Serving the community since 1906
VOLUME 33 | ISSUE 27
WEEK OF JULY 6, 2023
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“She met my dad in Brooklyn, New York in 1944 and then came to Colorado in 1946,” Johnson said. “I was born in 1947.” Johnson said after her father died, Martin went to work in Estes Park for the police department and also did some work for the Stanley Hotel. “It was when Stephen King came to the Stanley Hotel and was signing autographs for the book ‘The Shining,’” Johnson said. Nan said her mom later married
When a group of Colorado lawmakers in 2020 sought to end the state’s statute of limitations for lawsuits in child sex assault cases, some victims and victims’ advocates wanted them to try to go even further. Their request was that Colorado give victims of abuse for whom the statute of limitations had expired a window to sue not only their abusers, but also organizations that shielded the perpetrators or negligently allowed the abuse to continue. The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Legal Services, which offers state lawmakers legal advice, said such a window would violate the state’s constitution, which prohibits the General Assembly from reviving a claim for which the statute of limitations has run out. It turns out that opinion held merit. The Colorado Supreme Court last week struck down the part of Senate Bill 88, a law passed by the legislature in 2021, giving victims of child sex abuse dating back to the 1960s a three-year window starting on Jan. 1, 2022, to file lawsuits against their abusers and the institutions or organizations that failed to stop the abuse. The high court’s decision was unanimous. There were many concerns about
Betty Martin
PHOTO BY BELEN WARD
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Lochbuie’s Betty Martin, a former City Clerk for Commerce City, retired some ten years ago. This month, she marks another milestone – her 100th birthday. Martin is scheduled to celebrate her 100th birthday July 9 with a birthday soiree hosted by her family at Chilis in Brighton. Her actual birthday is July 17. Martin’s daughter Nan Johnson said her Mom loved to work and did
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jobs across the country. The family finally convinced her to stop when she turned 90. “She worked with attorneys, did police work and worked in politics. She enjoyed that kind of work until she was 90, “ said her daughter Nan Johnson. Martin grew up in Benson, Minnesota but moved to New York City after graduating high school. She went to secretarial school and found work as a secretary, worked her way up to legal secretary writing legal documents for an attorney.
VOICES: PAGE 6 | OBITUARIES: PAGE 7 | LIFE: PAGE 8 | CALENDAR: PAGE 10
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