School security stepped up after girl reports pickup try
Aurora police are expected to step up patrols near Meadow Point Elementary School this morning and be on the lookout for a man driving a green pickup who allegedly tried to lure a fifth-grade girl into his vehicle early Tuesday.
The girl reported to school officials that just before 8 a.m., near the school at 17901 E. Grand Ave., a gray-bearded man drove past her several times as she walked, and at one point said something to the effect of “please get in the truck,” police spokesman Marcus Dudley said.
There was no physical altercation and the girl managed to run to the safety of the school, Dudley said.
Police plan to beef up patrols in the neighborhood and divert school resource officers from middle schools and high schools to Meadow Point today, Dudley said.
The vehicle is described as a green pickup with wood on the side. The man is described as a white male with a gray beard and gray hair, Dudley said.
DENVER
CU president’s office now near Capitol
University of Colorado president Hank Brown’s office is now within walking distance of the Capitol.
Brown, his assistant, scheduler and chief of staff moved this week to temporary offices at 16th and Sherman streets while the university searches for a permanent spot for its Denver office.
Regents voted last month to move the president and 43 other CU system employees off the Boulder campus.
The temporary offices previously were used by the CU Foundation, which moved some staff to a different floor. The foundation is not charging the university for the space.
CU officials hope to find a permanent Denver office by this summer.
DENVER
Student’s pellet gun goes off, hits girl
A sixth-grader has been arrested and could be expelled for bringing a plastic pellet gun to his school that went off, hitting a classmate.
The boy brought a replica gun to Horace Mann Middle School on Tuesday, said Denver Public Schools spokesman Mark Stevens. He said the boy pulled the gun out and it accidentally discharged, hitting a girl near him in the torso.
The girl had a small welt but was not seriously injured.
Stevens said that Denver Public School policy clearly spells out that replica weapons are not allowed. He said disciplinary action can lead to expulsion.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
School decides against class on the Bible
School officials have decided against adding a class titled “The Bible in History and Literature” at Steamboat Springs High School, saying the current curriculum is fine and citing a respect for diversity.
“As a small district with limited resources, do we need this course to provide our students with an adequate education?” school board member Denise Connelly asked during a meeting that stretched late into Monday evening. “What we are seeing is that there is overlap.”
A curriculum committee said Bible instruction already is offered at the school in geography, civics, American studies, world history and English courses, along with instruction about other religious documents and cultures.
The district’s mission statement includes an intent to “respect diversity in all forms” and the proposed class “does not follow that objective,” said Tom Miller-Freutel, president of the board.
The proposal came from parents Michelle Diehl and Roger Johnson.
The class is designed as a year-long elective by the North Carolina-based National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools.
Joey Melius, a 16-year-old junior, said he favored such a class.
“This class would be well worth my time – the Bible is one of the most important documents ever written, from a historian’s point of view,” he said.
Opponents said the class would unfairly highlight one religion and cause increased separation among students.
DENVER
Owens names five to water compact group
Gov. Bill Owens named five of his six picks to the Interbasin Compact Committee on Tuesday, including an environmentalist and several prominent water users.
The legislature created the committee last year to promote discussion and cooperation on water-management issues and storage projects.
The committee will have 27 members representing the state’s seven river basins and the southern and northern Denver metro areas. Lawmakers will name some of the members.
The governor’s appointees include Rita L. Crumpton of Grand Junction, manager of the Orchard Mesa Irrigation District; Wayne Vanderschuere of Colorado Springs, water supply manager for Colorado Springs Utilities; Melinda R. Kassen of Boulder, director of the Colorado Water Project for Trout Unlimited; T. Wright Dickinson of Maybell, a Moffat County rancher; and Rich ard Eric Kuhn of Glenwood Springs, general manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District.
GRAND JUNCTION
Car ramming leads to felony charges
A 37-year-old woman accused of pinning her common-law husband against a wall after ramming his car with her minivan faces several charges, including assault and felony menacing.
Cinde Fields of Grand Junction was arrested at about 3 p.m. Sunday after reports of a woman repeatedly running her minivan into a Toyota Camry and a man pinned between the car and his house.
Mesa County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived, Fields walked up to them, put out her hands and said, “Go ahead and arrest me; I did it.” Her common-law husband, who doesn’t live with Fields, was taken to the hospital and released later Sunday. His name wasn’t released because the incident is an alleged domestic violence case, sheriff’s spokeswoman Susan McBurney said Monday.
Another woman and her 8-month-old son, who were still in the car when it was struck, weren’t injured, deputies said.
BOULDER
CU Foundation hires 2 to help fundraising
The University of Colorado Foundation has hired two longtime Denver civic and business leaders to help with fundraising.
Joel Edelman, who was president of Rose Medical Center for 17 years and headed the center’s foundation, will be vice president for development for CU-Denver and the Health Sciences Center.
Robert Willis, former president of the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce, will be the CU Foundation assistant vice president for corporate and foundation relations. Willis also serves on CU president Hank Brown’s blue-ribbon commission on diversity.
