The mountain area’s newspaper since 1958
WEEK OF MAY 22, 2025
VOLUME 66 | ISSUE 27
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
$2
DEAL SPLITS CCM PAPERS; COURIER STAYS A NONPROFIT P2
ENGLEWOOD FIRE STAFF RECEIVE ACCREDITATION
P8
EVERGREEN DIVERS AND SWIMMERS MAKE HISTORIC SHOWING AT STATE MEET P16
Unification opponents move ahead with court case Board member says recent Elk Creek vote wasn’t a mandate for the merger BY JANE REUTER JANE@COTLN.ORG
Jeffco Sheriff Reggie Marinelli praised the efforts of firefighters and first responders during the Quarry Fire because thanks to them, no lives and no structures were lost. “That’s a true testament to the coordinated efforts,” she said. Skip Shirlaw, who was chief of Inter-Canyon Fire last summer, said things could have been much worse without the partnerships among first responders. If the fire had escaped fire lines, it could have burned thousands of
On the day of the May 6 Elk Creek Fire board election, when two prounification candidates easily secured two seats on the board, fellow board member Chuck Newby filed his case against unification in Jefferson County District Court. Newby and Elk Creek Fire district resident Neil Whitehead III had promised to do so after the case was unanimously rejected by Jefferson County Commissioners in April. The commissioners affirmed Elk Creek Fire Protection District’s correctly followed state statute’s exclusion requirements, a step needed to allow its hoped-for merger with the Conifer Fire Protection District. With the May 6 election of Kathleen Noonan and Al Leo, Newby remains the only anti-unification voice currently on the five-member board. Voters cast nearly five times or more votes for pro-unification candidates Leo and Noonan in the May 6 election than opponents Michael Bartlett, Thomas Seymour and Todd Wagner.
SEE REOPENING, P5
SEE ELF CREEK FIRE, P9
Natalie Ingerson of Denver, with 1-year-old Quinn on her back, walks with son Wyatt, 3, on the Meadowlark Trail at Deer Creek Canyon Park in south PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST Jefferson County. The park reopened on May 15 after the Quarry Fire burned about 35% of the park last summer.
Deer Creek Canyon Park reopens Area rehabilitated after last year’s Quarry Fire BY DEB HURLEY BROBST SPECIAL TO THE CANYON COURIER
Local and county leaders expressed gratitude for teamwork and collaboration among local, county, state and federal agencies as leaders marked the reopening of a portion of Deer Creek Canyon Park after last year’s Quarry Fire. In a ceremony May 15, they lauded efforts to quench the flames that burned about a third of the 1,640-acre Jefferson County Open Space park
and the nine months of hard work to restore burn areas to make them safe for hikers and mountain bikers. The entire park is expected to be open by Aug. 1. The Quarry Fire, which started July 30, burned for eight days. An estimated 260 firefighters and personnel from multiple local and state agencies helped. In addition, air tankers from across the country dropped fire retardant and water on the flames. Nearly 600 homes were evacuated.
Jeffco Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper lauded the efforts of agencies that worked to reopen the park in nine months. Jeffco Open Space, which manages Deer Creek Canyon Park, originally estimated it would take two years for the park to be safe for the public to hike and bike the 14.5 miles of trails, she said. “This was an example of how things should work among government agencies,” Tom Hoby, director of Jeffco Open Space, told nearly 50 people celebrating the park’s reopening. “This was a total team effort.”
HAPPENINGS: 7 | VOICES: 10 | LIFE: 14 | SPORTS: 16 | PUZZLES: 19
CANYONCOURIER.COM • A PUBLICATION OF THE COLORADO TRUST FOR LOCAL NEWS
"No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try." “Flowers are the music of the ground from ~ Yoda earth’s lips spoken without sound.”
BHHSelevatedliving.com | (303) 670-3232 29029 Upper Bear Creek Road, Ste. 104, Evergreen, CO 80439 A member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates, LLC