Week of September 8, 2022
FREE
DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
ParkerChronicle.net
INSIDE: CALENDAR: PAGE 9 | VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | SPORTS: PAGE 30
VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 41
Five candidates are running for Parker Town Council seats Incumbents seek reelection BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Five candidates for Parker’s town council election have been finalized after filings were submitted the last week of August. There are three seats up for election in 2022. Winners of the November election will be seated to four-year terms.
Incumbents Josh Rivero, Anne Barrington and Cheryl Poage have all entered the race in hopes of being re-elected. Brandi Wilks and Brian Carruthers are the two other candidates. Barrington and Rivero were elected in April 2021 during an election to replace two positions. One spot was made vacant when Jeff Toborg was elected mayor and another when Renee Williams resigned. Rivero, who was also a town coun-
cil member from 2012 to 2020, is the owner of Fika Coffee House. Barrington is the owner of Barrington Group Real Estate and co-owner of Card My Yard Parker. Poage is a retired employee of South Metro Fire Rescue. Wilks also ran for town council in 2020. In 2021, she supported Rivero and Barrington. Town council members make decisions about local policies, oversee master plans, hire the town administrator and approve the an-
nual budget, which in 2022 was $129 million. The six-member council makes decisions for the town with the mayor casting votes to break ties. In other local elections, residents will vote for county commissioner, sheriff and clerk and recorder. The first round of campaign finance reports for the candidates will be posted within a few days after it’s due, Oct. 18. The Chamber of Commerce is set to have a candidate forum Oct. 6.
School district to fight lawsuit filed by former employee Religious beliefs at center of claim BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
rowers, according to an analysis by the education department, which estimates 43 million Americans have federal student loans. It seeks to do this by forgiving $10,000 of federal debt for all borrowers making no more than
Douglas County School District is pushing back against discrimination claims made by a former assistant principal who sued the district over his termination after he objected to a theater performance of ‘The Laramie Project.’ Corey McNellis, previously the assistant principal and athletic director for Ponderosa High School, sued DCSD in July, alleging he was fired for expressing Christian beliefs. A response from DCSD filed in U.S. District Court on Aug. 30 argues the district did not discriminate against McNellis because he made the statements as a district employee.
SEE DEBT, P8
SEE LAWSUIT, P7
Students listen in during an English class at Arapahoe Community College.
PHOTO BY ROBERT TANN
Biden’s student debt relief plan met with mixed reactions Some say it is not enough BY ROBERT TANN RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Following the Biden administration’s Aug. 24 announcement of a sweeping plan to reform the
student loan process for millions of federal borrowers, local educators said they see both benefits and challenges lying ahead. The proposal, one of Joe Biden’s chief promises during his 2020 presidential election campaign, could eliminate student debt entirely for nearly half of all bor-
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HEALTH FALL 2022
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