Centennial
Citizen
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 6
STARS OF THE SEASON
December 28, 2012
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourcentennialnews.com
Second arrest made in slaying Centennial teen accused of murder By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com
The South Suburban Stars Preliminary Synchronized Skating Team takes to the ice on Dec. 21 during the “Holiday on Ice” show at South Suburban Ice Arena. Skating routines were set to holiday classics like “Frosty the Snowman” and “Here Comes Santa Claus.” Photo by Courtney Kuhlen
A year of tragedy and triumph The past year was some kind of ride — an emotional roller coaster, if you will. The year brought the nation a presidential election and the barrage of campaign ads preceding it. It brought us a Summer Olympics and a contingent of American champions. In Colorado, 2012 brought us a slew of wildfires that cost some people everything and filled the skies with smoke as far as you could see. The year brought us the Aurora theater massacre. S o u t h Metro Denver residents shared in all of this in one way or another. But here, we also saw signs of a potentially booming economy as more and more developers and employers moved in. We saw a school district entangled in controversy. And we saw tragedies that hit on a smaller scale, but were equally heartbreaking to area communities. What follows is a compilation of the South Metro area’s top 10 stories of the year as chosen by the newsroom staff of Colorado Community Media. These are the stories we believe had the greatest impact on our readers in 2012. They are presented in no particular order. We’ll let you, the reader, be the judge of the single biggest story of the year.
Caught up in ‘Missy mania’
A 17-year-old swimmer from Centennial captivated the nation this past summer. Missy Franklin won five medals, four of them gold, at the Olympics in London. In August, hundreds of fans packed Centennial Center Park for a welcome-home ceremony for Franklin and all of Colorado’s Olympians. But the hometown girl was the star of the show in what ended up being more like a big block party as “The Missile” danced her way to the podium to Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me, Maybe.” Gov. John Hickenlooper and Centennial Mayor Cathy Noon lauded Franklin, along with six additional Colorado athletes on their return from London. Team USA grabbed 104 medals. Nine of those were awarded to Coloradans. “That makes about 8.69 percent of the
In August, Centennial’s own Missy Franklin dances on stage at a ceremony honoring her and other Colorado Olympians after their return from London. The brief event was hosted by Centennial Mayor Cathy Noon and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. File photo total medal count going to Colorado,” said Hickenlooper. “So I’d say we definitely outperformed the market substantially.” Franklin, a Regis Jesuit High School senior, will swim for the University of California at Berkeley next year. — Deborah Grigsby
Projects, employers flock to area
Construction permits for commercial development jumped significantly while employers flocked to Douglas and Arapahoe counties in 2012. Activity continued near Highlands Ranch’s Town Center as Children’s Hospital Colorado, the first hospital in the unincorporated enclave, broke ground in May 2012 and is set to open in December 2013. The expansion of the retail hub was further helped in 2012 by the construction of numerous restaurants and Les Schwab Tire Center, Starbucks and Sprint. In neighboring Lone Tree, crews began construction on Cabela’s at Interstate 25 and RidgeGate Parkway, and work continued farther north on the Kaiser Permanente medical campus on Park Meadows Drive.
The southwest corner of Lincoln and I-25 had lots of movement, with Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites and the 281-unit Vue Apartments going up. Across the highway, in the Meridian International Business Center, information technology company TriZetto built new offices, and work began on a building that will be occupied by Hitachi. Polystrand, a manufacturer of composite materials, also built a facility on the edge of Douglas and Arapahoe counties. Construction began on a $41 million Centura Hospital in Castle Rock, and two senior housing facilities opened in the Parker area. In Englewood, nearly $50 million in building permits for new construction were issued this year, and a number of projects are scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2013. In Littleton, a new CarMax was built and an Alzheimer’s care center is under construction. Two car-lot expansions, a Health South rehab facility and a movie theater are also in the works. — Chris Michlewicz 2012 continues on Page 4
Littleton police have arrested a second suspect in the shooting that killed 18-yearold Da Von Flores and wounded a 17-yearold boy. Robert Alexander Placa, 18, of Centennial was taken into custody on Dec. 20. He’s charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, possession of a weapon by a previous offender and possession of a defaced firearm. He is being held without bond at the Arapahoe County jail. He joins Dion Rankin, 20, of Englewood, who was arrested Oct. 24 and is facing charges of first-degree Placa murder. He’s scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 3. On Oct. 19, officers responded to the 5400 block of South Fox Street about 11 p.m. on reports of shots fired. They found the two males shot and lying in the street. Flores, a new father, died at the scene. The Rev. Leon Kelly of Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives has talked to the wounded teen’s mother. She says her son is physically OK but bitter and angry. “His attitude now is just hard-core,” said Kelly. “And now he thinks he’s invincible.” The altercation began at a house party on Fox Street, in the block tucked between Cherrelyn Manor nursing home and Living Word Tabernacle church. Neighbor kids say those involved were gang-bangers with a “previous beef,” and a Facebook search indicates they could be right. Littleton’s northeast neighborhood is no stranger to trouble. A year before, Evaristo Galindo, then 17, told Littleton police officers he was alone in Progress Park when he got shot on Oct. 21, 2011. Doctors said there were birdshot pellets lodged in his shinbone and jawbone, according to the police report. A disturbance was reported about 10:30 that night near West Prentice Avenue and South Lakeview Street, immediately south of the park. Witnesses heard gunshots, fighting and squealing tires. Two witnesses reported they saw up to 15 people in the intersection, some yelling “South Side” and “SPV 13,” indicating gang activity. The northeast neighborhood for years has been the focus of much outreach from groups like Greater Littleton Youth Initiative, Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative and North Littleton Promise, which was formed specifically to serve the area. “A group of community-minded people from Centennial Covenant Church learned about the suburbanization of poverty and began to explore if there was indeed a struggling community in suburban Littleton,” reads NLP’s website. “After talking with local law enforcement, they discovered a community in northeast Littleton where gang involvement, truancy and teen pregnancy were prevalent.”
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