Week of December 15, 2022
FREE
DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
CastlePinesNewsPress.net
VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 17
Gift shops keep patrons posted
FEC United attends school district meeting Security provided BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
John and Karla Tartz own Wild Rose Boutique in Castle Pines, Lone Tree and Highlands Ranch.
PHOTOS BY RACHEL LORENZ
Boutiques offer mail services in addition to merchandise BY RACHEL LORENZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Wild Rose Boutique is on the move. In July, the business opened its third gift shop and post office store at 34 Springer Drive in Highlands Ranch, but it won’t be there much longer. It’s moving two doors down in January, said John Tartz, who owns the trio of boutiques with his wife, Karla Tartz. The stores offer greeting cards, home decor items, holiday decorations, jewelry, hats, bags, a smattering of clothing — and postal SEE WILD ROSE, P6
Wild Rose Boutique sells a selection of bangle bracelets in addition to earrings, rings and necklaces.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 18
At least two members of a private armed organization were among the audience of a Douglas County School District meeting on equitable hiring, recruitment and retention of staff. John Tiegan, the founder of the United American Defense Force, an armed group that organized the downtown Denver “Patriot Muster” that ended with a fatal encounter in October 2020, and one other man in a United American Defense Force shirt attended the district’s Equity Advisory Council meeting on Dec. 7. Roughly 30 people made up the audience. Prior to the meeting, a post in a Facebook group for FEC United, an organization deemed anti-government by the Southern Poverty Law Center and with ties to the United American Defense Force, asked members to be at the meeting to provide feedback on the council’s draft recommendations meant to ensure diversity among school staff. In response to the post, multiple people reached out to the school district to raise concerns about FEC United’s call for attendance, including Equity Advisory Council member Cathy Lees, who called the post an intimidation tactic that “successfully silenced under-represented voices” in the district. The district provided extra security at the meeting and SEE MEETING, P10
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