Re: “Colorado Democrats cannot force employers to use someone’s pronouns,” May 10 commentary

I don’t agree with all that Krista Kafer writes, but I consider her commentaries insightful and thought-provoking. There is almost nothing in this column that I disagree with. But I am concerned about the lack of empathy, recognizing the need for tolerance in a broadly disparate society.

So, yes, “everyone has the right to express their opinion … No one can use the power of government to silence or force fellow Americans to profess what they do not consider to be true.”  But everyone needs to recognize that others can hold opinions different from their own. We can’t tell other people what they have to believe and need to be accepting of these differences.

Free speech is important, and Americans should be allowed to say whatever stupid things they want. But tolerance remains a critical American value, and this column fails to acknowledge that. Its absence is a major element in the fracturing of American politics.

Ed Corcoran, Lakewood

I grew up in the ’70s, part of the last generation that believed, for better or worse, that sexuality and gender were something that couldn’t change. When I did become aware, first about gays, then much later about transgender people, I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t feel a huge upwelling of hatred towards them either. “That’s their choice,” I thought.

It took me much longer to realize that it probably isn’t a choice for the vast majority of gay and transgender people out there. It’s a hard life to lead, being judged and hated for everything you do, even how you want to be addressed. Krista Kafer needs to take the journey I did, quickly. Forget the Constitution and the law and the First Amendment for a second — what’s the decent thing to do here? These people have a really, really hard life, without having to contend with someone so selfish that they aren’t willing to murmur a particular salutation.

No transgender person wants to change you or your family one bit — they just want to be able to go to work and not be insulted every time they’re spoken to. Have grace, Kafer, and give them this basic respect as human beings.

Dennis P. Laughren. Golden

Another idea to ease traffic to Denver’s airport — drop-off/pick-up lots

Re: “Widening of Peña gets green light for study phase,” April 2, 2025 news story, and “For $15 million, look at all Peña Blvd alternatives,” April 6, 2025 editorial

After reading two articles in the Denver Post stating Denver City Council had approved a $15 million contract to a consulting firm to find a way to reduce traffic on Peña Boulevard and gave them five years in which to do it, I have presented another option to the Denver City Council, the mayor, RTD Board of Directors, Denver International Airport and the Denver Regional Council of Governments.

My proposal would not only reduce traffic on Peña but would also serve to reduce congestion at the terminal and could be implemented almost immediately at very low cost. Very simply, the existing cell phone lot could be renamed a Drop-Off/Pick-Up lot, where departing passengers could be dropped off and shuttled to the terminal by bus, and arriving passengers could be taken back to the lot for pickup. Also, a strategic location could be found for an additional dedicated Drop-Off/Pick-Up lot that could further reduce traffic on Peña. I could also envision a light rail link to and from the terminal and Drop-Off/Pick-up lots, similar to the one that transports passengers from the terminal to the concourses. So far, I have had no response.

Steve Nash, Centennial

Delusional thinking on gun laws

Re: “DOJ should help us prevent mass shootings instead,” May 10 editorial

I continue to be amazed at how deluded people can be about gun laws. The problem with today’s mass shootings has very little to do with guns and a lot to do with mental illness, and I submit there is no gun law anywhere that prevents a mentally disturbed person intent on doing evil from obtaining a gun in America.

Gun laws (and these editorials) are simply knee-jerk reactions by politicians intent on appearing to be doing something for their constituents, when in reality all they are doing is trying to ensure their own re-election. Gun laws do not prevent crime and do not prevent shootings. Our attention should be placed on the young, radicalized, social-media-addicted, and isolated children of single parents who need our help, not law-abiding citizens with reasonable desires for firearms.

Paul Michael DiMarchi, Whitewater

Political posturing by DOJ

Re: “Assault weapons ban: Administration sues Denver,” May 6 news story, and “DOJ lawsuit targets state ban on large-capacity magazines,” May 7 news story

It takes little imagination to understand the current Department of Justice’s motivation for undoing current restrictions on assault-style rifles and large capacity magazines. Often justified as necessary to defend home and family, it turns out that such instances are extremely rare, averaging only per year in the United States. Compare that to being the weapons of choice for mass casualty events, with Colorado being a notable example. This is just one of many instances of the DOJ wasting taxpayer dollars on political posturing.

James Todd, Denver

Now that we know the costs, let’s run wolf reintroduction past voters again

Re: “With new releases on pause, wolf reintroduction is at ‘inflection point’,” May 8 news story

The reporting on Colorado’s wolf reintroduction should raise eyebrows, especially given the well-documented budget shortfalls our state (and its residents) are struggling under.  The state auditor needs to gather and calculate the real investment being made (taxpayer money, of course) for the management of this population of 32 wolves.

More than $1 million has reportedly been paid to rancher claimants for wildlife depredation. Teams of scientists “monitor and study” movements and activities, using hundreds of devices.  Your May 8 article, certainly not all-inclusive, refers to “thousands of hours” of studies; three-year study windows; a full time “wolf monitoring data coordinator”; 45 miles of cloth “fladry” for wolf-resistant range or ranch fencing (how scenic!); and the hiring of 11 “range riders” to patrol that which needed no “patrolling” before just over 50% of voters passed this dive into a black hole of costs.

Western Colorado voted overwhelmingly against the reintroduction. Perhaps it would make sense to produce and publicize a comprehensive audit and run a new ballot issue on the program’s continuation or termination.

Peter Ehrlich, Denver

Bravo! Now more Colorado Symphony coverage

Re: “A ‘Rhapsody’ with my kids,” May 10 features story

Thank you so much for your recent column on the Colorado Symphony.

The orchestra is an incredible institution and group of individuals, and doesn’t often get the recognition it deserves.  Your article emphasized that it is not just for highbrow seniors, but can be enjoyed by listeners of all ages and interests.

We have been pleased to see The Post’s recent articles covering the Front Range fine art scene.  There is so much great art to be seen in our area. Now, we just need the same kind of coverage for the Symphony and other local music organizations.

If the paper ran more articles such as yours, more people could learn that music of all types is available and approachable for most Denverites.  Please keep writing and encourage your editorial staff to add more coverage of music.

Elyse Tipton and Paul Ruttum, Denver

Driving without traffic enforcement

As we all know, we are in extremely difficult times. However, my exasperation level reached a new high as I was traveling on a Denver street last weekend. A vehicle in front of me was displaying temporary license tags that expired on Nov. 24, 2023. That is correct, 2023. What are the chances that this vehicle has current insurance coverage or the driver has a valid driver’s license? The chances are slim and none and slim just left town.

I observe expired or no tags on a regular basis. In addition, I suspect that all speed limit signs should add the word recommended to them, as non-compliance seems to be normal, as well as cell phone usage.

Where is the enforcement? I have not observed any in many months. Why should law-abiding citizens have to pay for the irresponsible actions of others? I would guess that these issues are low on the priority list until fatalities (motorcycles) rise to a level that our elected officials take notice. Are you listening, Mayor Mike Johnston, or Councilmember Amanda Sawyer (who does not respond to emails)? I will certainly take notice at the ballot box.

Allen Vean, Denver

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The new lawsuit alleges that Colorado’s ban on ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds violates the Second Amendment’s right for citizens to keep and bear arms. It argues that such magazines are standard for many weapons.

“Law-abiding Americans own and use for lawful purposes literally hundreds of millions of magazines such as those banned by the State,” the complaint reads. “A detachable magazine is an integral part of most semi-automatic firearms, including the AR-15 rifle. As such, they are covered by the Second Amendment����ap right to keep and bear arms.”

Attorney General Phil Weiser vowed to defend the ban in a statement Wednesday, reiterating a stance he and other state and local officials took when the DOJ first threatened the lawsuits against Denver and the state earlier this week.

“Using federal civil rights law to put Coloradans at greater risk of gun violence is a dangerous overreach by the Justice Department, and this lawsuit turns the mission of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division on its head,” Weiser said in the statement. “Large-capacity magazine laws are responsible policies that satisfy Second Amendment protections, decrease the deadly impacts of mass shootings, and save lives.”

The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on large-capacity magazines in 2020, finding that the prohibition did not violate residents’ right to bear arms as guaranteed by the state Constitution. The decision did not consider whether the ban violated the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

State lawmakers passed the ban in 2013 in the wake of the Aurora movie theater shooting the prior year, in which the gunman used a large-capacity magazine to fire more than 60 rounds in less than a minute, killing 12 and wounding dozens.

The 16-year-old attacker had the phrase “ER SENDS HIS REGARDS” carved into the sole of his shoe, according to a report released by the last week in a cache of 664 pages of witness accounts and deputies’ reports about the Sept. 10 shooting that seriously injured two students and left the attacker dead.

That carved message likely refers to Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old man who killed six people in Isla Vista, California, in 2014 and has become a prominent figure for the movement. The largely online group consists primarily of men who blame women and society for their lack of sexual or romantic attention.

Rodger was the first in the modern incel movement to shift from online talk to real-world violence, and has since in the misogynistic ideology, to the point that extremists use the phrase “Go ER” to refer to committing a mass shooting, experts said.

The message, along with other details released in the reports, confirm that the 16-year-old school shooter was part of a new wave of online extremism known as nihilistic violent extremist networks — groups that focus on using violence to destroy society — and that the radicalization was a core reason he carried out the shooting, said Matt Kriner, executive director of the nonprofit .

“This paints a more clear picture of him being embedded in the space as a motivating factor, rather than it being a corresponding factor,” Kriner said. “It goes from a sidecar element, this association, to this is the motorcycle he is driving. This is an essential part of who he is. He is clearly an accelerationist, clearly involved in inceldom and clearly in the nihilistic extremist network.”

The shooter also used a photo of Rodger as the profile picture on at least one of his social media accounts, where he espoused white supremacist and antisemitic views and showed a deep interest in violence and mass shootings.

He showed some “fringe fluidity” by picking and choosing from a variety of extremist ideologies, said Meredith Pruden, an assistant professor at who studies the incel movement. White supremacy and male supremacy ideologies are closely connected but distinct, she noted.

“Whether he put that on his shoe right before going to school that day or whether it had been on his shoe for some amount of time, he definitely had, at the very least, admiration for misogynist incel killers, which is important,” she said. “And we need to think about how male supremacism and violent misogyny are dangerous ideologies in their own right.”

The shooter, Desmond Holly, also carved the words “BYE!” and “SMILE” into the soles of his shoes, according to the Jeffco sheriff’s reports. The latter phrase could be related to a , “Never lose your smile,” which is usually accompanied by a half-skull image, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The newly released investigative reports offer some indication that the shooter’s radicalized views seeped into his offline life before the attack.

A friend told investigators that Desmond kept videos on his phone of school shootings set to music, that he made “dark” jokes and discussed neo-Nazis. The friend described the teenager as “pretty racist,” and that he’d paid a “creepy” amount of attention to one fellow student at the school, once secretly taking a photo of the student.

His sister also told investigators that Desmond used the term “femoid,” a derogatory slang term for women that is used within the incel community, and that he’d at one point dated a boy, but seemed to still be figuring out his sexuality. On the day of the attack, Desmond had cut marks up and down the insides of his arms that were in various stages of healing, the reports revealed.

The new reports make clear there were enough warning signs before the attack that adults should have been able to intervene, Kriner said. The FBI was alerted to the attacker’s online extremism two months before the attack, yet was unable to identify the teenager before he acted.

“In retrospect, this is a failure,” Kriner said. “The system failed to prevent an act of violence that could have otherwise been prevented. There was enough there to figure something out and divert this person from what they clearly identified to the world what they were intending to do.”

New details of attack

On the day of the attack, Desmond rode the bus to school and attended his morning classes without incident, the reports show.

The typically quiet, withdrawn student seemed more engaged in his first-period class than usual, English teacher Sarah Murer told investigators. He was talkative and high-energy. In third period, he was similarly engaged. He gave no indication of his plan, teacher Chad Mott said.

Desmond attended lunch, which typically starts around 12:10 p.m. A student who sat at the same table told investigators Desmond appeared “happy,” and held a conversation with another student instead of focusing on his phone. Desmond was at lunch for only a few minutes before he walked away, the student said.

He then apparently made his way to a boy’s bathroom in a hallway in the school known as G-Hall, carrying a backpack that contained an empty 50-round box of .38-caliber ammunition, a butterfly knife and a black T-shirt with the word “Wrath” written in red. He’d posted a photo on social media wearing a shirt with that design a few days before the attack; it is similar to what one of the killers wore in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Desmond wore a large knife on his belt and carried a black fanny pack filled with ammunition.

Evidence suggests Desmond fired a shot from a Smith and Wesson .38 Special revolver into the bathroom ceiling before making his way farther into the school, according to the reports. The revolver — an heirloom that had been kept in a safe in his family’s home — was the only gun Desmond used during the attack, which began around 12:24 p.m. and lasted about nine minutes.

Witnesses saw Desmond emerge from the area near the bathroom and start shooting, according to the reports. He shot a 14-year-old boy on a stairway between the school’s floors. The boy, who has not been publicly identified, was shot twice and fled up the stairs, into and out of the school’s library, and eventually ran out of the school to the Wulf Recreation Center. Teachers and center staff there put the boy on a conference room table and applied pressure to his wounds.

Seventy-three students took shelter in the recreation center, mathematics teacher Alison Meyers told investigators. Other students hid in locked classrooms, ran outside or holed up in homes in the neighborhoods that bordered the school.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office redacted the shooter’s precise movements through the school from a report that detailed his path and has consistently declined to make public the chronology of the attack, so Desmond’s exact route during the shooting remains unclear.

Witnesses, however, described several key moments.

Soon after the lockdown alarm blared through the school, a group of teachers in a teacher’s lounge peered out into the hallway and spotted a student near the library. They urged the boy to take cover in a classroom, and he jogged toward them with his hand in either his pocket or a fanny pack. One of the teachers asked the student what was in his hand, and the student — Desmond — pulled out a gun and shot at them, three witnesses told investigators. The teachers retreated, some taking cover in the room. At least one ran through the school warning of a shooter.

The teenager also at one point approached the room where the Gay-Straight Alliance club met — also in G-Hall — shouted a homophobic slur at the students there and fired at them, two witnesses told investigators.

Desmond eventually exited the school and was locked out. He approached the exterior door for the school’s band room — Door #26 — and peered through the door’s window. Witnesses in the band room said he smiled and waved and greeted one student by name before he fired through the door’s window, then hit the glass with the gun, thrusting the weapon through the broken pane.

Investigators later found five spent casings near the door, and a trail of blood outside the school building that began at the band room’s door, trailed around the north side of the school’s auditorium, went up stairs to the double doors of the auditorium then back down, then around and up stairs to another exterior door labeled #16, and back down, the reports showed.

A few minutes after the attack began, a witness saw Desmond walking down stairs from the outdoor track to the soccer field. He sat on the stairs for a moment before getting up and walking “casually” across the soccer field, Betty Grosbach, who lives nearby, told investigators. She saw the teenager was carrying a handgun and fled as he walked toward South Olive Road.

There, Desmond encountered Matthew Silverstone, an 18-year-old student who ran from the school’s main hallway, where he’d been eating lunch, with a large group of students when the shots began. Silverstone ran to the intersection of South Olive and Buffalo Park roads, then stopped and waited.

Desmond shot Silverstone twice at that intersection as deputies closed in. A deputy and security guard held Desmond at gunpoint and ordered him to drop his weapon. The teenager said that he would, then lifted the gun and shot himself in the head, according to the reports.

Silverstone’s mother, Paige Silverstone, received a phone call from her son’s phone, but he didn’t speak. She stayed on the line for nearly an hour as she heard other people say phrases like “You’re OK,” “Breathe” and “He’s actually got two.” She heard what sounded like an ambulance, but she wasn’t sure whether it was her son who was injured or someone else. She rushed to the reunification center and learned there that her son was in critical condition.

Silverstone and the 14-year-old boy both survived the attack. Desmond died from his self-inflicted injury.

Transparency and prevention

The 664 pages of reports released by the sheriff’s department largely include first-person accounts of the shooting. Officials have chosen not to release particulars of the shooter’s movement through the school, surveillance video of the attack, records made by the shooter, some crime scene photos and records from juvenile victims’ phones, the agency wrote in a February letter.

The sheriff’s office opted to withhold details of the shooter’s path — including both surveillance video and a written description of his movements — out of concern that the details might inspire other school shooters or allow the event to be re-enacted, spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said in an email.

She noted that the sheriff’s office learned lessons in the wake of the shooting at Columbine, which continues to inspire violence nearly three decades later.

“Our hard-won understanding of the importance in being deliberate about the information we release has included expert lessons that certain details can unintentionally memorialize a shooter,” Kelley said in an email.

The decision highlights the near-complete discretion law enforcement agencies have to withhold records from the public in criminal matters.

The process, governed by the , requires law enforcement officials to balance various interests when deciding whether to release a record — including public interest, privacy concerns and investigative value, among other factors.

As long as officials explain their reasoning, they have broad discretion to act as they see fit, and their decisions are very difficult to challenge, said Jeff Roberts, executive director of the .

“Essentially, it is not reviewable,” he said, noting that the process for criminal records is different than records kept by other public entities, which are governed by the . That law mandates records be released unless particular exemptions apply.

There’s a real danger that details of an attack could feed online radicalized communities, Kriner said.

“That does come up quite a bit, the hyper-detail-oriented review of attackers’ physical movement, the way they did things, it absolutely feeds into a radicalization structure in those communities,” he said. “It can also help them to consider how to do their own target.”

But understanding the details of an attack can also be critical to preventing future attacks, he said, and it is difficult for communities to challenge law enforcement or school officials’ actions and hold them accountable when investigators withhold information. One of the Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies showed up to the attack while drunk, and that information did not become public for months.

The sheriff’s office also characterized the shooter’s parents as uncooperative during the probe, but the released records show the couple answered investigators’ questions about Desmond.

“I’m pleased to see that the sheriff’s office is finally being transparent, and that transparency is illustrating that we were transparent all along,” the family’s attorney, Doug Richards, said Thursday. He declined further comment.

Local law enforcement might also fail to recognize the importance of particular details that, if released, would shift researchers’ understanding of the attack and improve broader prevention efforts, Kriner said.

“There is danger on both sides of this,” he said. “Having the detailed movements like that does provide a kind of blueprint for others to follow or fixate on, but it also means people might not be able to integrate the understanding — like, yeah, maybe there is something about bathrooms that opens up a risk space we should evaluate, or something about how he is moving around the school ahead of time that should have been considered. Like, can you walk us through how an individual was able to carry around a firearm until lunch and then decide to use it? What does that accountability space look like, if (communities) don’t have that information?”

He noted that the response to the Evergreen attack has been “muted” in online extremist forums, and he hasn’t seen the same kind of positive reaction to the Evergreen shooting as other mass-violence attacks.

Denver Post staff writer Katie Langford contributed to this report. 

Re: “U.S. is short 10 million houses; White House report lays out a fix,” April 14 news story

The article about housing states that an “analysis notes that home prices have risen 82% since 2000, while incomes are up just 12%.” It is all well and good to attempt to reduce the cost of housing, which in a growing inflationary environment seems virtually impossible, particularly with the loss of construction workers.

Why are there seldom discussions about requiring businesses to pay livable wages? The federal minimum wage is . If it weren’t for Denver and other cities raising local minimum wages, even more people would be homeless. Why not change the dialogue to forcing the large businesses and billionaires to start paying decent wages to the same people who helped make them insanely wealthy?

Joe Crystal, Denver

We can take steps to prevent mass shootings

The anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting is not just a day of remembrance — it is a call to action.

Decades later, survivors still carry the weight of that day, and too many others have since joined them in grief. We owe them more than our thoughts and prayers.

For me, it is personal. I was a junior in high school when the attack occurred. It shaped my life’s trajectory. Today, I serve as the president of Eradicate Hate, an organization founded by the survivors of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. Our mission is urgent: to convene those with expertise and lived experience to forge solutions to prevent hate-fueled violence.

Prevention is possible. Research shows exhibit concerning behavior or communications before an attack. In 81% of , at least one person was aware of the attack in advance, and in 93% of these cases, that person was a peer. Students often see what adults miss.

That is the insight behind our UP End Hate initiative, which equips students with the tools they need to recognize warning signs and feel safe and empowered to speak up. During the pilot program, two students reported weapons on campus, demonstrating the program’s lifesaving potential.

Columbine inspired a generation of school-based violence. We know how to prevent it; success now depends on collective action and widespread adoption of proven tools.

Together, we can work to prevent the next act of hate-fueled violence before it occurs. To learn more, visit .

Brette Steele, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Doxxing is bullying, not free speech

Re: “Activist guilty of doxxing Denver police commander,” April 4 news story

In a democracy, it is accepted that being equal has to do with rights, not ability. The right to free speech was intended to protect people’s right to express ideas, even those critical of political and religious leaders. That some are particularly inept at expressing ideas and thus resort to insults, taunts, etc., is unfortunate but pretty common. The right to free speech protects speakers from bullying and intimidation, but it should protect those on both sides of an argument.

A person who puts themselves out there as a public servant knows that they will experience insults and challenges to their policies, but they should not have their families being bullied, intimidated or threatened. Doxxing is just a form of stupid bullying, not free speech.

A. Lynn Buschhoff, Denver

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“DPS appears to have exhibited a shocking disregard for the risk (the student) posed to an entire school full of children, faculty and staff — as well as to himself,” U.S. District Judge Gordon Gallagher wrote in his decision last week.

Sinclair, a former dean at the school, sued DPS last year after he was injured in the March 22, 2023, shooting at East High. A student, Austin Lyle, shot Sinclair and another administrator, Wayne Mason, before fleeing and later dying by suicide.

DPS said in a statement Thursday that the judge’s order “does not mean the court found DPS to have violated the law.”

“At this stage in the proceedings, the court must take what the plaintiff has alleged as fact and make a decision accordingly,” the district said. “DPS has not had the opportunity to present its own facts and evidence. Denver Public Schools is confident that the evidence will demonstrate that its actions in this case were consistent with legal requirements and looks forward to the opportunity to present its arguments in court in the near future.”

Prior to enrolling at East, Lyle had been expelled from Overland High School in the after police found an AR-15 assault rifle, two fully-loaded magazines, a plastic bag with spent shells, boxes of ammunition and a silencer in his bedroom, according to court documents.

East High administrators placed Lyle on a safety plan when he enrolled, which included daily check-ins with Assistant Principal Shawn Anderson, documents show.

On March 2, 2023, an East High student sent Anderson a text with a picture that appeared to show a gun in Lyle’s pocket. The assistant principal searched the student����ap backpack but did not find a weapon.

Anderson altered Lyle’s safety plan four days later to require a daily search of the student����ap backpack, court records show.

On March 23, Lyle entered the school and told Mason he needed to see Anderson, who did not respond after being radioed. Sinclair took Lyle into Anderson’s office to wait for the assistant principal.

The student told Sinclair he could check his backpack if he wanted. While searching the bag, the dean “noticed a bulge in the front pocket” of Lyle’s hoodie, the judge wrote in his ruling.

Lyle grabbed Sinclair’s hand and put it on the outside of the hoodie, saying, “Here, touch it,” the judge wrote.

Sinclair knew it was a gun after feeling the hoodie and tried to keep Lyle in the office. But the student pulled the gun and a struggle began between the two.

Lyle shot Sinclair in his thigh and through his stomach and chest, resulting in the loss of his spleen, according to the ruling. He also shot Mason.

Sinclair alleged in his lawsuit that East High staff weren’t adequately trained on how to search students for weapons and that the district����ap discipline policies weren’t implemented as written.

The dean filed his suit against the district, the Board of Education, individual board members and Anderson. Gallagher dismissed the latter two from the case in last week’s ruling.

“We are encouraged by the court����ap decision to dismiss several key components of this case, including the dismissal of the claims against the Denver Public Schools Board of Education and the named former school assistant principal,” DPS said. “…The events of March 2023 were a tragedy that profoundly affected our educators and students. DPS remains committed to the safety and well-being of our entire school community.”

Mason also filed a lawsuit against DPS and that case remains ongoing, according to court records.

Re: “Blackout hits nation; island struggles with energy crisis,” March 17 news story

I grew up during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and our country was rightfully terrified with the prospect of a nuclear-armed Cuba just 90 miles from our shores.  Because of the stoic strength of President John F. Kennedy, a substantial crisis was avoided.  As recounted in the Naval History and Heritage Command, “President John F. Kennedy and an alerted and aroused American government, military, and public compelled the Soviets” to remove all offensive ballistic missiles from Cuba.

Since then, Cuba has been mired in poverty, struggling economically, and having no prospects to become anything better than a third-world country.  Nonetheless, President Donald Trump has decided to focus on making matters worse there, likely due to the pressures and desires of the many ex-Cubans in America.  He essentially cut off all oil supplies to this nation, and along with the easy “victory” campaign in Venezuela, he now feels empowered beyond belief.

Fast forward to March 2026. President Trump said that he would have “the honor of taking Cuba” and that he thinks he could do anything he wants with it.  He unilaterally declared war on Iran, likely due to the pressures and desires of Israel.

Under our American system of government, no one person has, nor should ever have, the power to use our military might to his or her choosing. He does so with total disregard for the will of Congress, the American public, or his allies. The wannabe ruler of the world has to be held in check, and history will document how this plays out in the near future.

I hope we have “an alerted and aroused government, military and public” to stop this imperialistic wannabe.

H. Rene Ramirez, Aurora

Colorado unemployment benefits didn’t work for me

My employer let me go over eight weeks ago. I am 66 years old and have worked professional jobs for relatively high pay for the past 35 years. I have applied for unemployment with the state for over two months with no success. Are there so many fraudulent claims that those who legitimately deserve unemployment are denied? It would have been helpful to have received a few payments to help make ends meet before applying for reduced social security benefits. What is up with the system?

Scot Martin, Littleton

We want our property tax bill in the mail

Re: “Denver stops mailing paper property tax bills,” Jan. 29 news story

We received a shiny postcard from the Denver Treasury Division before the article was printed. The postcard did not say that we could phone and request a mailed copy. Instead, it said essentially, “This notification serves as your only notice for property taxes due in 2026.”

We always paid the tax bill as soon as we received it. Now in our old age, finding and printing the bill costs too much of our precious time.
Your article stated the city saved about $100,000 annually in mailing costs. We would be happy to pay the additional cost if they mail us bills in the future.

They also cited a cost of 500,000 pieces of paper. Doesn’t the Finance Division use recycled paper, which helps create a market for recycling?

Sheila Bernhard, Denver

Applaud the synagogue that planned before the attack

Re: “Synagogue had been bolstering its security,” March 15 news story

I appreciate and applaud the Synagogue that rid itself succinctly of this terrorist. I question why we are not doing the same for our schools? Our precious children sit in classrooms every day with no one to defend them if such an attack were to occur.

Deanna R. Walworth, Brighton

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U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen unveiled a federal bill that would require social media companies to respond to warrants and subpoenas related to “credible threats” within three days, versus the 35 days it can take now.

She said response delays were a “devastating and glaring policy failure” that contributed to the shooting in Evergreen in September.

State Rep. Tammy Story, an Evergreen Democrat, said she planned to introduce similar legislation in the Colorado legislature in coming weeks, echoing another bill filed last month. A bill that included a three-day timeline for social media companies to comply with state warrants was vetoed by Gov. Jared Polis last year, though his cited concerns were with other provisions in the legislation.

The FBI had been investigating threats made by Desmond Holly, the 16-year-old shooter in Evergreen, for two months before he shot two students and himself in September, officials said.

That included filing an initial search warrant on July 5 looking for Holly’s IP address, a numeric designation that identifies a location on the internet; a second search warrant seeking additional information; and finally, a third search warrant seeking Holly’s home address, Jefferson County Sheriff Reggie Marinelli said.

Hours after the shooting happened, the third warrant came back with the address. She didn’t provide a more specific time frame.

“Because of the time it took to get those search warrants back, the shooting had already occurred,” Marinelli said.

“Tragically, that identity wasn’t revealed until after the shooting, nearly two months later — preventing our law enforcement from intervening and being able to stop this from ever happening,” Pettersen, a Democrat whose congressional district includes Evergreen, said Monday.

Before the attack, the FBI had found that Desmond was “discussing the planning of a mass shooting with threats non-specific in nature.” But agents could not identify the account holder for the social media accounts, so there was no probable cause for arrest or other federal action before the attack, the FBI said in a statement shortly after the shooting.

The shooter appeared to be involved in violent, nihilistic online networks, according to extremism experts. His social media accounts exhibited a mix of white supremacy, antisemitism, and a fascination with violence and mass shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

On Sept. 10, Desmond shot two students at Evergreen High and then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The two other students survived.

Pettersen said she was still working to win bipartisan support for the federal measure, which is one of three she said she planned to introduce. The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are each controlled by Republicans. She will also need to overcome any objections from deep-pocketed social media companies.

“Unfortunately, there’s been significant pushback from social media companies in general for any accountability,” Pettersen said, though she added that she had been working with TikTok.

But if the measure were law, she was confident “that they would absolutely work to meet the moment” and work with law enforcement on warrants to identify possible threats.

In addition to the response deadline bill, Pettersen also introduced legislation that would allow the Department of Justice to issue grants so local entities could buy firearm storage and distribute it to community members. Her third bill would create a federal grant to provide training and assistance to implement extreme risk protection orders, also called red-flag orders, and develop standardized training nationwide.

At the state level, Democrats control each chamber of the legislature. The bill last year that included the deadline for complying with warrants, , passed with sweeping bipartisan support, though backers couldn’t rally enough support to override Polis’ veto.

Polis spokesman Eric Maruyama said Monday that Polis believes the search warrants bill that was already filed — — takes a good approach to ensure “social media companies are responsive to warrants” so that law enforcement can investigate online crime.

SB-11, which has a bipartisan set of sponsors and is set for its first hearing Wednesday, would also give a 72-hour window for online platforms, including social media companies, to comply with search warrants. It would require them to maintain a staffed hotline for law enforcement to contact.

But Maruyama cautioned that the governor would want any bill, including Story’s still-pending legislation, to meet certain constraints.

“The governor wants to protect internet freedom while making Coloradans safer, but would have serious concerns about any bills that negatively impact freedom, innovation and privacy,” Maruyama wrote in an email. “He is not comfortable with the government forcing social media companies to act as law enforcement.”

Story said she’d had an “initial discussion” with the governor’s office about this year’s upcoming bill and that she believed it is in “a better place” than last year’s vetoed bill.

“We are choosing to prioritize the safety of our students and teachers over the administrative convenience of billion-dollar corporations,” Story said. “We owe the people of Evergreen nothing less.”

The teen first warned his fellow students at Evergreen High School that there was a shooter on campus, then he confronted the shooter on the street outside the high school. Silverstone was shot twice.

He spent a month in a Lakewood hospital fighting for his life and then recovering from the wounds that almost killed him. He was released from the hospital Tuesday in what his family called a miracle, and we call a blessing.

“Matthew has never given up. He can now speak. In fact, he is happy to tell you, ‘I’m still alive!’ He can walk with assistance,” his family said in a news release. “His friends will tell you his sense of humor is back. He has exceeded everyone’s expectations in his recovery.”

Silverstone was both brave and selfless on Sept. 10, and it sounds like he continues to shine through his recovery, giving everyone hope in these dark times.

Silverstone is not alone in his distinction as a true Colorado hero.

Another student who was shot at Evergreen High School last month confronted the shooter. At the age of 14, the victim’s family has understandably chosen to remain anonymous and keep out of the public eye. We wish to respect their privacy while also highlighting the incredible act.

Both students remind us of Kendrick Castillo, who was killed defending his classmates inside a Highlands Ranch school in 2019. Castillo was joined by other classmates — Brendan Bialy and Joshua Jones — as they lunged at a shooter, saving others. Bialy was not hurt, but Jones was shot twice.

We are torn between celebrating these incredible acts and crying for the state of our country. Mass shootings have been occurring in Colorado schools since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. How is it that students are still the ones confronting these assailants and not our trained adult professionals in law enforcement? Every school in this state needs an armed officer on campus at all times.

We should not be asking our kids to save themselves. More must be done to protect students who attend school hoping to grow and learn, and far too often in the past decade have found themselves trying to survive the horrors of mass shootings and the trauma that follows.

Nine minutes passed between when the shooting began inside Evergreen High School and when Silverstone was shot at the corner of Buffalo Park Road and Olive Road at the far end of the high school’s campus. Having an officer on the campus could have resulted in a different outcome.

Expressing gratitude to these kids for their acts of heroism is not enough. We can name a street for Silverstone (and should, just as we created Castillo Way). We can cry for their pain and suffering, and rejoice at their perseverance and determination.

But adults in Colorado must now act to ensure that no other child in this state is forced to fight an armed assailant for their lives and the lives of their friends and teachers.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Updated 2:10 p.m. Oct. 17, 2025: Due to an editor’s error, this article previously misreported details about the shooting of Matthew Silverstone. 

Matthew Silverstone left CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood with about 140 first responders and hospital staff holding blue balloons and cheering his release, according to a news release from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. His current location is confidential.

Silverstone was shot twice — once in the head and once in the chest — when he confronted a shooter at his school on Sept. 10. Silverstone warned fellow students to flee and fought with the shooter near the end of the nine-minute attack.

A witness told The Denver Post that he saw two boys — later identified as the shooter and Silverstone — near the intersection of Buffalo Park Road and South Olive Road before the shooter threw Silverstone to the ground and shot him.

Silverstone’s heart stopped once at the scene and again on the ambulance ride to the hospital, the news release said.

The teen’s family called his release five weeks after the attack “nothing short of miraculous.”

“After emergency surgeries, the doctors prepared us for the worst,” the family said in the sheriff’s news release. “But Matthew has never given up. He can now speak. In fact, he is happy to tell you, ‘I’m still alive!’ He can walk with assistance. His friends will tell you his sense of humor is back. He has exceeded everyone’s expectations in his recovery.”

Paige Silverstone, the teen’s mother, also thanked the law enforcement, health care workers and other students who have helped Matthew through his recovery.

“Your generosity has reminded us that we are not alone,” she said.  “Each act of kindness, each word of encouragement, each prayer, has lifted Matthew and all of us more than I can ever express. You have helped carry us through our darkest moments. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for standing with us, for believing in miracles, and helping us hold on to hope.”

A 14-year-old who was shot during the attack left the hospital on Oct. 2.

That student, whose name has not been disclosed, confronted the shooter as the attack began and was shot at close range.

The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the attack. Authorities said he had been radicalized online by watching violent and extremist videos.

They, along with mental health experts, recommend parents monitor their kids’ online activity as well as learn the language that is often used in such spaces so that they know what children are being exposed to.

“What we see online happening with our children is desensitization of killing, of death, of what it means to take a life,” said Susan Payne, a national school safety expert and founder of Colorado’s reporting system. “…We have to understand warning signs and indicators really are changing as we go more into a digital age.”

Here are five steps that experts said parents can take to help keep their kids safe:

Don’t rush to give a child a social media account

Mental health experts do not recommend that children have sole access to social media until they become adolescents because their brain development isn’t ready to navigate such content without the supervision of an adult.

There isn’t a set age that mental health experts recommend a child be given their own account, as each individual will be ready at a different time, said Jessica Hawks, a child and adolescent psychologist at

Monitor and limit a child’s social media activity

Parents should monitor their child’s social media activity once they are given their own accounts. This includes being able to log in and see who their kids are talking to and what’s showing up on their social feeds, Hawks said.

Parents should also set guidelines for overall screen use, such as not allowing phones to be used in bedrooms at night, she said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that families create

It’s not just parents who need to be aware of how kids are accessing dangerous content online.

Schools should also think about what websites they allow students to access on their computers and how to make it more difficult for them to come across violent content, said Oren Segal, the senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence.

Talk with children about what they are seeing online

Parents should regularly check in with their kids to learn what they are being exposed to online, but these conversations are especially important after a traumatic event — such as the Evergreen High shooting — happens, Hawks said.

“It’s really important for parents to go to these kids and initiate these kinds of conversations,” she said.

In these conversations, parents should follow their kids’ lead and let them express whatever feelings they have without minimizing them. Help normalize whatever emotions the child has, whether it’s anger, sadness or fear, Hawks said.

Parents should also avoid trying to problem-solve during the conversation, as it’s important that kids have a space where they can just talk, she said.

Parents should answer any questions their child might have in an open, calm and age-appropriate way. They shouldn’t try to insert their own opinions or political views or use inflammatory language, as that will help perpetuate the divide in society, Hawks said.

Instead, parents should stick to the basics, such as telling a child that violence is never OK, she said.

Parents and educators need to learn language used online

Online teens often use slang, symbols and slogans that adults may not understand to refer to white supremacy, antisemitism and mass shootings.

For example, the Evergreen High shooter liked a comment online that asked if “bro gonna become a Hero.” The term “hero,” specifically the “er” in the word, is an incel term that references a past mass attack.

Incels are misogynists who believe the world is rigged against young men and that����ap why they are unable to find romantic or sexual partners, experts say.

The Anti-Defamation League has an  of hate symbols and codes that parents and educators can use to familiarize themselves with.

Make sure a child has a trusted adult

A trusted adult is one of the most protective factors for a child’s mental health and preventing violence, according to mental health experts.

A trusted adult can be a family member, a coach or a teacher. They are someone a child or teen can talk to and helps them feel like they belong in the community, which means an adolescent is less likely to be drawn into online spaces that encourage them to engage in violence, experts said.