SCHOOL CROSSING The Outdoor Lab Experience
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NEIGHBORHOOD
WHEAT RIDGE | APPLEWOOD | MOUNTAIN VIEW | LAKESIDE | BERKELEY February 18 – March 17, 2019 • ngazette.com • FREE
Fears Of Annexation, Loss Of Identity, Fueled Wheat Ridge’s Creation ■ By Mike McKibbin
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alf a century ago, residents of the rural area known as Wheat Ridge did not want to lose local control or be absorbed by either Denver or Lakewood. That was the impetus behind a 1969 incorporation effort that formed the “City of Wheat Ridge,”which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Howard Jaidinger, now 76, is one of two surviving members of the incorporation group. Kent Higgins, now 74 and living in Highlands Ranch, is the other. A proposal to form a municipality called Jefferson City (now known as Lakewood) would have included the Wheat Ridge area, Jaidinger said. A member of the Wheat Ridge Fire Department, Jaidinger said he and around 8 to 10 other firefighters were concerned. “We agreed we had to find a way to defeat the vote to form Jefferson City,” he stated. “We didn’t want to lose our voice if we would have been forced to join someone else.” Higgins agreed. “Lakewood was more commercial with Colfax Avenue,” he Continued on page 12
THE WHEAT RIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT had a fulfilling day participating in the Spread The Love program along with Localworks and Compass Montessori – Wheat Ridge Charter School. They teamed up to assist Wheat Ridge seniors and disabled residents with small household clean-up projects. A huge thank you to all of the students, teachers, parents and Community Service Officers who helped spread the love on Valentine's Day. PHOTO COURTESY WHEAT RIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT
Living Carbon-Free: How Hard Can That Be? ■ By
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Mike McKibbin
here’s living off the grid, then there’s living carbon-free. Wheat Ridge resident Eric Wilson worked on his nearly 70-year-old home for five years to make it energy efficient and carbon-free. “I pay a lot of attention to my carbon footprint and things like how much I drive and how much meat I eat,” Wilson said in an interview. “Since I work in the field of home energy efficiency, we thought it made sense to do this with our house.” Wilson joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden in 2010, has performed energy audits and design assistance for a state energy program and conducted blower door tests on tribal housing. But Wilson said such a background is not necessary to undertake this type of project. Wilson said he and his wife bought their first home in 2012 — a less than 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, singlefamily home built in 1950 in the eastern part of Wheat Ridge, near 38th Avenue and Harlan Street. Wilson said he knew of a special mortgage program that granted a 50 percent state incentive if home energy efficiency steps were taken within the first 90 days of home ownership. Xcel Energy offered other energy rebates, along with the bank the Wilsons used for a home loan. “All told, we got about $4,000 of work done for around $1,000,” Wilson said. Among the steps taken were air sealing the house, including attic leaks, then adding about one foot of cellulose insulation of shredded newspapers, Wilson stated. Wall insulation was blown in through holes
drilled every 16 inches around the outside of the home. Most of the insulation work was done before the family moved in, Wilson said. “That made the rooms a lot more comfortable,” he added. Attic insulation also helps keep humidity levels low and prevents rooftop ice freezes, Wilson said. The home’s crawl space was also air sealed.
A 15- to 20-year-old gas boiler that heated the house needed to be replaced about three years after the family moved in, Wilson said. An electric heat pump was installed since the home did not have heating ducts used by natural gas furnaces, he added. The system doubles as a summer air conditioner of sorts to help keep the house cool when temperatures rise, Wilson said.
“There is a perception that heat pumps don’t work well in the kind of climate we have in Colorado,” he noted. “But modern heat pumps have come a long way. They’re much more efficient and can heat a home even when it gets to 15 below zero like it’s been here lately. We’re completely happy and it’s kept our house nice and warm.” Continued on page 2
PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Berkeley Author Micah Springer Keeps The Story ■ By Ken Lutes
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eepers of the Story” is Micah Springer’s account of her yearlong 1993 adventure in Africa with her best friend, Kas. The self-published memoir tells of a life-changing journey overflowing with love, danger, language challenges and moonlight dances, all of which fostered Springer’s “pathway to inner wisdom and the divine.” In 1993, the two friends broke away from their studies at CU Boulder and decided to backpack through Africa. They started in Senegal then backpacked through Gambia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon; they toured Uganda, Tanzania and the Congo and flew to Kenya, where most of “Keepers” takes place. “Keepers” is presented in three sections: Mind, Body and Spirit. ‘Mind’ opens with the two friends landing on a foreign continent and being immediately thrust into cultural misunderstandings. “Kas and I were smart, critical thinkers and had no idea of how long it was to take us to assimilate into the culture – it took three or four months,” Springer said. In ‘Body,’ Springer falls madly in love with a nomadic pastoral man. She shares how the journey was to become her path to an understanding “
Continued on page 8
AUTHOR MICAH SPRINGER WITH HER MEMOIR, “Keepers of the Story.” PHOTO BY KEN LUTES