CORPORATION

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

LAKEVIEW LOAN SERVICING, LLC

Date of Deed of Trust

September 24, 2009

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

October 13, 2009

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

B9112206

Original Principal Amount

$183,400.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$127,442.03

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 7, BLOCK 14, WILLOW PARK SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 1, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 1525 SOUTH EAGLE STREET, 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, 06/15/2022, 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 4/21/2022

Last Publication 5/19/2022

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: 02/11/2022

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 # 00000009399080

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. 0011-2022

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

Deed of Trust:

On January 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)

POLEENEE A. ELIJAH

Original Beneficiary(ies)

FT MORTGAGE COMPANIES D/B/A

CARL I. BROWN MORTGAGE

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

MIDFIRST BANK

Date of Deed of Trust

December 03, 1997

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

December 09, 1997

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

A7155981

Original Principal Amount

$124,710.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$48,959.70

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 19, BLOCK 2, THE VISTA AT AURORA HIGHLANDS SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 3, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO. Also known by street and number as: 17208 EAST FLORIDA PLACE, AURORA, CO 80017.

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, 05/18/2022, 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 3/24/2022

Last Publication 4/21/2022

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: 01/14/2022

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:

Alison L Berry #34531

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

David R. Doughty #40042

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

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

Attorney File # 21-025500

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. 0012-2022

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

On January 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) LN HOSPITALITY DENVER LLC, A COLORADO LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY

Original Beneficiary(ies) ACCESS POINT FINANCIAL, LLC, A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt ACCESS POINT FINANCIAL, LLC, A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY

Date of Deed of Trust

February 22, 2021

County of Recording

Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust

March 12, 2021

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

E1042502

Original Principal Amount $6,054,494.76 Outstanding Principal Balance

$6,054,494.76

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. LOT 1, BLOCK 1, ABILENE STATION SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 1, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO

Also known by street and number as: 301 NORTH BLACKHAWK STREET, AURORA, CO 80011. THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

If applicable, a description of any changes to the deed of trust described in the

NOTICE OF SALE EXHIBIT A

Real property in the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado, described as follows:

Lot 1, Block 1, ABILENE STATION SUBDIVISION FILING

NO. 1, County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

Also known as: 301 North Blackhawk Street, Aurora, CO 80011

EXHIBIT B

PERSONAL PROPERTY

(a) All of Borrower’s building materials, machinery, apparatus, equipment, fittings and fixtures, whether or not actually or constructively attached to the real property described on Exhibit “A” hereof and to the improvements now or hereafter located thereon (said real property and improvements are hereinafter referred to as the “Property”), and including all trade, domestic and ornamental fixtures, and articles of personal property of every kind and nature whatsoever now or hereafter located in, upon or under said Property or any part thereof and used or usable in connection with any present or future operation of said Property and now owned or hereafter acquired by Borrower, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, all heating, air conditioning, freezing, lighting, laundry, incinerating and power equipment; engines; pipes; pumps; tanks; motors; conduits; switchboards; plumbing, lifting, cleaning, fire prevention, fire extinguishing, refrigerating, ventilating and communications apparatus, boilers, ranges, furnaces, oil burners or units thereof; appliances; air cooling and air conditioning apparatus, vacuum cleaning systems; elevators; escalators; shades; awnings; screens; oven, ranges, surface units and disposals; attached cabinets; partitions; ducts and compressors; rugs and carpets; draperies; furniture and furnishings of the type customarily located in commercial, institutional and industrial buildings; together with all additions thereto and replacements thereof.

(b) All of Borrower’s rents, security deposits, issues and profits which are now due or may hereafter become due from the Property, including, but not limited to rents, security deposits, issues and profits by reason of or in connection with the rents, leasing and bailment of said Property.

(c) All of Borrower’s awards or payments, including interest thereon, and the right to receive the same, as a result of (i) the exercise of the right of eminent domain, (ii) the alteration of the grade of any street, or (iii) any other injury to, taking of, or decrease in the value of, the Property, to the extent of all amounts which may be owed by Borrower to beneficiary at the date of receipt of any such award or payment by Beneficiary and of the reasonable attorney’s fees, costs and disbursements incurred by Beneficiary in connection with the collection of such award or payment.

(d) All of Borrower’s documents, instruments and contract rights relating to the construction of the improvements now or hereafter located on the Property, and including without limitation, any and all construction contracts, architectural contracts, engineering contracts, plans, specifications, drawings, surveys, bonds, permits, licenses, and other governmental approvals.

(e) All proceeds from Borrower’s insurance policies which in any way relate to the Property or the other property described in this Exhibit “B” and all proceeds and payments owing to the insured under such insurance policies.

(f) All of Borrower’s right, title and interest in and to all sales contracts, whether now existing or executed after the date hereof, pertaining to any portion of the real property described on Exhibit “A” hereof, and any modifications thereof.

(g) All proceeds and products. 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, 05/18/2022, 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.

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

Alan M. Keefe #15090

Ryan M. Christ #32072 Sherman & Howard LLC 633 17th Street, Suite 3000, Denver, CO 80202 (303) 2972900

Attorney File # 54326321.1

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. 0013-2022

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

On January 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) CHRISTOPHER D. BRAY AND KAREN A. MCKEE

Original Beneficiary(ies)

PUBLIC SERVICE CREDIT UNION

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

CANVAS CREDIT UNION

Date of Deed of Trust

May 23, 2017

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

July 13, 2017

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

D7078910

Original Principal Amount $40,000.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$35,389.66

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.

SEE ATTACHED LEGAL DESCRIPTION EXHIBIT A

The following described Condominium unit situate in Parcel 4 Amended Plat of Heatherridge South Filing No. 4, To-Wit: An individual air space unit which is contained within the walls, basement or base floor, roof, windows and doors, referenced as Unit 20595 in Building No. 669 now or hereafter constructed on said Parcel, said Condominium unit being located substantially as shown on the “Supplement to Condominium Map” or Supplements thereto, filed of record in the Office of the Clerk and Recorder of the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado in Book 28 at Pages 92 and 93 or any Amendments thereof, including all fixtures and improvements contained therein, together with an undivided 1/28th interest in and to the general Common Elements appurtenant thereto, as defined in the Declaration of Condominium of Strawberry 1 at the Heatherridge and any Amendments thereto, together with:

(1) The exclusive right to use the patios, balconies and fixtures which project beyond the space or area above described and contiguous thereto.

(2) A Right of Way in common with others, for ingress and egress to and from the Condominium unit above described.

(3) The right to use General Common Elements of the Condominium project in common with other owners in said Condominium project.

(4) The exclusive right to use parking stalls 453 and 475 located substantially as shown on the “Condominium Map” referred to above or any Amendments thereto, County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado.

Also known by street and number as: 2425 SOUTH XANADU WAY UNIT C, 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, 05/25/2022, 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.

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

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

David R. Doughty #40042

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

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

Attorney File # 21-026146

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. 0027-2022

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

On February 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)

Robert L. Adkins

Original Beneficiary(ies)

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

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.

Date of Deed of Trust

June 25, 2020

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

July 01, 2020

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

E0080228

Original Principal Amount $232,600.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$229,378.72

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 4, SUMMER BREEZE SUBDIVISION FILING NO. 1, EXCEPT THAT PORTION DEEDED TO THE SUMMER BREEZE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., IN DEED RECORDED AUGUST 3, 1979 IN BOOK 3047 AT PAGE 62, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 17695 East Ithaca Place, 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

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, 06/08/2022, 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 4/14/2022

Last Publication 5/12/2022

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: 02/04/2022

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:

Alison L Berry #34531

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

David R. Doughty #40042

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

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

Attorney File # 22-026262

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

BEFORE THE COLORADO GROUND WATER COMMISSION DETERMINATIONS OF WATER RIGHT LOST CREEK DESIGNATED GROUNDWATER BASIN AND LOST CREEK GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT - ARAPAHOE COUNTY

TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to section 37-90-107(7), C.R.S., and the Designated Basin Rules, 2 CCR 410-1, Millen Tesfamichel and Genet Zewolday has applied for determinations of rights to allocations of designated groundwater from the Denver aquifer underlying 39.8 acres generally described as the NW1/4 of the SE1/4 of Section 11, Township 4 South, Range 64 West of the 6th P.M. The applicant claims ownership of this land and control of the groundwater in this aquifer underlying this property. The groundwater from these allocations is proposed to be used on the described property for the following beneficial uses: domestic, including irrigation of lawn and garden.

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. A preliminary evaluation of the application finds the volume of water available for allocation from the aquifers underlying the above-described property to be 1,350 acre-feet for the Denver aquifer. 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 application finds the replacement water requirement status for the aquifers underlying the above-described property to be not-nontributary (4% replacement) for the Denver 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 39.8 acres of above described property. 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 May 21, 2022. 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 303866-3581.

First Publication: April 14, 2022

Final Publication: April 21, 2022

Sentinel

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE EIGHTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR BRADFORD COUNTY, FLORIDA

FAMILY DIVISION

NOTICE OF ACTION

CASE NO.: 04-2019-DR-0472

IN RE: The Marriage of HALEY MCDONALD nka, HALEY DALLAS

Former Wife, vs. STEPHEN MCDONALD Former Husband.

YOU ARE NOTIFIED a Formal Motion for Order to Show Cause and the Order Granting Motion for Order to Show Cause has been filed in this Court. A Hearing on the Motion for Order to Show Cause will be heard on June 21, 2022 at 9:00 am at the Bradford County Courthouse located at 945 N Temple Avenue, Starke, FL 32091. You are required to serve a copy of your written defenses, if any, on petitioner’s attorney, whose name and address is Charles Daniel Sikes, P.A., 817 MacMahon Street, Starke, FL 32091 on or before June 21, 2022 and to file written defenses with the clerk of this court either before service or immediately thereafter. Failure to serve and file written defenses as required may result in or judgment or order for the relief demanded, without further notice.

Signed on April 14, 2022

Lisa Brannon, As Deputy Clerk

First Publication: April 21, 2022

Final Publication: May 12, 2022

Sentinel

INVITATION TO BID

ROCKY MOUNTAIN RIAL PARK EROSION CONTROL AND GRADING

JHL Constructors on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Rail Park Metropolitan District, notifies all qualified persons/companies that bids and qualifications will be received for erosion control and grading work services. Electronic submission of qualifications must be submitted and received by JHL at nsurigala@jhlconstructors.com on or before 2:00 p.m. MST on April 22nd, 2022.

Instruction to bid documents may be obtained from JHL. Please contact nsurigala@jhlconstructors.com for access to the Instruction to Respondent documents. Upon inquiry from interested parties, Bid documents will be made available electronically through BuildingConnected only. JHL Constructors will accept bids and qualifications from respondents that represent best capabilities to perform contracting services. JHL reserves the right to waive irregularities in any proposals. Performance and Payment bonds and proper insurance coverage will be required.

First Publication: April 14, 2022

Final Publication: April 21, 2022

Sentinel INVITATION TO BID TAH FILING 9 WET UTILITY MATERIALS

May 10, 2022 at 5pm local time. At that time the Bids received will be opened via a Zoom link, to be provided upon request.

The Project includes the following Work: Repair of Pond #4 located with the boundaries of the Saddle Rock Metropolitan District in Arapahoe County, Colorado. Work to include: repair of the rim and walls of the pond to create an even elevation of the lip around the entire pond; either raise or fill in the bottom north end of the pond to prevent standing water when the pond is drained; and sealing of cracks on the interior of the entire pond.

The Issuing Office for the Bidding Documents is: Brenda Tate, District Manager MSI, LLC 6892 S. Yosemite Court, Suite 2-101 Centennial, Colorado 80112 (720) 974-4231; btate@msihoa.com

Information and Bidding Documents for the Project will be available electronically on April 15, 2022. Send email request for bid documents to Brenda Tate, 720-974-4231, btate@msihoa.com. Include company name, contact name and contact information in the request. No pre-bid conference will be held.

Bidders are hereby advised the Owner reserves the right to not award a Contract until sixty (60) days from the date of the opening of Bids, and Bidders expressly agree to keep their Bids open for the sixty (60) day time period. Owner reserves the right to reject any and all Bids, to waive any informality, technicality or irregularity in any Bid, to disregard all non-conforming, nonresponsive, conditional or alternate Bids, to negotiate contract terms with the Successful Bidder, to require statements or evidence of Bidders’ qualifications, including financial statements, and to accept the proposal that is, in the opinion of the Owner, in its best interest. Owner also reserves the right to extend the Bidding period by Addendum if it appears in its interest to do so. Any questions concerning this bid shall be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. on May 1, 2022, and must be directed in writing to: Brenda Tate at btate@msihoa.com.

Publication: April 21, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE AND INVITATION TO BID

EAST CHERRY CREEK VALLEY WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT(ECCV)

NORTHERN WATER PIPELINE RELOCATION PROJECT

Notice is hereby given in compliance with Section 32-1-1001(1)()d)(I), C.R.S. that ECCV seeks bids from qualified contractors for:

Construction of the horizontal and vertical relocation of ECCV’s 48” steel Northern Water Line (the “Pipeline”) in Harvest Road right-of-way between 56th Avenue and future 68th Avenue. There are three separate sections of the Pipeline that will be relocated totaling approximately 900 feet (the “Project”). The Pipeline will be relocated approximately 10 feet east of the existing Pipeline location.

Procurement of steel will be needed as will coordinating and arranging fabrication of new steel pipe to accomplish the Project.

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION AND CERTIFIED STATEMENT OF RESULTS

§1-13.5-513(6), 32-1-104,1-11-103(3) C.R.S.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Colorado International Center Metropolitan District No 3, Adams County, Colorado, that at the close of business on the sixty-third day before the election, there were not more candidates for director than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates; therefore, the election to be held on May 03, 2022 is hereby canceled pursuant to section 1-13.5-513(6) C.R.S.

The following candidates are hereby declared elected:

Robert Parma

Term: One (1) Year

Term Expiration: May 2023

Janet Philipp

Term: Three (3) Years

Term Expiration: May 2025

Hicham Mialed

Term: Three (3) Years

Term Expiration: May 2025

COLORADO INTERNATIONAL CENTER METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO 3

By: /s/ Charles Wolfersberger

Designated Election Official 8354 Northfield Blvd Building G, Suite 3700 Denver, CO 80238 www.thegroveathighpoint.org

Publication: April 21, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF REGULAR SPECIAL DISTRICT ELECTION BY THE DESIGNATED ELECTION OFFICIAL

1-13.5-513(1) and (6), C.R.S. HORIZON METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NOS. 1 – 3

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Horizon Metropolitan District Nos. 1 – 3, Arapahoe County, Colorado, that at the close of business on the sixty-third (63rd) day before the election, there were not more candidates for director than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates; therefore, the election to be held on May 3, 2022, is hereby canceled pursuant to Section 1-13.5-513(1) and (6), C.R.S.

The following candidates were declared elected by acclamation:

David Crowder May 2023 Term

Steven Oser May 2023 Term

Karen Voit May 2025 Term

Lisa Garcia May 2025 Term

Jason Rutt May 2025 Term

HORIZON METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NOS. 1 – 3 /s/ Stacie L. Pacheco, Designated Election Official

Contact Person for the Districts:

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF ELECTION AND CERTIFIED STATEMENT OF RESULTS

EAST SMOKY HILL METROPOLITAN

DISTRICT NO. 2

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to § 1-13.5-513(6), C.R.S., that, at the close of business on February 28, 2022, there were not more candidates than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates, for East Smoky Hill Metropolitan District No. 2 (the “District”). Therefore, the election for the District to be held on May 3, 2022 is hereby canceled.

The following candidates are declared elected by acclamation:

Charlotte L. Faris Until May 2023

The following offices remain vacant: Vacant Until May 2025

Vacant Until May 2025

Vacant Until May 2025

/s/ Ashley B. Frisbie Designated Election Official

Contact Person for Districts:

Trisha Harris

WHITE BEAR ANKELE TANAKA & WALDRON

Attorneys at Law

2154 E. Commons Avenue, Suite 2000 Centennial, Colorado 80122 (303) 858-1800

Publication: April 21, 2022 Sentinel

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF ELECTION AND CERTIFIED STATEMENT OF RESULTS

ESTANCIA METROPOLITAN DISTRICT

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to § 1-13.5-513(6), C.R.S., that, at the close of business on February 28, 2022, there were not more candidates than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates, for Estancia Metropolitan District (the “District”). Therefore, the election for the District to be held on May 3, 2022 is hereby canceled.

The following candidates for the District are declared elected by acclamation:

Jason Dassinger Until May 2023

Richard Giardina Until May 2025

Paul A. Andrade Until May 2025

/s/ Ashley B. Frisbie Designated Election Official

Contact Person for District: Jennifer Gruber Tanaka

WHITE BEAR ANKELE TANAKA & WALDRON Attorneys at Law 2154 E. Commons Avenue, Suite 2000 Centennial, Colorado 80122 (303) 858-1800

Publication: April 21, 2022 Sentinel

DISTRICT COURT

ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO

NOTICE OF HEARING BY PUBLICATION

PURSUANT TO §15-10-401, C.R.S. Case No. 2022PR30291

In the Interest of:

Mariela Elizabeth Velis, Minor

To: Roberto Castilo Zermeno

Last Known Address, if any: Unknown

A hearing on a Petition for Appointment of Guardian for the Minor Mariela Elizabeth Velis will be held at the following time and location or at a later date which the hearing may be continued:

Date: To be Determined

Time: To be Determined

Courtroom or Division: T1

Address: 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601

The hearing will take approximately 1 hour.

Attorney for Minor: Marlise Armstrong, Esq., Atty Reg. # 50531 P.O. Box 6004 Boulder, CO 80306 (720)-634-6644 mar@aspireimmigration.org

First Publication: April 21, 2022

Final Publication: May 5, 2022

Sentinel

JHL Constructors on behalf of the Aerotropolis Area Coordinating District (AACMD), a quasi-municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State of Colorado, notifies all qualified persons/ companies that proposals will be received for material procurement in connection with the Filing 9 Wet Utilities at The Aurora Highlands in Aurora, CO. Scope of work under this Request for Proposal includes material procurement only for wet utilities. Installation of wet utilities will be solicited as part of a separate RFP. Electronic submission of proposals must be submitted and received by JHL at AuroraHighlandsInfo@jhlconstructors.com on or before 2:00 p.m. MST on April 22nd, 2022.

Instruction to Respondent documents may be obtained from the CMaR Contractor, JHL Constructors, Inc. on or after Thursday April 14, 2022. Please contact AuroraHighlandsInfo@jhlconstructors.com for access to the Instruction to Respondent documents. Upon inquiry from interested parties, RFQ documents will be made available electronically through BuildingConnected only. JHL Constructors will accept proposals from respondents that represent best capabilities to perform contracting services. JHL reserves the right to waive irregularities in any proposals. Performance and Payment bonds and proper insurance coverage will be required.

First Publication: April 14, 2022

Final Publication: April 21, 2022

Sentinel INVITATION TO BID

The Saddle Rock Metropolitan, a quasimunicipal corporation and political subdivision of the State of Colorado (Owner) is requesting Bids for the construction of the following Project:

Repair of Pond #4 located with the boundaries of the Saddle Rock Metropolitan District in Arapahoe County, Colorado.

Bids for the construction of the Project will be received at btate@msihoa.com, until

Bid as used herein shall mean written expressions of interest in the Project with general pricing parameters and noting final Project parameters and pricing will be negotiated with ECCV once the Project’s scope is finalized.

Bidders are hereby advised:

Given extreme difficulty obtaining steel for small projects, steel shortages, and supply chain issues stemming from COVID, along with very narrow annual time windows when the Project can be performed (the “Project Issues”) – ECCV will only consider bids from contractors who bid on the Aerotropolis Regional Transportation Authority (“ARTA”) pipeline project which is currently out for bidding.

The Project Issues mean the low bidder may not be chosen by ECCV, rather ECCV may award based on health, safety and welfare considerations as well as cost for a best overall value.

ECCV does not guaranty a contract will be awarded for the Project as ECCV is evaluating leaving the Pipeline in place as alternative to the Project. Therefore, Bidders submit bids at risk of ECCV determining in its sole discretion not to proceed with the Project.

Bidders also submit bids at risk of ECCV

(a) selecting the same contractor ARTA selects, regardless of price and based on combatting the Project Issues or (b) selecting no contractor.

Please direct questions, if any, to Jamie Overgaard, Kennedy Jenks at jamieovergaard@kennedyjenks.com.

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: EAST

CHERRY CREEK VALLEY WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT

Alan D. Pogue, Esq. ICENOGLE SEAVER POGUE, P.C. 4725 South Monaco Street, Suite 360 Denver, Colorado 80237

Telephone: 303-292-9100

Publication: April 21, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF REGULAR SPECIAL DISTRICT ELECTION BY THE DESIGNATED ELECTION OFFICIAL 1-13.5-513(1) and (6), C.R.S. HORIZON METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NOS. 4 – 10

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Horizon Metropolitan District Nos. 4 – 10, Arapahoe County, Colorado, that at the close of business on the sixty-third (63rd) day before the election, there were not more candidates for director than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates; therefore, the election to be held on May 3, 2022, is hereby canceled pursuant to Section 1-13.5-513(1) and (6), C.R.S.

The following candidates were declared elected by acclamation:

David Crowder May 2023 Term

Vacant May 2023 Term

Karen Voit May 2025 Term

Lisa Garcia May 2025 Term

Jason Rutt May 2025 Term

HORIZON METROPOLITAN

DISTRICT NOS. 4 – 10 /s/ Stacie L. Pacheco, Designated Election Official

Contact Person for the Districts: Alan D. Pogue, Esq. ICENOGLE SEAVER POGUE, P.C. 4725 South Monaco Street, Suite 360 Denver, Colorado 80237

Telephone: 303-292-9100

First Publication: April 21, 2022

Final Publication: May 5, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF ELECTION AND CERTIFIED STATEMENT OF RESULTS

MURPHY CREEK METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NO. 1

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to § 1-13.5-513(6), C.R.S., that, at the close of business on February 28, 2022, there were not more candidates than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates, for Murphy Creek Metropolitan District No. 1 (the “District”). Therefore, the election for the District to be held on May 3, 2022 is hereby canceled.

The following candidates for the District are declared elected by acclamation:

Michael Alpert Until May 2025

Harvey Alpert Until May 2025

Tanya Alpert Until May 2025

/s/ Ashley B. Frisbie Designated Election Official

Contact Person for District: Jennifer Gruber Tanaka

White Bear Ankele Tanaka & Waldron Attorneys at Law 2154 E. Commons Avenue, Suite 2000 Centennial, Colorado 80122 (303) 858-1800

Publication: April 21, 2022 Sentinel

FreeDailyCrosswords.com

Puzzles

DOWN

I) "Rumble in the Jungle" champ

2) "_ voyage!"

3) Karim of the Khans, for one

4) Soup buys

5) Store cremains

6) Vast multitude

7) _ Wednesday 8) Florists cut them

9) Aviators 10) Most crude, humorwise 11) Certain expenses 12) Basket twig 13) John the steel-drivin' man

One-named Venetian master

Colorado Statewide Network

To place a 25-word COSCAN Network ad in 91 Colorado newspapers for only $300, contact your local newspaper or email Colorado Press Association Network at rtoledo@colopress.net

DIRECTV

DIRECTV for $79.99/mo for 12 months with CHOICE Package. Watch your favorite live sports, news & entertainment anywhere. First 3 months of HBO Max, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz and Epix Included! Directv is #1 in Customer Satisfaction (JD Power & Assoc.) Some Restrictions apply.

C Call for