1-Color

January 9, 2014Elbert County, Colorado | Volume 118, Issue 50

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Revised oil, gas rules approved 17-page document opens door to increased exploration activity By George Lurie glurie@coloradocommunitymedia.com

After nearly three years of work — and a great deal of drama and controversy — the Elbert County Planning Commission unanimously approved new zoning regula-tions that will serve as a partial framework for future oil and gas exploration in the county.

The approval came at the planning commission’s fi rst meeting of 2014, held Jan. 2 in Kiowa.

The 17-page document that contains the new regulations is now available for public review. The regulations are expected to go before the Board of County Commis-sioners for fi nal approval on Feb. 12.

The new regulations, which defi ne the difference between so-called “major” and “minor” oil and gas facilities, only apply to minor facilities and establish an expedited administrative approval process that will be defi ned in what county offi cials describe as “a standard MOU” — or memorandum of understanding — currently being fi ne-

tuned by county attorney Alex Beltz.“The MOU is not regulatory but rather

a binding contractual agreement between the operator and the county agreeing to standards higher than those set forth in state regulations,” said Community Servic-es and Development Director Kyle Fenner.

Operators of proposed major oil and gas facilities will still have to go through a more complicated “special use by review pro-cess” that Fenner said would take at least six months to complete and involves re-quired community “informational” meet-ings as well as various specifi c approvals from both the planning commission and the BOCC.

Up to now, all oil and gas companies wishing to operate in Elbert County have had to go through the same lengthy admin-istrative review process.

Those companies granted permits will still have to adhere to state-regulated de-velopment guidelines established by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Com-mission.

BOCC chair Robert Rowland empha-sized the new MOU will not supersede ex-isting state oil and gas regulations but will allow minor facility operators to expedite the approval process if they are willing to

Austin Gidley, 11, snowboards Jan. 2 in Elizabeth’s Brandt Park. Quenton Gidley, 8, prefers to do his sliding on a saucer. The brothers, along with other school-age children in Elizabeth, returned to the classroom on Jan. 7. Photo by George Lurie

HAVING SNOW MUCH FUN Schlegel won’t seek re-election District 2 commissioner decides against pursuing second term on board By George Lurie glurie@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Saying that his idea of public service is to “get in, do what you can and get out,” District 2 County Commissioner Kurt Schlegel confi rmed on Dec. 31 that he does not plan to run for re-election in 2014.

During his fi rst three years in offi ce, Schlegel has been a lightning rod for controversy. The blunt-spoken, retired Marine has been the target of lawsuits and a short-lived recall effort in 2012.

“I’ve done the best I can and think I’ve helped move the county forward,” Schlegel said. “I learned long ago that you can’t make everybody happy. I know not everybody likes me but I hope everybody respects me.”

Schlegel, 56, said recently that he continues to spend more time than he would like “reacting” to accusations and criticism from constituents.

“Going in to this, I knew what I was taking on and that it was going to be a diffi cult job,” Schlegel said. “I’ve never shied away from challenges…But now I realize why people don’t run for elected offi ce.”

Schlegel worked as a fi refi ghter for much of his career — and was one of the earliest and most vocal proponents of the Tea Party in Elbert County.

In addition to the $49,600-a-year sal-ary he’s paid as a commissioner, he also owns a public safety consulting fi rm and travels frequently.

“These last few years while I’ve worked for the county, I’ve taken a little hit in my bank account,” he said sev-eral months ago. “I’ve only got so many good working years ahead of me.”

Schlegel said he informed his fellow commissioners and county Republican chairman Scott Wills of his decision sev-eral weeks ago.

“I’m at a point in my life where my business is doing better and I can see some new doors opening for me,” Schlegel said. “I’ll fi nish out my fourth year and move on. It’s time to make way for other ideas and fresh faces.”

Schlegel

New planning commissioners appointed Vacanies � lled during special BOCC meeting By George Lurie glurie@coloradocommunitymedia.com

The Board of County Commissioners rang in the new year by appointing four new members to the county’s planning commission.

Elbert County’s BOCC also reappointed Bob Ware to a full term.

The appointments were made at a spe-cial BOCC meeting held Jan. 2.

BOCC chair Robert Rowland, who rep-resents District 1, appointed Ware to a three-year term that expires in 2017.

Ware had already been serving on the all-volunteer planning commission since mid-2013 after he was tapped to serve out the remainder of Paula Koch’s term. (Koch resigned her seat prior to moving out of state.)

Rowland also appointed Paul Tanner to a seat on the nine-member planning com-

mission. Tanner, a county resident for 15 years, is a local real estate broker who also raises and trains mustang horses.

Tanner was appointed to serve out the term of former planning commission chairman Paul Crisan, who was abruptly dismissed from the planning commission in November amid charges of obstruction-ism and unprofessional conduct leveled by Commissioners Rowland and Kurt Schle-gel.

Tanner’s term on the commission will expire in January 2015.

Crisan attended the Jan. 2 special meet-ing and attempted to address the BOCC just as the meeting was being adjourned.

BOCC chair Rowland told Crisan the public comment period had already ended but did allow him to speak briefl y after Cri-san said, “I only have two questions.”

“OK,” said Rowland as most of the people at the meeting, including the

Oil continues on Page 14

Planning continues on Page 14

2 Elbert County News January 9, 2014

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Elbert County News 3 January 9, 2014

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OFFICE: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 | PhOnE: 303-566-4100

A legal newspaper of general circulation in Elizabeth, Colorado, the Elbert County News is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ELIZABETH, COLORADO and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129

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elbert county news (USPS 171-100)

It started in a garage and grewDouglas/Elbert Task Force to celebrate 30 years with concertBy Virginia Grantiervgrantier@coloradocommunitymedia.com

A Castle Rock woman, knowing some local families were struggling financially, started collecting items in her garage to distribute to people who needed them.

Mela Rudolph knew the families well enough that she often knew just what they needed and would deliver the items to them, said Connie Huydts, 82, who started helping Rudolph soon after Rudolph start-ed her garage project.

That was about 30 years ago. Rudolph and a couple of Rudolph’s friends, such as Minnie Hoffmann, who got involved with the effort, have died. But Huydts is still around.

And she’s still volunteering for the or-ganization Rudolph started, which is now called the Douglas/Elbert Task Force, lo-cated in a former church building on Park Street.

Huydts will be one of several people and organizations honored — the first recipi-ents of the new Rudolph Award — when the task force celebrates its 30th anniver-sary Feb. 16 with a concert featuring Fire-fall, a Colorado-based band formed in the 1970s.

Firefall had a string of hits and is known for its philanthropic efforts, said Joe Roos, the task force’s part-time director of phi-lanthropy. Concert proceeds will go to help fund a $425,000 renovation project for the task force’s building on Park Street.

Huydts said she got involved in about 1983 because she, a Franktown resident, was in Castle Rock one day when she saw Rudolph and a pickup of things. She found out what Rudolph did and how she was preparing that day to move the growing operation from her garage to a small build-ing located in the 100 block of South Wilcox Street behind the Castle Rock Motel.

And she found out Rudolph needed helping moving, and she pitched in, and then never stopped pitching in.

“I’m no stranger to helping,” said Huy-dts, who grew up in Littleton during Great Depression years. “It was bred into me.”

She said her dad, employed as a ma-chinist farmed on a neighbor’s land in his spare time and gave away vegetables to people who needed them. Her mom would cook extra supper and have the kids take it to neighbors she knew needed a hot meal.

Huydts said in Rudolph’s new space behind the motel, they had clothing, like socks for a nickel a pair, but didn’t have

food to offer or enough cash to help people pay rent, like the task force tries to do now. At one point, to keep the struggling opera-tion going, Rudolph, Huydts and a couple of others, donated $150 each — which she said equated to about $1,000 each at that time.

The task force has since moved a couple more times to bigger spaces — and the budget has changed.

Roos said the task force now has a $1.6 million annual budget — and 200 unpaid volunteers as well as two paid full-time staff members, Suzanne Greene, executive director, and Christie Sbarra, store man-ager, and 10 paid part-time staff members.

Roos said about 10 percent of the bud-get covers administration costs and that they serve 16,000 clients every year.

“The vast majority goes directly to cli-ents,” he said, about the task force’s ser-vices which can include helping to pay rent and utilities and providing food, clothing and household items.

He said the task force’s thrift shop gen-erates about 25 percent of the revenues for the task force’s budget. But donations are crucial. For those who want to donate, the best way is cash, he said. For every $1 do-nated, the task force can buy $3.69 worth of food from the Food Bank of the Rockies.

He said the task force’s mission is to be a “first responder… helping neighbors whose lives are turned upside get back on track.”

Concert proceeds will help fund the $425,000 renovation of the task force’s 17,000-square-foot building, the former Church of the Rock building at 1638 Park St.

The project includes turning part of the building’s 4,000-square-feet of unfinished space into a more private area to receive clients, and creating more finished space to accept donations. Other improvements include adding a sprinkler system in the building, a new heating and air condition-ing system, new awnings, installation and new windows.

Firefall’s original lead singer and guitar-ist, Jock Bartley, recently toured the task force’s facility so he could see what they’re singing for, Roos said.

Roos said they’re holding the concert in February because the task force “is the best love story in Douglas and Elbert counties.”

The four-hour event will start at 3 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Douglas Events Center at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, 500 Fair-grounds Drive, Castle Rock. General ad-mission tickets are $36.50.

To buy tickets go to modtickets.com/detaskforce.

Suzanne Greene, executive director of the Douglas/Elbert Task Force, stands in the middle of a renovation project that will add a private area to receive clients, among other improvements to the Task Force’s building. Photo by Virginia Grantier

4 Elbert County News January 9, 2014

4

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School door ‘was supposed to be locked’ O� cials detail latest in Arapahoe High shooting investigation By George Lurie glurie@coloradocommunitymedia.com

The gunman gained access to the school through an exterior door that was routinely propped open on most school days, according to the latest details from the in-vestigation into the shooting at Arapahoe High School.

“That door was supposed to be locked,” Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said during a Dec. 30 press briefi ng. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t.”

When asked if a locked exterior door may have kept

the Dec. 13 shooting from taking place, the sheriff re-plied: “I don’t believe that would have prevented this evil act. He would have found a way to enter the school.”

Never once saying the name of the 18-year-old gun-man, Robinson repeatedly referred to Karl Pierson as “the murderer” and said on the day he entered the school with a shotgun, 125 shotgun shells, a machete and three Molo-tov cocktails, Pierson had “an absolute focus on doing the maximum amount of harm.”

One new detail the sheriff revealed at the briefi ng: On the morning of the shooting, Pierson “went bowling, alone.”

Claire Davis, the 17-year-old student who was shot point blank by Pierson and later died, “was exactly where she had a right to be” on the day of the shooting, Rob-inson said. “Claire was preparing herself for her future.”

Robinson credited James Englert, the sheriff’s deputy stationed at the high school as the school resource offi -cer, with preventing additional bloodshed by responding

immediately to the shots fi red — “running to the thunder, exactly what our deputies are trained to do.”

Robinson confi rmed that Pierson fi red fi ve shots and set fi re to a library bookshelf before taking his own life with a sixth shot in the back of the school library.

“We are confi dent the murderer knew Deputy Englert and the (unarmed) school security offi cer [Rod Mauler] were approaching,” Robinson said.

“Less than a minute and 20 seconds [elapsed] between the murderer entering the school and lying dead in the back of the library.”

Robinson called Englert “a hero” and said the deputy will be back on duty at the high school beginning Jan. 6.

“We think of James as a sheriff’s deputy,” said Robin-son. “The students and staff at Arapahoe think of him as a Warrior.”

The sheriff also praised school custodian Fabian Ller-enas for his role in immediately alerting school offi cials of “an active shooter situation.”

Laughter, light and forgiveness � ll arena Celebration of Claire Davis’ life draws thousands By Jennifer Smith jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com

“Oh my gosh, Karl, what are you doing?”

Those are the words that Claire Davis’ anguished father says were her last, spoken in the split second before Karl Pierson shot her in the head.

“Claire tried to shine her light on his darkness,” said Michael Davis as he addressed the thousands of people who attended the celebration of Claire’s life, held at the National Western Stock Show arena on Jan. 1. Claire’s mother, Desiree, stood by his side as the room rose in a standing ovation.

Although fi rst responders rushed Claire from Arapahoe High School to the operating room within 30 min-utes of the shooting on Dec. 13, she lapsed into a coma from which she would never emerge. She died on Dec. 21.

Friends and family hope the entire community will take her fi nal words forward as it tries to heal from yet an-other tragedy.

“Before we say or do something, we should refl ect and ask ourselves that last question,” said Pastor Steve Poos-Benson of Columbine United Church. “Ask ourselves what is it we are doing, and what is it we are doing to one another?”

Michael Davis asked that Claire’s legacy be the light with which she fi lled the lives of all who knew her.

“My wife and I forgive Karl Pier-son,” he said.

“Karl is no longer with us. It is no longer our responsibility to judge. As each of us must do someday, Karl must face infi nity alone.”

He said Claire would want every-one to forgive Pierson, and would

want all who mourn her to keep love alive and light in their lives.

“Make love more important than hate, desperation and fear,” he said.

Light and laughter seemed to fi ll every crevice of Claire’s life. Her boy-friend, Alex Chapman, let her say how important those things were to her in her own words, by reading a letter she wrote as part of a college application.

“I think laughter makes people real,” she wrote. “I love to laugh and smile and, more importantly, to make others laugh and smile.”

Chapman recalled how he knew she was special the minute he laid eyes on her.

“I looked at her and I said, `Wow, she would be someone amazing to be with,’ ” he said. “… I love Claire so much, and I always will.”

Several well-known names at-tended the event — U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, Gov. John Hickenlooper and Olympian and Centennial resident Missy Franklin all spoke, and Claire’s favorite band, One Direction, sent their regrets. Arapahoe County Sher-iff Grayson Robinson was recognized with a standing ovation, and praise went out to all the fi rst responders, including Deputy James Englert, the school-resource offi cer who got to the scene within seconds, and fi refi ghters from Littleton Fire Rescue Station 15, who rushed Claire to Littleton Adven-tist Hospital.

But it was the people who knew Claire who brought her to life for those who didn’t. They told tales of screaming at teen-idol concerts, giggling for hours on end, making friendship bracelets, drinking milk-shakes and talking about boys.

“Almost every moment I spent with Claire we were laughing,” said Mary Strauss, a friend since middle school. “Over the years she taught me so much, but most importantly, how to love someone more than you love yourself.”

Rebecca Johnson, Claire’s riding coach for seven years, said Claire was a fi erce competitor on her horse, Graphite Gran Grannus, but rode with grace under pressure and true class.

“Above all else, she was kind, and the horses knew that, and they loved her,” said Johnson, who nicknamed Claire “Fluffy Rainbow Child.”

“She left me an improved woman and a better coach,” she said. “Claire was my friend, and loved her, and I know that love was returned.”

Near the end of the ceremony, Johnson walked the horse out and retired the saddle of his fallen rider, presenting it to Claire’s mother.

Poos-Benson sent the mourners home with a message to be vigilant in working to end the violence.

“You need to go fi nd the Karl Pier-sons in our community, and ask those Karls, ̀ What are you doing? Where are you? We need you to be a part of us,’ ” he said. “You need to make sure that Karl gets help.”

Claire’s parents and older brother, Alexander, thanked the community for its incredible support throughout their unimaginable ordeal.

“She knew what it meant to have a friend and to be a friend,” said her father. “She was learning to fi nd her bliss. The world was a better place with her in it, but we are coming to accept that it was time for us to return the gift to the giver.”

Mourners light up the night with candles at the end of the celebration of the life of Claire Davis at the National Western Stock Show Complex on Jan. 1. Photo by Jennifer Smith

TO GIVEThe Davis family has established a fund in Claire’s

name that will be used to support mental-health and anti-violence causes in the community.

Arapahoe High School Community FundThe Denver FoundationPhilanthropic Services55 Madison Street, Eighth FloorDenver, Colo. 80206-5423www.denverfoundation.org720-974-2602

Elbert County News 5 January 9, 2014

5

Calendar of Events For a complete calendar of South Metro Denver Chamber events or more information, visit our web site at www.bestchamber.com or call 303-795-0142.

Thursday, January 9th:Women in Leadership: Open House Forum with Chamber Board Members WhippleWood Conference Center at the Chamber, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

Friday, January 10th:Economic Development Group Breakfast: Current Development Projects in South Metro Denver WhippleWood Conference Center at the Chamber, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

Greater Littleton Youth Initiative WhippleWood Conference Center at the Chamber, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

Monday, January 13th:STEM-EC: Science Technology Engineering Math in South Metro Denver WhippleWood Conference Center at the Chamber, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

Tuesday, January 14th:Business Bible Study Chamber Library, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

Business After Hours hosted by Volcano Restaurant 10440 E. Arapahoe Rd., Centennial

Wednesday, January 15th:STEM-EC: Douglas County Schools Site Visit Location TBD

PowerPoint Dynamic Design Tricks Mission Critical Systems-DTC, 7384 S. Alton Way, Suite 201, Centennial

Southwest Metro Business Alliance: Business Best Practices The Peak Wellness Center, 6612 S. Ward St., Littleton

Thursday, January 16th:Health & Wellness Initiative Board of Advisors WhippleWood Conference Center at the Chamber, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

Health & Wellness Initiative: Health Care Reform - The Freight Train is Here! WhippleWood Conference Center at the Chamber, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

Quarterly Meetup for Profit: Building Business Using Social Marketing WhippleWood Conference Center at the Chamber, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

Friday, January 17th:Social Marketing for Business: Generating New Leads WhippleWood Conference Center at the Chamber, 2154 E. Commons Ave., Centennial

On Wednesday, December 18, 2013 the South Metro Denver Chamber hosted its annual legislative reception. The event, held in the atrium at Columbia College’s Aurora campus, was attended by more than 50 business leaders from the south metro area and 7 state legislators.

The program began with a toast delivered by Andrew Graham, owner of Clinic Service. Senators Linda Newell (D-Littleton) and David Balmer (R-Centennial) joined Representatives Angela Williams (D-Denver), Chris Holbert (R-Parker), Polly Lawrence (R-Roxborough), Daniel Kagan (D-Cherry Hills / Englewood), and Spencer Swalm (R-Centennial) to provide a recap of the 2013 legislative session and a preview of the 2014 legislative session. Major themes included job creation and easing the burden on small businesses.

John Brackney, President & CEO of the South Metro Denver Chamber applauded the legislators’ bipartisan tone. “We were all encouraged to see how much these legis-lators respect each other and we urge them to work together throughout the session for the benefit of our state.” Jeff Wasden, the Chamber’s Vice-Chair of Public Affairs echoed those sentiments and expressed the gratitude of the business community for the legislators’ service to South Metro Denver.

Carol Braverman, co-owner of Mountaintop Acupuncture, enjoyed both the presenters and those present: “[It was] so interesting to hear each legislator’s achieve-ments and upcoming agendas, and the attendees were equally engaging.”

The Chamber thanks the event’s presenting sponsor Clinic Service, venue sponsor Columbia College, and catering sponsor Sava Catering. For more information on the Chamber’s public policy activities and future politically oriented events such as our Chamber Day at the Capitol on February 26th, join the South Metro Denver Business Leaders for Responsible Government at www.meetup.com/business-leaders-for-responsible-government or contact the Chamber Director of Public Policy, Patrick Pratt, at 303-795-0142.

Leading Edge graduates demonstrate their enthusiasm for the program. (l to r) Julie Melville, Stefanie Dalgar, Cindy Weist, Andra Lewis, Wade Owen, Charles Tamale.

South Metro Denver Chamber Hosts Annual Legislative Reception

South Metro Denver SBDC Announces Winners and Graduates of Fall 2013 Leading Edge™ Strategic Planning Series by Natalie Harden, South Metro Denver SBDC

The South Metro Denver Small Business Development Center (SBDC) graduated its most recent Leading Edge™ Strategic Planning Series for Entrepreneurs and Start-up participants on December 4th.

The graduation ceremony was held at the South Metro Denver Cham-ber of Commerce, where participants have been spending one evening a week for the past twelve weeks gaining instruction on how to write a comprehensive business plan.

In attendance were Darrell Schulte, President of the Colorado Business Bank Littleton Branch; John Brackney, President/CEO of the South Metro Denver Chamber; and Marcia McGilley, Executive Director of the South Metro Denver SBDC. Colorado Business Bank is the corporate sponsor of the Leading Edge Strategic Planning Series Program.

Twelve participants participated in the course and were awarded with certificates recognizing their accomplishment. At the end of the course, participants were invited to submit their business plans into a class competition, with three winners being chosen and announced at the graduation ceremony. Jon Ewoniuk of Stash won first place and was awarded $300; Cindy Weist of Western States Sales won second place and received $200; and Andra Lewis of Blush and Birch won third place and was awarded $100.

“The twelve participants spent a great deal of time and energy in researching, writing and creating their business plans. We applaud their accomplishment. Our instructor Stefanie Dalgar of Dalgar Communica-tions, LLC, guided the participants through the coursework with ease and expertise allowing existing and start-up entrepreneurs to contribute

to the growth of our South Metro economy,” said McGilley.To learn more about the Leading Edge™ Strategic Planning Series,

visit smallbusinessdenver.com or call 303-795-0142. The South Metro Denver Small Business Development Center is partially funded by the U.S.

Small Business Administration. The Support given by the U.S. Small Business Administration through such funding does not constitute an express or implied endorsement of any of the co-sponsors’ or participants’ opinions products or services. The Colorado SBDC is a partnership between the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the U.S. Small Business Administration, Colorado’s institutions of higher education, and local development organizations.

Chamber President & CEO John Brackney speaks to the crowd at the Annual Legislative Reception. (l to r): Rep. Spencer Swalm, Rep. Daniel Kagan, John Brackney, Rep. Polly Lawrence (behind Brackney), Rep. Chris Holbert, Rep. Angela Williams, Senator David Balmer, Senator Linda Newell, Jeff Wasden.

Legal pot sales spark long linesRetail marijuana rolled out in DenverBy Kristen WyattAssociated Press

Long lines and blustery winter weather greeted Colorado marijuana shoppers test-ing the nation’s first legal recreational pot shops Jan. 1.

It was hard to tell from talking to the shoppers, however, that they had waited hours in snow and frigid wind.

“It’s a huge deal for me,” said Andre Barr, a 34-year-old deliveryman who drove from Niles, Mich., to be part of the legal weed experiment. “This wait is nothing.”

The world was watching as Colorado unveiled the modern world’s first fully le-gal marijuana industry — no doctor’s note required (as in 18 states and Washington, D.C.) and no unregulated production of the drug (as in the Netherlands). Uruguay has fully legalized pot but hasn’t yet set up its system.

Colorado had 24 shops open new year’s day, most of them in Denver, and aside from long lines and sporadic reports of shoppers cited for smoking pot in public, there were few problems.

“Everything’s gone pretty smoothly,” said Barbara Brohl, Colorado’s top mari-

juana regulator as head of the Department of Revenue.

The agency sent its new marijuana in-spectors to recreational shops to monitor sales and make sure sellers understood the state’s new marijuana-tracking inventory system meant to keep legal pot out of the black market.

Denver International Airport erected signs warning travelers that they could not take marijuana home with them.

Keeping pot within Colorado’s regu-lated system and within the state’s borders are among requirements the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice has laid out to avoid a clampdown under federal law, which still outlaws the drug.

The other state that has legalized recre-ational pot, Washington, will face the same restrictions when its retail shops start op-erating, expected by late spring.

The states’ retail experiments are cru-cial tests of whether marijuana can be sold like alcohol, kept from children and highly taxed, or whether pot proves too harmful

to public health and safety for legalization experiments to expand elsewhere.

“This feels like freedom at last,” said Amy Reynolds, owner of two Colorado Springs medical pot shops.

Reynolds came to Denver to toast the dawn of pot sales for recreational use. “It’s a plant, it’s harmless, and now anyone over 21 can buy it if they want to. Beautiful.”

Marijuana skeptics, of course, watched in alarm.

They warned that the celebratory vibe in Colorado masked dangerous conse-quences.

Wider marijuana availability, they say, would lead to greater illegal use by youth, and possibly more traffic accidents and ad-diction problems.

“It’s not just a benign recreational drug that we don’t have to worry about,” said Dr. Paula Riggs, head of the Division of Sub-stance Dependence at the University of Colorado-Denver medical campus.

The only problems reported Jan. 1, though, were long lines and high prices.

Some shops raised prices or reduced pur-chasing limits as the day went on. One pot shop closed early because of tight supply. Some shoppers complained they were paying three times more than they were used to.

Colorado has no statewide pricing structure, and by midafternoon, one dis-pensary was charging $70 for one-eighth of an ounce of high-quality pot. Medical marijuana patients just a day earlier paid as little as $25 for the same amount.

Medical pot users worried they’d be priced out of the market. Colorado’s recre-ational pot inventory came entirely from the drug’s supply for medical uses.

“We hope that the focus on recreational doesn’t take the focus away from patients who really need this medicine,” said Laura Kriho of the patient advocacy group Can-nabis Therapy Institute.

Colorado has hundreds of pending ap-plications for recreational pot retailers, growers and processors. So it’s too soon to say how prices would change more people enter the business, increasing supply and competition.

Shoppers in line didn’t seem fazed by the wait, the prices, or the state and local taxes that totaled more than 25 percent.

“This is quality stuff in a real store. Not the Mexican brick weed we’re used to back in Ohio,” said Brandon Harris, who drove from Blanchester, Ohio.

‘This feels like freedom at last.’Amy Reynolds, owner of two medical pot shops

6 Elbert County News January 9, 2014

6-Opinion

opinions / yours and ours

Washington can learn from ColoradoFor many Americans, 2013 was an

eventful year. For Coloradans, it tested our resilience, our courage and our willpower.

We fought the most destructive wild-fire in our history (Black Forest), as well one of the largest (West Fork), only to be hit by unprecedented flooding less than three months later. Meanwhile, farmers in the southeastern corner of our state en-dured months of unending drought that has crippled their harvests and threatened their livelihood. And as the year came to a close another high school was left rattled by senseless and horrible violence.

Coloradans, as usual, showed their mettle and have come together in every corner of the state to support one another, recover, rebuild, and carry on.

Unfortunately, the same isn’t true of Congress. The first session of the 113th Congress has been called one of the least effective in the history of the Unit-ed States. Partisan gridlock has halted progress on a variety of issues critical to Colorado’s success, including immigra-tion, education, and a national food and farming policy. Most frustrating was the

manufactured government shutdown that left thousands without a paycheck and re-duced our gross domestic product by $24 billion.

But in true Colorado fashion, our del-egation — Democrats and Republicans — found ways to work together and put Colorado first.

While we didn’t agree on every issue, in times of crisis we worked across the aisle to make sure federal resources were avail-able for rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts. As of early December, we secured more than $136 million in grants and low-interest loans to help Coloradans in areas affected by the floods. We also secured

nearly $20 million in Emergency Water-shed Protection Funding to fund water-shed conservation and erosion prevention for communities recovering from the High Park and Waldo Canyon Fires.

The delegation also pushed Congress to maintain the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program that helps our local com-munities offset losses in property taxes due to nontaxable federal land. PILT pay-ments help counties provide critical ser-vices, such as police, fire protection, emer-gency response, and infrastructure. And we worked with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to preserve fund-ing for the USDA’s Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program. It measures Colorado’s snowpack, providing essential information for water managers who must know how much water they can expect in the coming months.

For avid hikers in southern Colorado, we were able to trim bureaucracy to help “officially” legalize the Manitou Incline for public use. Now thousands of outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy the pleasure of sur-mounting this popular and legendary ver-

tical mile trail.Big issues wait for us in this new year.

Among them, we need to pass a Farm Bill to provide Colorado’s farmers and ranch-ers with the security, stability, and resourc-es they need to continue providing food, fuel and fiber for the country. We need to fix our broken immigration system to se-cure or borders, strengthen our economy and create a path forward for immigrants living in the shadows. And we need to de-velop a bipartisan budget plan that ma-terially reduces the deficit and puts our country on a more sustainable fiscal path.

If Washington can learn from the ex-ample Colorado has set, we will have the opportunity get back to work for the American people and to begin to meet the challenges facing our nation. My new year’s resolution is to remain committed to working with any Republican or Democrat who wants to find thoughtful, innovative solutions that will ensure our competitive-ness and leadership in the 21st century.

Democrat Michael Bennet has represented Colorado in the U.S. Senate since 2009.

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Focus on hearing with your heart

So last week I talked about the impor-tance of speaking kindly and lovingly to one another, sincere flattery, and being intentional in our effort to show how we truly feel. That was the “speaking” part, but what happens when it comes to listening to what is being said to us, and actually hearing it?

Too often I witness a game of verbal ping-pong. You know the game where one person offers a compliment and the re-cipient feels like they must say something nice in return. And then the game begins, a back-and-forth, to-and-fro endless string of niceties shared with one another. If truly sincere, it is a loving and awesome display to watch. If it is just chatter, I hate to be the bearer of the bad and obvious news, the in-sincerity is very clear to everyone around, including the two people in the game.

Let’s challenge the thinking a little bit here. What if, and I am just saying what if, the person who receives the first com-pliment and listens with their ears, lets it settle in, and truly hears it with their heart? Perhaps what might have started as a cor-dial conversation just to say something nice, could actually turn into a meaning-ful discussion between two or more people where everyone feels good about the out-come.

Something good can come from every-

thing and every encounter. The problem is that too often we want to rush in and compete in the conversation and feel it necessary to say something nice back to the other person.

What if we were a little more patient in our response? What if we listened with our ears and heard it, really heard it with our hearts? We just might realize that the other person has said something profound and is truly trying to be sincere and nice. When we rush right back into it with our own compliment, we may even hurt their feelings as they feel like we didn’t take the time to appreciate what it is that they actu-ally said.

Listening with our ears and hearing with our hearts really are two different

Catch some bass? No thanksThe car next to you at the red light is

throbbing with bass. What do you do? Do you throb with bass too? Not me. I don’t want to wind up like Pete Townsend and have to say “Huh?” for the rest of my life.

There’s really not much you can do. You risk a lot if your give him the finger or even glare.

Chances are it’s someone under 21 whose insurance rates have been climb-ing after a series of motoring incidents. The five and a half years he spent in high school were far out. And mom and dad never said a word to him about civility.

Our highways are very democratic. You have as much right to them if you are a dolt as you do if you are on your way to give a lecture to a graduate seminar at DU.

You may be the pick of the pack at home or at work, but in between, on the streets, you are just another motorist.

We already have a lane for high occu-pancy vehicles. (Which, by the way, means two. Does that sound like high occupancy to you?) I think it would be wonderful if we could further distinguish motoring lanes.

For example: a high-IQ occupancy lane.How about a lane for anyone who doesn’t

wear his pants lower than his underwear?A lane just for UCLA alumni would be

fine with me.A lane for anyone who doesn’t talk with

their hands.A lane for anyone who doesn’t pull their

soup.A lane for anyone who knows that a me-

dium-sized cumulus cloud weighs about the same as 80 elephants.

The dog and I are sitting there at the light today, next to AC/DC. I wondered if he knows that Angus Young is a big Louis Arm-strong fan. Probably not.

It’s rarely a girl. It’s never someone my age. Unless they throbbed the bass when they were much younger, and maybe now they do have to crank it too.

A Zen Buddhist friend of mine would say, “Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.”

I try to keep that in mind, especially when AC/DC turns into Aerosmith. I won-der if he knows that Joe Perry manufactures condiments. Probably not.

It might make a difference if the music were any good, but it never is. It’s never Django Reinhart. It’s never Miles Davis. It’s never Chopin. It’s always Motorhead.

Every time this happens I feel a little old-er. I look in the rear view mirror and see my life back there, back when I might have had the Yardbirds turned up.

What if a kid in the car next to me were listening to “Heart Full of Soul”? Maybe I would give him a pass.

I don’t like bass to begin with. I zero it out in my car and in my home. If I want a pounding sensation in my head, I’ll just use a rubber mallet.

Driving around in an automobile, ball cap on backwards, music loud, has

to make you feel alive and maybe even someone when you are not. Look at me. You can’t ignore me. You’re stuck with me now.

One day coincidentally, Throbbing Bass and I pulled into the same parking lot and walked to the same store.

I said, “You like that Black Sabbath, don’t you?” He just said, “Huh?”

Craig Marshall Smith is an artist, educator and Highlands Ranch resident. He can be reached at craigmarshallsmith@comcast.

Norton continues on Page 7

Elbert County News 7 January 9, 2014

7-Color

To place an Obituary for Your Loved One…

PrivateContact: Viola Ortega303-566-4089obituaries@ourcoloradonews.com

Funeral HomesVisit: www.memoriams.com

Son takes family to uncharted territory Neil DiLorenzo lays the brown folder on

the kitchen table. As he tells the tale and to better illustrate his point, he pulls out a map, a list of coordinates, a copy of an email, a log of emergency numbers.

The thick fi le holds a literal paper trail, meticulously plotted, of his son’s extraordi-nary expedition in unsettled lands far away, a trip of self-discovery taken like pilgrims of old, on foot, alone, depending on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter.

And, in this day of immediate and un-ceasing communication, no cell phone or laptop, therefore — for the most part — no connection to family or friends.

“It did hit me, several weeks into it — he’s homeless,” Neil says. “I saw a homeless man and thought, `That’s my son,’ except he’s in a foreign land.”

They call it Donovan’s Journey.But make no mistake: It’s Neil and Mi-

chelle DiLorenzo’s journey, too, one more in the life of parents, this one lived daily with a worry that hunkers in their hearts, even as they celebrate the unique courage of their child’s unusual quest.

Neil: “We don’t really understand why he’s doing this.”

Michelle: “It’s something that’s calling him.”

Neil: “I think he felt he had to do this to discover himself, to see if he could live without the support of anyone.”

For Donovan DiLorenzo, 42, the oldest of Neil and Michelle’s four children, an ear-ly career path seemed clear: Make money, lots of it. And as a marketing account ex-ecutive working for top ad agencies, he was close to earning his fi rst million before 9-11.

But the devastating calamity shook him and rearranged his priorities.

After researching urban school districts across the country, he decided to teach in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, a predomi-nantly African-American neighborhood struggling with deep poverty. He earned a master’s in education while teaching there. As Katrina bore down, he delivered two carloads of Ninth Ward residents to his sis-ter’s home in Arkansas for safety, and later relocated them to Dallas — he still keeps in touch with the families.

After Katrina, he gutted fl ooded homes, cooked in community kitchens and dis-tributed supplies and information to vic-tims. In 2006, he joined the Peace Corps and spent 28 months teaching in Malawi in southeast Africa, one of the world’s least-developed countries.

He returned to New Orleans, teaching in a charter school, while also housing and supporting several immigrants from Ma-lawi.

“He doesn’t have anything,” Neil says, “but he gives everything he has.”

Last summer, Donovan decided to act on a new dream — a pilgrimage through the Middle East and India with the possi-bility of writing a book about those experi-ences.

To prepare, he gave away all his posses-sions, including his cell phone and laptop. He mailed books and mementos to his par-ents’ Highlands Ranch home. He kept one

change of clothes, a sleeping bag, a tent and his bike and began cycling to Colorado.

For three weeks, Neil and Michelle didn’t know where he was, or how he was.

“It was,” says Michelle, who texts her children good morning every day, “awful.”

One afternoon, they spotted him riding down the street.

“He looked like the UPS man,” Neil says. But Donovan’s test run had proved success-ful.

Planning began for the big journey.“We really wanted him to buy a cell

phone,” Neil says. “He refused. He didn’t want to be able to communicate with any-one.”

A friend told Neil about a lightweight GPS tracker that fi ts in the palm of a hand.

“You’re not talking to us,” Neil told Don-ovan. “You’re not really communicating. At least, as long as the coordinates are mov-ing, we’ll know you’re alive.”

So, Donovan agreed. Every three days, he would activate the GPS device. Neil would plot the latitude and longitude on maps and be able to follow his route.

The outgoing, friendly boy who loved sports but not hiking or being outdoors, and who often took three showers a day be-cause he was a bit of a clean freak, strapped on Teva sandals, determined to push his boundaries even further.

He boarded an airplane for Jordan Aug. 26.

“This journey is really a pilgrimage of sorts,” he wrote before he left on a website set up by family to track his travels. “I’ll walk a good portion of my travels such that the journey is slower by nature, giving me more time to think, write and connect with others . . . . As in a traditional pilgrimage, I step out without many resources and see how life unfolds. Not expecting this to very easy, but meaningful.”

He had enough money and a credit card to buy local clothing and necessary border and travel documents. The fi rst night in Amman, he spent in a hotel.

And then, he was on his way.The fi rst three weeks, Neil and Michelle

slept two to three hours a night. Neil devel-oped a routine, checking email as soon as he woke to see if the GPS tracker had sent coordinates, then heading down to the kitchen for coffee with Michelle. One of the earliest locations came through Sept. 2.

Neil spreads the map of Jordan, Syria and Israel on the table.

His fi nger jabs the location he has circled in black marker. “He was trying to cross the King Hussein bridge. . . which made me nervous because he’s going from Jordan to Israel . . . ”

On Sept. 6, another set of coordinates arrived. They put Donovan just south of the

Sea of Galilee.“He’s two, three miles from the Syrian

border,” Neil says. “Within a day of that, Obama said we’re going to declare war. For all I knew, he knew nothing of the problem. . . . (A friend in Egypt) said he’s got to get out of there; he’s got to get a gas mask. We were just totally petrifi ed.”

Michelle misses being able to talk to Donovan every day.

“I am very nervous . . . that has been re-ally, really hard not knowing where he’s at,” she says. But “you have to let them do their own thing.”

Sometimes, fi nding the locations doesn’t alleviate the worry.

Neil folds open another map, a topo-graphical one that seems to depict moun-tains and no roads. “When I see him in the middle of nowhere, like this,” he says, “it makes me even more concerned.”

But Neil has become an expert map fi nder. What seems like mountains on one map turns out to be hills with a dirt road on another.

Neil’s maps trace Donovan’s journey with careful precision. He circles the coor-dinate locations in black marker and writes the date, then highlights the route in yel-low. Occasional emails from Donovan are carefully tagged and posted onto the web-site, donovansjourney.com, so that family and friends can follow, too. Neil posts in-formation on Facebook, as well. Donovan has journaled three stories about his trip so far, also on the website.

He writes about sleepless nights in the open listening to packs of wild dogs out-side of Nazareth, the spontaneous kind-ness of strangers inviting him to tea and conversation, playing with children near the Dead Sea.

After walking 661 miles through the Middle East, including a brief stay in Egypt with a friend during which he was able to call Neil and Michelle, Donovan is now walking through India.

Inadequate computer and satellite net-works have prevented the GPS tracker from sending coordinates.

“I worry more about him getting sick and if he gets sick what is he going to do,” Michelle says. “I pray every day that he doesn’t get sick.”

“It’s the unknown,” Neil says, “and how is he going to handle it.”

Through scarce emails, they knew Don-ovan had traveled in December to a well-known ashram in Puttaparthi to meditate and study awhile.

“He’s right here,” Neil says, pointing to the town north of Bangalore. “I feel he’s in a safer place. The only negative is I don’t hear from him every three days.”

Despite the worry, their son’s adventure leaves them in awe.

“I envy what he’s doing,” says Neil, an avid hiker. “I wish I would have thought of something like this. . . . ”

“I feel he has a calling and we’re behind him the whole way — we will support him always,” Michelle says. “I just wish he’d be home.”

On Jan. 3, Neil checked his email to fi nd a priceless New Year’s gift — a message from Donovan, the fi rst since Dec. 20.

“The path has changed a bit,” Donovan wrote. “I feel the need to pay respects to Gandhi and the Dalai Lama.”

He is headed to their ashrams.Although he mentioned possibly re-

turning to Colorado in May and that he had experienced some “tenuous times,” he also noted he wanted to spend three months working with Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity in Calcutta.

“Obviously, as things unfold, he wants to do more and more things,” Neil says, “but it’s kind of hard to see what he will do for sure.”

So, Michelle and Neil wait.It’s all they can do.“He is,” Michelle says, “always in my

prayers and in my mind.”

Ann Macari Healey’s column about peo-ple, places and issues of everyday life appears every other week. She can be reached at ahealey@coloradocommuni-tymedia.com or 303-566-4110.

things. When we only listen with our ears we sometimes rush to judgment or feel the need to start the volley of verbal ping-pong. When we hear with our hearts, we are look-ing at the other person beyond what it is we see at face value. And we look for ways to thank them, maybe even ask more ques-tions about their compliment or their in-tentions.

Flattery will get you everywhere, sin-cere fl attery that is. And when we learn to hear with our hearts for the positive at-titude, good-natured intentions, and sin-cere compliment we will begin to enjoy a much healthier relationship with all of those around us. And for those of you who

just have a hard time accepting a compli-ment, this is defi nitely the advice for you. Listen with your ears, but slow down and hear things with your heart. You will come to accept accolades and praises with much greater ease.

So in 2014 let’s focus on speaking loving, kind, and sincere sentiments to one anoth-er, and at the same time, let’s focus on hear-ing those very same kind and loving words with our hearts and not just our ears.

I would love to hear all about your com-mitment to make 2014 a year of speaking kind words and hearing with your hearts at gotonorton@gmail.com, because when you apply both to your life, each and every week will be a better than good week.

Michael Norton is a resident of Highlands Ranch, the former president of the Zig Zi-glar Corp. and the CEO/founder of www.candogo.com.

Continued from Page 6

Norton

8-Life-Color

South Metrolife8 Elbert County NewsJanuary 9, 2014

Visit ‘Eagles on Holiday’

Families interested in nature will want to include Rocky Mountain Arsenal Na-tional Wildlife Refuge in their weekend expeditions. The address is 6550 Gateway Road, Commerce City and hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Sundays, with the Visitor’s Center open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays to Sundays. A nine-mile Wildlife Drive auto tour route is open daily (except federal holidays) and takes visitors through the bison pasture, wetlands, prai-ries and wooded areas.

On Feb. 22, from 1 to 3 p.m., “Eagles on Holiday” will be featured in a auditorium presentation plus visit to their winter habi-tat, where as many as 40 birds spend the winter. The program is free, but registra-tion is required. Call 303-289-0930.

Camera competitionThe Littleton Fine Arts Board invites

photographers to enter the 48th annual Eye of the Camera Competition and Exhibit, to be held Feb. 21 to March 30 at the Littleton Museum. Details available at CallForEntry.org. Deadline for submission: Jan. 24. The juror will be Jeffery Rupp, jrdenver.com.

Soukup’s solo showPainter Jill Soukup. who was the 2012

juror for the Lone Tree Arts Show, has a solo show, “Incongruity= Harmony” at Saks Galleries, 3019 E. 2nd Ave., Cherry Creek. It will hang Jan. 10-31 and will feature both animals and cityscapes. The opening re-ception will be 5 to 8 p.m. Jan. 10.

Writers invitedThe Parker Writers Group will meet from

2 to 4 p.m. on Jan. 12 at the Parker Library. All writers are welcome. The topic will be “Create a Hook and Perfect Pitch for your Project, with a Q &A session on how to get published. Bring your pitch for feedback.

Stories on Stage “Way Out West” is the title for the next

edition of Stories on Stage, at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at Su Teatro Cultural and per-forming Arts Center, 721 Santa Fe Drive, Denver. Readers include Adrian Egof read-ing Connie Willis’ “New Hat;” Brian Shea and Alison Watrous reading “Hart and Boot” by Tim Pratt and Steven Cole Hughes reading “The House on Sand Creek” by Thomas McGuane. Tickets cost $28, 303-494-0523, storiesonstage.org.

But what does it mean?The Museum of Contemporary Art

Denver, 1485 Delgany St., Denver, will offer two sessions of “Art Fitness Training,” de-signed to teach anyone to appreciate even the most difficult contemporary art. Track A is 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Fridays, Jan. 10, 24, Feb. 7 and will visit MCA Denver, Clyfford Still Museum and Robischon Gallery. Track B, on Fridays Feb. 28, March 14 and 28 will meet at MCA Denver, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Arts and Redline Gallery. Registration is required: $75 ($60 mem-bers), 303-298-7554.

A tropical journey“Exploring Costa Rica: Colors, Creatures

and Curiosities” will be a ropical journey depicted at 2 p.m. Jan 19 at the Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 Allison Parkway, Lake-wood. Tour guide will be filmmaker Stan-ley Mortimer who will describe scenery and people in this nation which has 25 percent of total land set aside as protected ecosystem.Tickets cost $10, 303-987-7845, Lakewood.org/tickets.

Contemporary twists to familiar tale‘Aida’ is on stage at the Aurora Fox By Sonya Ellingboesellingboe@coloradocommunitymedia.com

“Aida,” the musical by Elton John and Tim Rice, based on Verdi’s opera, has a fine score, a somewhat complicated storyline and contemporary touches to the often-told love triangle story. Ignite Theatre pres-ents it through Jan. 19 at the Aurora Fox, where Egyptian artifacts loaned by the Den-ver Museum of Nature and Science add at-mosphere to the lobby.

Director Keith Rabin’s staging of this fa-miliar tale about Radames, the Egyptian

army captain, Aida, the Nu-bian Princess and Amneris the daughter of the Pharoah, opens in the Egyptian exhibit of a contemporary museum. Two young people visiting the exhibit, become intrigued with each other and a statue of a fe-male pharaoh, Amneris, comes to life to sing “Every Story is a Love Story.”

The original couple reap-pears as Radames (Alejandro Roldan) appears with his soldiers and a group of captured Nubian women, includ-ing Aida (Olivia James), while Amneris (Lindsey Falduto) phases right across cen-turies, still singing. These lead actors have strong, well-trained voices but initially the sound system was not functioning ad-

equately on opening night and music by the band almost drowned them out at times. By Act II, the balance improved and we assume it will be further fine-tuned.

When there is a Tony Award-winning score, one wants to enjoy it evenly throughout a performance. Rice’s lyrics work well most of the time and there are several that stand out: “My Strongest Suit,” “Elaborate

Lives,” “A Step Too Far.”The threat of death hovers as music and

dance tell the familiar tale. The choreogra-phy is perhaps beyond the skills of some cast members and not entirely successful. Costumes are colorful and deliver the im-ages to carry the story on a simple stage set.

National Western ready to rollRodeo, livestock judging, special events come to DenverBy Tom Mundstmunds@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Pro football’s biggest game is in February, but the National Western Stock Show, billed as the “Super Bowl of Livestock Shows and Sales,” comes to Denver Jan. 11-26.

There are judging competitions for hors-es, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, llamas, bison, yaks, poultry and rabbits. Since space is fairly limited, animals are constantly moving in and out of the complex so that more than 15,000 head of livestock can take part in the judging competitions and sales

In addition to the livestock judging com-petitions, there also are numerous livestock sales where millions of dollars change hands as thousands of animals are sold to new owners.

While livestock activities go on almost constantly, the stock show’s daily schedule also may include rodeos, displays and en-tertainment. The fact there is something for almost everyone attracts hundreds of thou-sands of men, women and children through the turnstiles. Last year’s attendance was more the 628,000.

The multitude of livestock judging and sales plus more than 50 special events are held at a variety of locations. While the rodeo

performances are in the held in the Denver Coliseum, the majority of livestock show and sale activities plus some special events like Super Dogs are centered at the National Western Stock Show Arena and the pens in the nearby stockyards.

The 16-day run of the National Western Stock Show is Colorado’s largest trade show with more than 350 vendors scheduled to be on the grounds this year. Many of the ven-dors will be located in the three-level Hall of Education near 46th Avenue.

Another venue is the Events Center and Paddock located at the north end of the Na-tional Western complex. These venues are the location for most horse show events and specialty acts like a Night of Dancing Horses and the Wild West show.

Parking is free but a general admission ticket is required to get into the stock show. The ticket entitles the holder to visit the trade show, displays, stock shows and auc-tions. Ticket prices vary from $13 to $19 for an. Tickets for children 3 to 11 years old are $2 to $3, depending on the day. Children un-der 3 get in free.

The general admission ticket also is good for visits to the Children’s Ranchland and petting farm are open daily on the third floor of the Expo Hall.

In addition, there are a variety of activities at the new Ames Activity Pavilion including stick horse rodeos, kids pedal-tractor pulls, horseshoe pitching and dummy roping

contests. The pavilion is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the daily activity lists are posted on the website, www.nationalwest-ern.com, where you can also find out more about ticket prices.

There about 50 special events that re-quire admission tickets that range in price from $8 to $100 each. Each ticket includes a National Western admission ticket. Among the events on the entertainment schedule are two Mexican Rodeo Extravaganzas, three Professional Bull Riders events, two Wild West shows, the Grand Prix horse jumping show, two SuperDogs shows and the Martin Luther King Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo.

There are also 23 rodeo performances during first stop of the year for members of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Associa-tion.

Each performance will include a full schedule of traditional rodeo competitions plus there will be specialty acts booked to perform during breaks between rodeo events.

At the other end of the National Western complex, the Events Center will be equally busy as the site of equestrian events that include daily schedule of riding and perfor-mance competitions. The Events Center is also the site of the Wild West Show, an event fashioned after the turn-of-the-century per-formances produced by Buffalo Bill Cody and other specialty events.

The rider guides the horses through a ring of fire during the Wild West Show at a recent year’s National Western Stock Show. The National Western opens Jan. 11 for its 2014 run and will include livestock judging and sales, rodeos and the Wild West Show that is patterned after the shows put on by Buffalo Bill Cody. Courtesy photo

if you go“Aida” plays through

Jan. 19 at the Aurora Fox Main Stage, 9900 E. Colfax Ave., Aurora. Performances: 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets: $27/$19/$15. 720-362-2697, ignitetheatre.com

Elbert County News 9 January 9, 2014

9-Color

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Moore’s paintings presented at PACE Exhibit includes artist’s personal process By Sonya Ellingboe sellingboe@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Colorado native Jay Moore, a nation-ally recognized artist, has made Parker his home for the past 16 years, with a stu-dio and gallery in downtown Parker. His solo exhibit “Close to Home” will run Jan. 11 to March 8 in the Bellco Credit Union Gallery at the PACE Center.

He travels through the West in search of beautiful loca-tions and plans a trip around them, selecting a season of the year and time of day that suit him for a particular site. He will do small graphite sketches over three or four days, determining the composition, then plein air col-or sketches, jour-nal entries about

weather, etc. and photographs that eventually lead to a final finished large oil painting-or several- created in the studio, such as “Autumn Brilliance,” the largest painting in this show.

For his new exhibit, Moore has drawn on scenes in the Parker area and chosen to illustrate his personal process from start to finish, including field sketches, color studies, journals, field paint boxes.

He will also illustrate the creative pro-cess for a series of 16 copper plate etch-ings — a 600-year-old art form. All 16 prints will be exhibited.

Moore attended the Colorado Insti-tute of Art and studied at Art Students League of Denver, then worked as a de-signer and illustrator for decades.

His work has been featured in 25 dif-ferent publications.

His painting “Hazard Creek, Backlit” was purchased by the Denver Art Mu-seum for its permanent collection and the pioneer Museum of Colorado Springs owns three paintings.

Lockheed Martin and Cherry Hills Country Club have recently commis-sioned large paintings and rock `n’ roll musician Joe Cocker has collected his work.

“On to Greener Pastures” by Jay Moore is exhibited Jan. 11 through March 8 at the PACE Center in Parker. Courtesy photo

IF YOU GO“Close to Home,”

paintings by Jay Moore of Parker, runs Jan. 11 to March 8 at the PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Ave., Parker. An opening reception is planned from 5 to 8 p.m. Jan. 17.

10 Elbert County News January 9, 2014

10-Color

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parties 21 years of age or older

• Five door glass front lighted reach in beverage cooler w/walk through door, beautiful stainless design finish

• Single door glass front reach in cooler• Black gondola shelving units• Gorgeous wood large display racks along with wine double sided racing

• Antique phone booth; Antique safe

• Solid wood desks, point of sale coun-ter, other furniture

• Neon signs, beer mirrors, decorative items & More!

LIQUOR INVENTORY/HOME BREW INVENTORY!

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REAL ESTATE WILL BE OFFERED AT 11:00AMBy: Synergy Realty Group, Inc., 719-418-5000

www.Dickensheet.com 303-934-8322

A life in art re� ected Works of rita derjue on display at Curtis By Sonya Ellingboe sellingboe@coloradocommunitymedia.com

“Dark Forest,” a 47-inch-by-62-inch acrylic on canvas, shows Littleton painter rita derjue’s style as it is today after an active 60-year career spent capturing the scene around her in a range of techniques and styles — al-ways with joyous color.

The painting will be one of more than 30 derjue works ex-hibited in a show called “Big…Bold…Beautiful: The work of rita derjue,” running Jan. 11 through Feb. 14 at the Curtis Arts and Hu-manities Center in Greenwood Village. The opening reception will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 11.

The painter, who began her education in a one-room Rhode Island schoolhouse, graduated from Rhode Island School of De-sign in 1956, then studied at the Akademie

der Bildenden Kunst in Munich — in a sec-tion of the city that reminds her of New York’s Greenwich Village.

In Germany, through frequent museum visits, she absorbed the works of the Blaue Reiter group (Kandinsky, Munter and oth-ers), which has infl uenced her work ever

since in the free composi-tion, linear quality and in-tense color that characterize her works through the years. She studied in Mexico, soak-ing up color contrasts there, and returned to Germany.

While traveling in Ger-many, she met Carle Zim-merman, her future husband and great supporter, whom she married in the United States in 1959. The couple moved to Ithaca New York, where both engaged in grad-uate work at Cornell Univer-

sity. They moved to Littleton in 1963, where he worked as an engineer with Marathon Oil until the research center was closed. Both were involved in civic affairs.

They began to raise a family, including a son and daughter, maintained a Littleton home and a mountain cabin in Como.

At this period, her paintings were pri-marily watercolors, as she climbed high peaks and was exhilarated by the dramatic landscapes before her. She still paints in Como in summer (en plein air) and in her light-fi lled Littleton studio with a view of the Front Range in winter.

She writes that she is connected with the contemporary art scene “by straight-forward composition that arrests the eye and plays with harmonies and connections of line, form and inventive color.”

She is a daring colorist and said: “she paints what she knows best. In Colorado,

the quiet expanses of South Park and rug-ged mountain vistas give natural shapes a continuity, locked together sometimes with indigenous architecture.”

But she has also painted in 25 different countries, carrying an ever-present sketch-book where she draws in ink, makes color notes, sometimes adding watercolors and often a bit of a story about the chosen site — be it a cathedral, castle or simple rural abode that strikes her fancy.

Some of her sketchbooks will be dis-played at the exhibit at Curtis along with the larger paintings.

“Dark Forest,” by rita derjue of Littleton will be included in her exhibit, “Big…Bold…Beautiful” at Curtis Arts and Humanities Center Jan. 11 to Feb. 14. Courtesy photo

IF YOU GO“Big…Bold…Beautiful:

the work of rita derjue” will be exhibited Jan. 11 to Feb. 14 at Curtis Arts and Humanities Center, 2349 E. Orchard Road, Greenwood Village. Opening reception: 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 11. Gallery hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.303-797-1779.

Elbert County News 11 January 9, 2014

11

Sunday Worship8:00 & 10:45 a.m.

Trinity Lutheran School & ELC(Ages 3-5, Grades K-8)

303-841-4660www.tlcas.org

Trinity Lutheran Church

& School

Abiding Word Lutheran Church

8391 S. Burnley Ct., Highlands Ranch

(Next to RTD lot @470 & University)

Worship ServicesSundays at 9:00am

303-791-3315 pastor@awlc.org

www.awlc.org

Sunday Worship8:00 am Chapel Service

9:00 & 10:30 am Sunday School 9:00 & 10:30 am

Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.

www.st-andrew-umc.com303-794-2683

Preschool: 303-794-05109203 S. University Blvd.

Highlands Ranch, 80126

Open and Welcoming

Sunday 8:30 a.m. 11:00 a.m.

First Presbyterian Church of Littleton

1609 W. Littleton Blvd.(303) 798-1389 • www.fpcl.org P.O. Box 2945—Parker CO 80134-2945

www.ParkerCCRS.org303.805.9890

ParkerCommunity Churchof Religious Science

Sunday services held in thehistoric Ruth Memorial Chapel

at the Parker Mainstreet Center...19650 E. Mainstreet, Parker 80138

New Thought...Ancient Wisdom

Visit our website fordetails of classes &

upcoming events.Sunday Service& Children’s Church10:00 a.m.

Castle Rock

Highlands Ranch Highlands Ranch

Littleton

ParkerParker

Parker

Lone TreeFranktown

Denver Tech Center United Church Of ChristParker Hilltop

10926 E. Democrat Rd.Parker, CO • 10am Worshipwww.uccparkerhilltop.org

303-841-2808

Little Blessings Day Carewww.littleblessingspdo.com

First UnitedMethodist Church

1200 South StreetCastle Rock, CO 80104

303.688.3047www.fumccr.org

Services:Saturday 5:30pm

Sunday 8am, 9:30am, 11amSunday School 9:15am

Sunday Worship 10:304825 North Crowfoot Valley Rd.Castle Rock • canyonscc.org

303-663-5751

An EvangelicalPresbyterian Church

“Loving God - Making A Difference”A place for you

worship Time

Welcome Home!Weaving Truth

and Relevance into Relationships and Life

9:00am Spiritual Formation Classes for all Ages

90 east orchard roadlittleton, co

303 798 6387www.gracepointcc.us

10:30AM sundays

To advertise your place of worship in this section, call 303-566-4091 or email kearhart@ourcoloradonews.com.

GR A C E PR E S B Y T E R I A N

303-798-8485

www.gracecolorado.comAlongside One Another On Life’s Journey

Sundays at10:00 am

Grace is on the NE Corner of SantaFe Dr. & Highlands Ranch Pkwy.

(Across from Murdochs)

You are invitedto worship with us:

Saturday 5:30pm

Sunday 8:00 & 10:30am

Joyful Mission Preschool 303-841-37707051 East Parker Hills Ct. • Parker, CO

303-841-3739www.joylutheran-parker.org

JoyLUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA

Education Hour: Sunday 9:15am

S E r v i C E S :

Parker evangelicalPresbyterian church

Connect – Grow – Serve

Sunday Worship8:45 am & 10:30 am

9030 Miller roadParker, Co 80138

303-841-2125www.pepc.org

Sunday Worship - 10:00amBible Study immediately followingWednesday Bible Study - 7:30pm

Currently meeting at:9220 Kimmer Drive, Suite 200

Lone Tree 80124303-688-9506

www.LoneTreeCoC.com

Lone TreeChurch of Christ

Meets at the Marriott DTC

4900 S Syracuse St,Denver, CO 80237

10 am every SundayFree parking

Current Study: Spiritual Ancestry

Pastor Mark Brewer

Join us at Sheraton Denver Tech Center

7007 S Clinton Street in Greenwood Village(nearby I-25 and Arapahoe Rd.)

www.cbsdenver.org303-794-6643

Congregation Beth Shalom

CONFERENCE

www.parkerbiblechurch.org

4391 E Mainstreet, Parker, CO 80134 Office (303) 841-3836

Where people are excited about God’s Word.

Friday 7PM, Sat. 7PM, Sunday 10:45AM & 6PM

You’re invited to a

JAN. 24-26, 2014

Singles, Couples, Marrieds and Families of all ages are welcome.

Public welcome.

Book details life of adventure, despite cancer Castle Rock author describes how he and wife lived good life By Virginia Grantier vgrantier@coloradocommunitymedia.com

They were both 14, high school freshmen in Wauseon, Ohio, when they fi rst dated, then reconnected in college, and end-ed up being married for almost 30 years — and for the majority of those years, Ron Richards’ wife had cancer.

And one of their children had emotional and medical prob-lems. And at one point Richards had cancer.

But the Castle Rock resident said recently that through it all it was mainly a life of adventure and positiveness and optimism, even though there was adversity — because he and his wife, Sara Richards, were determined that’s what it would be.

And so they made it that way. And now he’s written a book about it and will give a short talk at a 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 18 local-au-thors showcase at Philip S. Miller Library, 100 S. Wilcox St.

Sara died in 2005. But before she did, she gave Ron an assign-

ment to write a book about their life together — how adversity “doesn’t have to bring you down,” he recalled she said to him.

“We’ve had so many wonder-ful adventures, despite the chal-lenges and issues we’ve faced,” she told him. “People need to know that. We have to help them understand that living with those challenges doesn’t mean you have to lead a life fi lled with negativity. I have no doubt that you’re the best person to tell our story.”

Richards — a former sports-writer who moved on to public relations and sporting-events planning for major brewing companies — now has his own communications business in the home he shares with his second wife and stepdaughter. But he also decided recently to take on writing the book, fi nally, which he titled, “Dodging Dandelions.”

Richards, 61, called it that be-cause of what a doctor said after Sara was fi rst diagnosed with breast cancer and they asked the doctor about her prognosis.

He told them that after fi nd-ing a dandelion in a yard, you can dig it out or use chemicals, but that chances are “as time goes by, more dandelions will appear … I would be surprised if you weren’t always fi ghting off dandelions.”

Richards said that after dating in high school they went sepa-rate ways — he to the University of Toledo and she to Colorado State University. But they decid-ed they didn’t want to be apart and so he eventually transferred to CSU and completed a journal-ism degree.

They married in 1975 and had a son in 1981 and she was fi rst di-agnosed with cancer in 1983.

He remembers what Sara — whom he describes as a prag-matic, exceptionally resilient person who’d been raised on a dairy farm — said after the fi rst diagnosis of cancer.

“We won’t let this ruin our lives…And we won’t let it run our lives, either. I’ll do what I have to fi ght it but I will not let cancer control our lives,” she told him.

He said they often used hu-mor — like calling a Friday night trip to the hospital a “date.”

After she had a mastectomy, they moved to Albuquerque for work, eventually moved back to Colorado and adopted a daugh-ter.

Then Ron Richards accepted a job in Wisconsin, doing sports marketing for Miller Brewing Co. She was to join him at the end of the school year. But in 1989, more cancer, a lump in the chest area, had to be removed and

then there was radiation. Then he moved on to a new job in De-troit, where Sara in 1999 had an-other round of cancer, this time tumors in the liver.

In 2000, it was his turn — kidney cancer. Then in 2001, a tumor was discovered in Sara’s brain.

At one point, the couple had a whole year to travel and see friends because Richards’ em-ployer at the time — Champion-

ship Auto Racing Teams, an Indy Car racing sanctioning organi-zation in Detroit — gave him a year’s salary and benefi ts, and a directive to enjoy the time and use it as the retirement that he and Sara would never be able to have.

To attend Richards’ talk, go to the following link to regis-ter: http://host.evanced.info/douglas/evanced/eventsignup.asp?ID=80738.

Ron Richards, 61, of Castle Rock, talks about a book he wrote recently, “Dodging Dandelions,” that describes how he and his � rst wife, Sara, continued to live an adventurous, positive life despite many years of cancer. Photo by Virginia Grantier

12 Elbert County News January 9, 2014

12-Sports

Drinking healthy in the new yearMetro Creative Connection

Tea is a popular beverage that has been enjoyed for centuries. An estimated three billion cups of tea are consumed across the globe every day, with many people looking to tea when they are sick

or to prevent illness.As popular as tea has become, certain miscon-

ceptions about tea have spread over the years. The following can clear up some of the more common misunderstandings about tea.

Myth: Different tea varieties come from differ-ent types of tea plants.

Fact: Commercial tea comes only from the leaves of the camelia sinensis plant. Different methods of processing determine which variety of tea is produced. Black and oolong tea develops from oxidizing and fermenting tea leaves, while green tea is produced by steaming wilted leaves.

Myth: Adding milk to tea negates the health

benefits.Fact: According to a study published in the

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the same amount of catechins, which are antioxidants associated with a reduced risk of some diseases, can be absorbed tea that contains milk as tea that does not.

Myth: Anything with the name “tea” is true tea.Fact: Only tea from tea plants constitutes real

tea. Herbal varieties of tea are actually tisanes made from flowers and bark of other plants.

Myth: Fruits and vegetables contain more disease-fighting antioxidants than tea.

Fact: Research indicates that tea has about 10 times the amount of antioxidants of vegetables and fruit. Individuals who consume reduced-calorie diets often find tea that is a good, no-calorie source of antioxidants.

Myth: Antioxidants can turn back aging.Fact: Antioxidants may contribute to personal

longevity, but they cannot reverse signs of aging. Antioxidants have been known to neutralize free

radicals in the body that can contribute to many different diseases, including various forms of cancer.

Myth: Tea never goes bad.Fact: It may take some time for properly stored

tea to spoil, but the level of antioxidants in tea does begin to diminish after a few months. Research by the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry indicates catechins in green tea decrease by 32 percent in just six months. Tea is most beneficial to human health when it is consumed within six months of its production.

Myth: Tea has much less caffeine than coffee.Fact: The amount of caffeine in tea can vary.

The average amount of caffeine in tea ranges from 14 to 61 mg per eight-ounce cup. Coffee, on the other hand, can contain between 27 and 200 mg per serving.

Myth: Hot tea is better for you than cold tea.Fact: As long as the tea is steeped in water long

enough, both hot and cold tea provide the same bang for your buck.

Elbert County News 13 January 9, 2014

13

Government Legals PUBLIC NOTICE

"NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING”

Special Use by Review for thePrescott Ranches 32-34 Oil and Gas

Exploratory Well.

Notice is hereby given that on Thursday,February 13, 2014, at 7 o’clock pm, or assoon as possible thereafter, a PlanningCommission hearing will be conducted,and on Wednesday, March 12, 2014, at 9o’clock am, or as soon as possible there-after, a Board of County Commissionershearing will be conducted. Hearings willbe conducted in the Hearing Room of theElbert County Commissioners in Kiowa,Colorado, or at such time and place asthese hearings may be adjourned. Thepublic hearings will be heard upon the ap-plication on file with the Elbert CountyCommunity and Development Services,215 Comanche Street in Kiowa, Colorado,by Mustang Creek Operating, LLC, for aSpecial Use by Review pursuant to the El-bert County Zoning Regulations. ElbertCounty Community and Development Ser-vices can be reached at (303) 621-3136for further details. The affected property islocated approximately 1.6 miles east ofCounty Road 133 and 2.0 miles south ofCounty Road 34 near Simla, Colorado.

Legal Notice No.: 927850First publication: January 9, 2014Last publication: January 9, 2014Publisher: Elbert County News

Public Notice

Notice is hereby given that on Wednes-day, February 12, 2014 at 9:00 A.M., or as soon as possible thereafter, the Board of County Commissioners will conduct a public hearing in the Board of County Commissioners hearing room at 215 Comanche Street, Kiowa, Colorado, or at such other time and place as this hearing may be adjourned, for a proposed amendment to the Elbert County Zoning Regulations, a proposed new Section 27 of Part II, Administrative Review & MOU Process for Minor Oil and Gas Operations and Related Facilities in Elbert County, on file with the Elbert County Community and Development Services Office, 215 Comanche Street, Kiowa, Colorado 80117, telephone: 303.621.3141.

Legal Notice No.: 927851First Publication: January 9, 2014Last Publication: January 9, 2014Publisher: The Elbert County News

Government Legals

Public Notice

Notice of SaleContents unknown belonging to Kenneth Kurtz whose last known address is: P.O. Box 0662 Elizabeth CO, 80107 and stored in unit #67 STORAGE ONE/Elizabeth, 5229 Hwy 86, Elizabeth, CO. 80107, will be sold at auction or otherwise disposed of at this location after 1/16/2014.

Legal Notice No.: 927852First Publication: January 9, 2014Last Publication: January 16, 2014Publisher: Elbert County News

Miscellaneous Legals

“Trust Us!”

Noticesaremeant tobenoticed.Readyourpublicnoticesandget involved!

Without public notices,the government wouldn’thave to say anything else.Public notices are a community’s windowinto the government. From zoningregulations to local budgets, governmentshave used local newspapers to informcitizens of its actions as an essential partof your right to know.You knowwhere tolook, when to look and what to look for tobe involved as a citizen. Local newspapersprovide you with the information youneed to get involved.

OF GAMESGALLERYc r o s s w o r d •   s u d o k u

& w e e k l y h o r o s c o p e

GALLERY OF GAMESc r o s s w o r d •   s u d o k u & w e e k l y h o r o s c o p e

SALOME’S STARSFOR THE WEEK OF JAN 8, 2014

ARIES (Mar 21 to Apr 19) It’s a good time to take a much-needed break from your recent hectic schedule and spend some time in quieter surroundings. Impor-tant news could arrive early next week.

TAURUS (Apr 20 to May 20) The Taurean traits of reliability and thoroughness could be well-tested when decision-makers consider your proposals and/or requests. Be prepared to answer some probing questions.

GEMINI (May 21 to Jun 20) A sudden attack of boredom leaves you with some tasks undone. It’s OK to take a short respite. But get back to work by week’s end so that you have time for other projects.

CANCER (Jun 21 to Jul 22) Avoid prejudging a situa-tion just because it looks bad. Facts could emerge that would make your position uncomfortable, to say the least. A relative has interesting news to share with you.

LEO (Jul 23 to Aug 22) This is a good time to begin reassessing some of your recent decisions about your long-range goals to see if they still have merit. Spend more time with loved ones this weekend.

VIRGO (Aug 23 to Sept 22) An unsettled situation at home or on the job early in the week could drain your energy levels, making it difficult to get your work done on schedule. But things improve by midweek.

LIBRA (Sept 23 to Oct 22) A temporary setback could give you time to go over your plans to find weaknesses you might have overlooked before. A romantic getaway with that special person is favored this weekend.

SCORPIO (Oct 23 to Nov 21) Professional and per-sonal situations benefit once you set a positive tone in getting things off to a good start. Honest dialogue smoothes over any occasional display of balkiness.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 to Dec 21) A problem with workplace colleagues or family members seems to defy even your sage counsel. But be patient. Your words eventually will lead to a resolution.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 to Jan 19) Don’t just wait out that unexpected and unexplained delay in your career move. You could gain added respect if you ask why it happened and what you can do to move things along.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 to Feb 18) Although your work-place strategies usually are accepted, you could be challenged by someone who isn’t so favorably im-pressed. Be prepared to defend your positions.

PISCES (Feb 19 to Mar 20) Your friendship circle expands, with new people coming into your life at this time. Welcome them warmly. But don’t neglect those cherished longtime personal relationships.

BORN THIS WEEK: You love to search for knowl-edge and share it with others. You would make an especially fine teacher.

© 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.

JAN. 15

BLOOD DRIVE Walmart community blood drive is from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 15 inside Bon� ls’ mobile bus at 2100 Legacy Circle, Elizabeth. For information or to schedule an appointment, contact Bon� ls’ Appointment Center at 303-363-2300 or visit www.bon� ls.org.

THE OUTBACK EXPRESS is a public transit service provided through the East Central Council of Local Governments is open and available to all residents of Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson and Lincoln counties and provides an economical and e� cient means of travel for the four-county region. Call Kay Campbell, Kiowa, at 719- 541-4275. You may also call the ECCOG o� ce at 1-800-825-0208 to make reservations for any of the trips. You may also visit http://outbackexpress.tripod.com.

DIVORCE AND POST-DECREE CLINIC. Elbert and Lincoln County Pro Se Divorce Clinic is o� ered from 9 a.m. to noon the third Friday of each month at the Elbert County Justice Center, 751 Ute St., in Kiowa. For information, call 303-520-6088 or email morgan@hayday.org. The clinic is free for parties who have no attorney and who are going through dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or post-decree cases. All walk-ins are welcome, and will be assisted on a � rst-come, � rst-served basis.

DOUGLAS-ELBERT COUNTY MUSIC TEACHERS’ AS-SOCIATION meets at 9 a.m. every � rst Thursday at Parker Bible Church, between Jordan and Chambers on Main Street. All area music teachers are welcome. Call Lucie Washburn, 303-814-3479.

THE ELBERT COUNTY SHERIFFS POSSE is a nonpro� t volunteer organization that is part of the Elbert County Sheri� s O� ce. As volunteers we support the Elbert County Sheri� s O� ce, all law enforcement in our county, and the community at large. Membership is open to anyone without a criminal record. It meets the last Monday of the month at the Elbert County Sheri� s O� ce at 7 p.m. For more information or a membership application, go to http://www.elbertcountysher-i� .com/posse.html, or contact Dave Peontek at 303-646-5456.

THE ELIZABETH FOOD BANK, 381 S. Banner in Elizabeth (next door to Elizabeth Presbyterian Church) needs to let the public know that we are available to help anyone who needs food. The hours are Friday 12:30-3 p.m. and Saturdays from 9-11:30 a.m. Other times by appointment.

ELIZABETH GUITAR GROUP. Elizabeth guitar circle will meet on the � rst and second Wednesday of each month at the Elizabeth Library. Traditional protocol/courtesy. Country,

pop, bluegrass, cowboy, Beatles, 50s, 60s, 70s, blues, jazz and more. We who play for pleasure would love to meet more of same. Acoustic or power down. Come prepared to share a few songs, perform, play along, sing along with others. Enjoy new guitar friends to jam with. Gerry Vinson hosts on the � rst Wednesday from 6:30-9 p.m., and Laurie Smith hosts on the second Wednesday from 6-9 p.m. Uncertain? Drop by and observe. Banjo, ukelele, mandolin welcome. Call Laurie at 720-363-3531.

LAWYERS AT THE LIBRARY, a free legal clinic for parties who have no attorney, will be o� ered from 6-9 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month at the Elizabeth Library, 651 W. Beverly St. Volunteer attorneys will answer questions, help � ll out forms and explain the process and procedure for the areas of family law, civil litigation, criminal defense, property law, probate law, collections, appeals, landlord-tenant law and civil protection orders. Walk-ins are welcome. Everyone will be helped on a � rst-come, � rst-served basis.

MYSTERY BOOK CLUB meets at 9:30 a.m. the � rst Saturday of each month at the Simla Public Library. The group enjoys talking about a variety of mystery authors and titles. We also periodically host a Colorado author during our meetings. Everyone may join us, and registration is not required. Visit the Simla Branch of the Elbert County Library District at 504 Washington Avenue, call 719-541-2573, or email farabe@elbertcountylibrary.org.

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS meets from 10-11 a.m. and from 7-8 p.m. Wednesdays in the Sedalia Room at New Hope Presbyterian Church, 2100 Meadows Parkway, Castle Rock.

SATURDAY GENEALOGY FUN meets at the Elbert Public Library at 1 p.m. on the seocnd Saturday of each month. Beginning to advanced genealogy enthusiasts are invited to attend. The Elbert Public Library is in the Elbert School library at 24489 Main Street in Elbert. Call 303-648-3533 for more information.

SENIORS MEET in Elizabeth every Monday at 11 a.m. for food, fun and fellowship at Elizabeth Senior Center, 823 S. Banner St. Bring a dish for potluck on the � rst Monday of each month. Other Mondays, bring a sack lunch. Bingo, games and socializing. New leadership. Call Agnes at 303-883-7881 or Carol at 303-646-3425 for information

EDITOR’S NOTE: Calendar submissions must be received by noon Wednesday for publication the following week. Send information to calendar@coloradocommunitymedia.com, attn: Elbert County News. No attachments. Listings are free and run on a space-available basis. 

THINGS TO DO

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consent to “more stringent guidelines” for their projects.Rowland said he is particularly concerned with “stop-

ping” three common practices used in the drilling pro-cess: “open pits containing produced or fl owback water; spraying `produced’ water on roads; and allowing set-backs that, in some cases, can be as little as 500 feet.”

“Not wanting open pits speaks for itself,” said Rowland. “This county is beautiful. We don’t want a bunch of big, polluted holes in the ground that are abandoned by oil companies when they leave.”

Not using produced water on roads, Rowland ex-plained, pertains to regulations that currently allow oil and gas companies to reuse the same water used in drill-ing to spray over area roads in order to control dust kicked up by the heavy truck traffi c involved in the drilling pro-cess.

And Rowland said he also would like to see the county have the leverage to encourage drillers to create setbacks as great as 1,500 feet. “Nobody wants an oil facility operat-ing in their back yard,” he said.

“People don’t understand,” Rowland added. “I’m actu-ally an environmentalist too. I’m a fanatic about a clean environment.”

Saying “responsible” oil and gas development “could help ensure the long-term [fi nancial] stability of Elbert County,” Rowland added: “Up to now, many of the oil and gas companies have been frustrated and more likely to go around us than try to do business here.”

Increased oil and gas revenues, Rowland said, could bolster the bank accounts of many county residents and help lift the county out of its current fi nancial morass.

Although Elbert County has never had a moratorium on oil and gas exploration, Rowland said the adverse pub-licity surrounding the county’s three-year struggle to ap-prove revisions to its permitting process has slowed oil and gas development in the county.

“Why would these companies want to spend six months or more dealing with these whackadoodles?” Rowland said. “They’re fed up with us.”

Fenner complimented the planning commissioners on their efforts to come together and fi nally approve the new document, noting that they did so with a list of 17 recommended edits and minor revisions that will now be reviewed by the BOCC.

“This may not be perfect,” Fenner said. “But it’s a great place to start.”

commissioners, were already standing and preparing to leave the room. “What are your two questions?”

“Are the new commissioners you appointed today going to be allowed to vote [on the oil and gas regula-tions] at the [planning commission] meeting tonight?” Crisan asked.

Without responding directly to Crisan’s question, Rowland coun-tered: “What’s your second ques-tion?”

At which point a clearly agitated Crisan countered: “Tell me why I shouldn’t sue the county for the way I was fi red — and for continuing to be slandered in the press?”

Rowland did not answer the ques-tion but did offer to talk with Crisan after the meeting.

During the meeting, Rowland also

appointed Mark Smith, an Elbert County resident since 1992, to a term on the planning commission run-ning through January 1, 2016.

Smith, who Rowland said “has been active in a lot of issues facing El-bert County, including oil and gas,” is a former building inspector for both Arapahoe and Elbert counties.

District 2 Commissioner Schlegel then appointed Tony Baker to the planning commission. Baker will replace Mike Kelley, whose term ex-pired Jan. 1.

Baker, who lives in the northwest part of the county, recently designed and distributed a popular bumper sticker promoting Elbert County.

“Tony is a very bright guy and will bring a new and different perspective to the planning commission,” said Schlegel.

Following Rowland’s and Schle-gel’s appointments, District 3 Com-missioner Larry Ross appointed Daniel Rosales to the planning com-mission vacancy created when for-mer chairman Grant Thayer resigned

in July 2013.Rosales, who worked for many

years for AT&T, is the former cam-paign manager for Rep. Tim Dore, who represents District 64 in the Col-orado state house.

“I have a strong willingness to help Elbert County,” Rosales wrote in a letter to Ross expressing his interest in joining the planning commission.

“My ability to mediate controver-sial issues and encourage people to compromise for the benefi t of the community’s goals is a passion,” Ro-sales added.

The BOCC approved all of the 2014 appointments to the planning commission by 3-0 votes.

Rosales was out of town Jan. 2 and did not attend a planning commis-sion meeting held that same night.

All of the other new appointees did attend the Jan. 2 meeting — and later that evening the newcomers cast their fi rst offi cial votes in favor of approval of the long-debated revi-sions to the county’s oil and gas regu-lations.

Continued from Page 1

Oil

Continued from Page1

Planning

Campus gun ban could be headed to ballots Colorado one of two states that allow concealed weapons at colleges By Kristen Wyatt Associated Press

Colorado’s gun control debate is moving out of the state Capitol and straight to voters.

A group of gun control support-ers got permission last week to start gathering signatures for a ballot mea-sure to ban concealed weapons on public college campuses. The group

has six months to gather 86,000 sig-natures to get it on the ballot.

If it winds up gaining voter ap-proval, the measure would add pub-lic colleges and universities to a state law that bans concealed weapons at K-12 schools.

The movement comes as Demo-cratic leaders in the state insist they don’t want to pass any new gun laws this year, seeking to move on from a divisive year mired in gun debates that prompted recalls of two law-makers and the resignation of a third.

Colorado and Utah are the only states that allow concealed weap-

ons on public college and university campuses. Colorado’s highest court sided with gun activists in 2010 and ordered all campuses to allow con-cealed weapons.

The state Legislature considered changing the law in 2013 and a bill cleared the Democratic House. But the measure was shelved in the Dem-ocratic Senate after Democratic Sen. Evie Hudak challenged a rape victim who testifi ed that she should have had a gun to protect herself.

Hudak resigned in November rather than face a recall campaign certain to feature that exchange.

E-470 toll rates increase

By Tammy Kranz tkranz@coloradocommunityme-dia.com

E-470 motorists will be shelling out more on their toll fees this year.

Starting Jan. 1, rates increased by 5-10 cents for ExpressToll customers and 10-15 for License Plate Toll cus-tomers. Rates vary depending on if the location is a ramp or plaza.

The increases are part of the E470 Board of Directors policy to do small

annual increases as opposed to wait-ing every three years for increases.

The increases are necessary to help the board pay off its $1.6 billion bond debt, which is scheduled to be paid off in 2041, said E-470 spokes-man Dan Christopherson.

New rates for two-axle vehicles:• ExpressToll rate at Toll Plaza A

between Chambers Road and Peoria Street will be $2.45; the rate will be $2.70 at the other four toll plazas. All ExpressToll ramp tolls will increase to $1.10, up 5 cents.

• License Plate Toll rates at Toll Plaza A will rise to $3.05, up 10 cents; the LPT rate will rise to $3.40 at all other plazas, up 15 cents. All LPT ramp tolls will increase to $1.40, up 10 cents.

Rates for vehicles with more than two axles can be found online atw-ww.expresstoll.com.

E-470 is fi nanced, constructed, operated and governed by the E-470 Public Highway Authority, which is composed of eight local government municipalities.

Elbert County News 15 January 9, 2014

15-Color

Broncos not caught up in numbersManning-led team paced NFL in offense during regular seasonBy Arnie StapletonAssociated Press

Peyton Manning and the Denver Bron-cos rewrote plenty of records on their way to becoming the highest-scoring team of the Super Bowl era.

Now, they’re going up against history, which hasn’t been very kind to the league’s high-octane offenses even in this era of aerial fireworks and scoreboard numbers that rise like slot machine jackpots.

Duplicating regular-season domi-nance in the playoffs is hard to do. Even harder is parlaying those piles of points into a championship.

If the Broncos (13-3) find a way to buck history, they’ll join the 1999 St. Lou-is Rams as the only ones among the 10 highest-scoring teams since the first Su-per Bowl to win it all.

Even the “Greatest Show on Turf,” which is last on the list at 32.9 points per game, needed one of the best defensive gems to seal the title: Mike Jones tackling Kevin Dyson at the 1-yard line on the final play to preserve the Rams’ 23-16 win over Tennessee.

Behind Manning’s record 55 TD passes and an unprecedented five players who scored at least 10 touchdowns, the Bron-cos scored 606 points, surpassing the 2007 New England Patriots (589) for the most in NFL history.

After the Patriots averaged 36.8 points in an unbeaten regular season that year, Tom Brady was taken aback during Super Bowl week when Plaxico Burress predict-

ed his New York Giants would win 23-17.“We’re only going to score 17 points?”

Brady retorted. “OKaaaaay. I wish he would have said like 45-42 or something like that. At least he’d give us a little more credit for scoring a few points.”

Burress was on to something, though. And it was his touchdown catch with 35 seconds left that gave the Giants a 17-14 win that prevented the Patriots from achieving perfection.

At 37.9 points per game, Denver had the second-highest scoring average of any NFL team, trailing only the 1950 Los Angeles Rams (38.8), who lost the NFL championship to Cleveland 30-28.

The Broncos probably could have bro-ken that mark, too, but Manning sat out the second half of Denver’s 34-14 win at Oakland last week after staking his team to a 31-0 lead.

Here’s how the rest of the highest-scor-ing teams of the Super Bowl era fared in the playoffs:

—No. 3: 2011 Packers (35.0), lost 37-20 to Giants in NFC divisional round.

—No. 4: 2012 Patriots (34.8), lost 28-13 to Ravens in AFC championship.

—No. 5: 1998 Vikings (34.8), lost 30-27 in overtime to Falcons in NFC champion-ship.

—No. 6: 2011 Saints (34.2), lost 36-32 to 49ers in NFC divisional round.

—No. 7: 1983 Redskins (33.8), lost 38-9 to Raiders in Super Bowl.

—No. 8: 2000 Rams (33.8), lost 31-28 to Saints in NFC wild-card round.

—No. 9: 1967 Raiders (33.4), lost 33-14 to Packers in Super Bowl.

Broncos Pro Bowl tight end Julius Thomas took one look at that list and noted that all of those teams didn’t even reach their regular-season scoring aver-age in their losses.

“Scoring points is just one facet of the game,” Thomas said. “What we talk about is we have to play good in all three phases every game in this tournament if we want to be Super Bowl champions. It’s not go-ing to be enough for one phase of the game to go out there and perform well.”

It’s easy to look at the Broncos lighting up the scoreboards and forget that Den-ver’s much-maligned defense and special teams did their part, too.

Trindon Holliday had two TD returns early on, David Bruton and Steven John-son each had blocked punts that led to short-field TDs, and Mitch Unrein sniffed out a fake punt that led to a touchdown.

Denver’s defense also scored two TDs and had nine other takeaways that led to short-field touchdowns by Manning & Co. Another, an interception by line-backer Danny Trevathan at the Dallas 24 in Week 5, could have easily led to a TD. But Knowshon Moreno stopped short of the goal line so that the Broncos could eat up the rest of the clock and kick the win-ning field goal as time expired for a 51-48

win over the Cowboys.“We’re not even looking at the num-

bers anymore,” said cornerback Chris Harris Jr. “We were No. 1 in the season. So, we need to come back and be No. 1 in the postseason. It’s a team game. In order to win the Super Bowl, everybody has to do their job. We can’t just have the offense carry this team to win the Super Bowl.”

The Broncos are the AFC’s top seed for the second straight season.

Last year, they roared into January rid-ing an 11-game winning streak only to lose to the Ravens 38-35. “Remember the Ravens” has been their mantra ever since.

It’s what drove front-office boss John Elway to sign free agents Louis Vasquez, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Terrance Knighton, Wes Welker and Shaun Phillips.It’s what prompted Manning to say on the first day of training camp that the Bron-cos had a collective scar from that loss.

“As painful as it was, I think you can learn from it,” Manning said last week. “I think you can use it certainly to fuel you.”

The Broncos will host a divisional-round game on Jan. 12 — exactly a year since their playoff pratfall.

“We won’t overlook any of our oppo-nents,” Thomas pledged. “We’re not just going to trot out onto the field and say, ‘Hey, we’re the Broncos. We’re going to go ahead and win this game because we’re here.’ That’s not the case. Last year, we learned that lesson.”

‘Scoring points is just one facet of the game.’Julius Thomas, Broncos tight end

16 Elbert County News January 9, 2014

16-Color

University of Colorado Hospital is excited to bring you a helpful and informative seminar series at the Lone Tree Health Center. Get your questions answered and learn more about your health from the University of Colorado School of Medicine physicians, right here in your neighborhood.

KNOWLEDGE IS THE ULTIMATE PREVENTATIVE

UPCOMING SEMINARS INCLUDE:

WHY ARE MY HANDS NUMB? A discussion on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Presented by: John Froelich, MD Assistant Professor, Orthopedics University of Colorado School of Medicine

Wednesday, January 15, 2014 6:00 – 7:00pm

Why do I drop things and my hands go numb? Learn the answers to these and many other questions related to carpal tunnel syndrome.

Cost: Free

LOL WITH CONFIDENCE: Learn what’s available for Female Bladder control

Presented by: Kathleen Connell, MD and Tyler Muffly, MD Associate Professor and Assistant Professor, Women’s Pelvic Health and Surgery University of Colorado School of Medicine

Tuesday, January 21, 20146:00 – 7:30pm

Learn why it’s NEVER normal to have bladder control issues. Find out what options are available if more advanced treatment is needed.

Cost: Free

MEDICINE.

CLASSES OFFERED AT:Lone Tree Health Center 9548 Park Meadows Drive Lone Tree, CO 80124

TO REGISTER GO TO: WWW.UCH.EDU/LONETREE Or call Amy Hurley at 720-553-1127 or 720-848-2200