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Week of March 2, 2023
JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
JeffcoTranscript.com
VOLUME 39 | ISSUE 32
Lakewood opens first extreme weather sheltering BY ANDREW FRAIELI AFRAIELI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The temperature once again dropped below zero in Lakewood last week, but this time around the city opened its own emergency overflow shelter for people experiencing homelessness and needing a warm place to stay. The city announced that the Whit-
lock Recreation Center would have 50 beds available, open overnight for Feb. 22 and Feb. 23. For the previous cold-weather events in December and January, the only options were the Severe Weather Shelter Network and one or two additional churches that opened up, including Pastor Ben Hensley’s Lakewood United Methodist Church.
The SWSN covers the bulk of Jefferson County, consisting of three churches with 40 beds each, opening when the temperature drops below 32 degrees and there is moisture, or below 20 regardless to moisture. It also requires registration before arriving and a background check. Hensley, critical of the SWSN’s entrance requirements, doesn’t see it as an effective response, and is
World Thinking Day teaches Girl Scouts about other countries BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Girls Scouts from around the metro area were thinking about the world on Feb. 25. From Daisies to Ambassadors, about 250 Scouts from 26 troops operated tables representing 30 countries at World Thinking Day. It’s an annual event to teach them about different countries’ cultures and Scouts in all parts of the world. Each table in the gymnasium at Red Rocks Elementary School in Morrison had a poster with information about the country, with some girls dressed in costume, and they handed out food or trinkets representing their countries. Scouts moved from table to table to expand their worldly horizons, and each had a mock passport that was stamped at each table. Troop leaders say that World Thinking Day gives the Scouts memories that will last a lifetime while teaching leadership and collaboration as the girls prepare for their presentations. “It’s important for (Scouts) to learn SEE THINKING, P6
proud of Lakewood for opening its own. He thinks the extreme weather pushes the SWSN beyond its capability to help because of “this very high bar to even get in.” “If you’re on drugs, or in a state of chronic homelessness that makes them nervous, or makes them unable to deal with you, you’re SEE WEATHER, P4
Safe Parking Initiative in Lakewood helping with vehicular homelessness BY ANDREW FRAIELI AFRAIELI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Troop 68220, with Scouts from Lakewood, Wheat Ridge and Littleton, learned about PHOTOS BY DEB HURLEY BROBST Malta for World Thinking Day.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 14 | LIFE: PAGE 16 | CALENDAR: PAGE 19 | SPORTS: PAGE 26
Almost 30 people have found refuge in the parking lot of the Lakewood United Methodist Church for what, for many, is the first stage of a longer fall into homelessness: vehicular homelessness. The church is currently the only participant in the city’s pilot program bringing the statewide Colorado Safe Parking Initiative, meant to give people having to sleep in their car a safe place to park for the night, into Lakewood. The Council heard a six-month update on Feb. 13, and according to Pastor Ben Hensley of that church, it’s not only going well for the people but for the church, too. “We wanted to put some of our money and our property where our SEE HOMELESSNESS, P2
LIFE UNDERWATER Studying South Platte’s disappearing fish
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