Sentinel
LAKEWOOD 1/10/13
Lakewood
January 10, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlakewoodnews.com
Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 89, Issue 22
Town hall examines mental health Discussion ranges from changes to what can be improved By Clarke Reader
creader@ourcoloradonews.com
Amy Hackett with American Sign stops traffic during a RTD light rail testing of crossings at 6363 W. 16th Ave. Lamar Station Saturday, Jan. 5, in Lakewood. Light rail has an official start date of April 29.
ON A ROLL
PHOTOS BY ANDY CARPENEAN
A RTD light rail train stops at 6363 W. 16th Ave. Lamar Station during a testing of crossings Saturday, Jan. 5, in Lakewood.
Mark Baudermann, project manager with RTD FasTracks Team, looks through a procedure manual at 6363 W. 16th Ave. Lamar Station during a testing of crossings Saturday, Jan. 5, in Lakewood.
Arts Council celebrates 25 years Parties, exhibits planned throughout entire year By Clarke Reader
creader@ourcoloradonews.com Lakewood Arts Council is kicking off its year-long 25th anniversary celebration with an exhibit of council members’ work. The anniversary exhibit is on display at the LAC gallery, 85 S. Union Blvd., through Feb. 8. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. According to Kathy Berls, the LAC artistic director, the exhibit will contain about 75 pieces of art, from wall paintings to 3-D pieces from members of the council. “It really has a wide range of pieces for people to see,” she said. The exhibit also features the a retrospective of the work of Gene Smith, a local and award-winning artist. The exhibit is the first in a year of parties and exhibits that Berls has planned to
IF YOU GO WHAT: Lakewood Arts Council 25th Anniversary
Exhibit
WHERE: LAC Gallery 85 S. Union Blvd., Lakewood
WHEN: Through Feb. 8 Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
COST: Free INFORMATION: 303-980-0625 or visit www.lakewoodartscouncil.org celebrate a quarter-century of existence. “It’s pretty exciting that we’ve lasted 25 years,” she said. “I’m looking forward to collecting thoughts from past council presidents and memorabilia from past years.” Barbara Tobiska, who founded the LAC, remembers the process of developing the council. She said that the process really started in 1979 when Charles Stanton reserved two acres of his property for a city cultural
center, along with $10,000 to support the project. From 1981-85 former Mayor Bill Reitler and council appointed Tobiska and several others to a cultural center advisory committee, and they spent a year doing research on artists and community needs for the arts. In June 1988, under Mayor Linda Shaw, the Lakewood Arts Council became the city’s official arts organization. Tobiska noted that the LAC has never been a part of the city government, but worked closely with the city for many years in developing arts through grant funding, volunteerism and marketing outreach into not on the Lakewood community, but other cities. “We did shows on loan all over the place with a variety of organizations like the Foothills Art Center,” she said. “The goals were to have an organization that spoke for arts in the city.” For more information on the LAC and its 25th anniversary celebration, call 303980-0625 or visit www.lakewoodartscouncil.org.
Mental health services may be seeing some changes soon, and the system was discussed at the Lakewood legislation’s monthly town hall meeting. Reps. Brittany Pettersen, D-District 28, and Max Tyler, D-District 23, and Sen. Andy Kerr were on hand with representatives from the Colorado Mental Wellness Network and Department of Human Services (CDHS) to discuss the issue and some potential changes proposed by Gov. John Hickenlooper. “The Jefferson County Center for Mental Health has had $162,000 cut this year, on top of 75,000 cut last year, and it already has a wait list,” said former Sen. Moe Keller, vice president of Public Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Mental Health America Colorado (MHAC). “This is not the time to be cutting mental health services.” MHAC is a nonprofit organization that was created in 1953 to address mental health and wellness issues in the state through methods like public policy changes. Keller said that currently the largest provider of mental health services is the prison system, and the second largest is the county jail. She also added that the Los Angeles, County Jail is the top provider of mental health services in the nation. Sarah Sills, legislative liaison for the CDHS, spoke about the plan Hickenlooper proposed that would improve the state’s mental health system. If adopted, the plan would added $18.5 million to the budget for a variety of new programs, including creating five 24/7 walk-in crisis stabilization services for urgent mental health care needs and authorizing the state’s judicial system to transfer mental health commitment records electronically and directly to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in realtime so the information is available for firearm purchase background checks. Currently these records are only transferred twice a year. “We understand that the $18.5 is a start — it’s not enough money, but we will reassess funding as we roll out the programs,” Sills said. “We’ll be doing this incrementally so we know the programs are working efficiently.” Jefferson County Board of Education president Lesley Dahlkemper also spoke about mental health treatment in schools. “There is a stigma attached to it that we need to get over,” she said. “We want to have more training for our teachers and counselors at our schools, a program that is underfunded right now.” Many of the residents in attendance spoke about their own favorable and unfavorable experiences with finding Town Hall continues on Page 7
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