Sentinel NORTHGLENN 1/24/13
Northglenn -Thornton
January 24, 2013
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A Colorado Community Media Publication
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Adams County, Colorado • Volume 49, Issue 24
How to save a life Adams 12 employees help volunteer By Darin Moriki
dmoriki@ourcoloradonews. com Gerald Dagenais never skips a beat. On most days, the 75-year-old Northglenn resident can usually be found walking around his neighborhood or volunteering at Malley Drive Elementary School — a place that has become a second home for him over the past nine years. “He has made those special connections over the years,” said Tammie LaRoche, the school’s media clerk. “While it may not have been with every kid, everyone here knows who he is.” But Dagenais’ life took an unexpected turn on Nov. 30 when his heart stopped beating while he was volunteering at the elementary school. LaRoche said she was sitting at the library’s circulation desk, when she heard a loud thud coming from the nonfiction section where Dagenais had been re-shelving books. She stood up and saw Dagenais lying down on the floor to
Gerald Dagenais, a volunteer in the Malley Elementary School library, shares a laugh with students and teachers during an assembly in the school cafeteria Friday. An assembly was held for three of Dagenais’s colleagues who administered CPR after he suffered a heart attack. his side. LaRoche ran to him immediately and knew something was wrong. “It didn’t seem like he had a pulse, and for me, I think that was the scariest part,” LaRoche said. After realizing that she couldn’t help him on her own, she hurried to the school’s computer lab and calmly asked teacher librarian
Kristen Loesel, a teacher librarian at Malley Elementary School, left, shakes hands with North Metro firefighter Matt Young followed by media clerk Tammie LaRoche during an assembly in the school cafeteria Friday. Loesel performed CPR on volunteer Gerald Dagenais who suffered cardiac arrest. The assembly was a surprise to the three teachers whom helped resuscitate Dagenais as North Metro Fire Rescue was dispatched. Photos by Andy Carpenean Kristen Loesel for help. Loesel worked quickly to assess Dagenais’ condition while LaRoche called 911 and noticed that he was gasping for air. Loesel, who received CPR training as a Girl Scouts leader, said she immediately knew
what to do and began doing chest compressions to get his heart beating again. Loesel continued CPR techniques for about three minutes until LaRoche was able to get off the phone with emergency dispatchers
and notify the school’s health aide Kim Adams, who then took over CPR until paramedics arrived. “As I was doing chest compressions, I remember yelling at you, Heroes continues on Page 21
County aims to Deputy shoots, renew airport talks kills suspected By Darin Moriki
dmoriki@ourcoloradonews. com Adams County officials plan to reach out to Denver to end an ongoing feud over proposed plans for an Airport City surrounding Denver International Airport. The goodwill move, which was unanimously approved by the newly-reconvened Airport Coordinating Committee during its Jan. 17 meeting, will ask Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to provide three representatives to join three others from Adams County on an Airport Consultation Committee. District 2 Adams County Commissioner Charles “Chaz” Tedesco, Commerce City Mayor Sean Ford and Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan were chosen during the meeting to represent Adams County on the Airport Consultation Committee. “We would rather have a
conversation with Mayor Hancock than to start the litigation process,” said District 1 Adams County Commissioner Eva Henry. “For us, this is kind of a concerted effort to get Denver to come and sit down at the table with us.” A 1988 intergovernmental agreement that laid out the stipulations and restrictions regarding DIA’s construction and development provided the framework needed to create the Airport Coordinating Committee, which convened for the first time last month after previous Airport City talks with Denver hit an impasse in October 2011. About 30 to 35 Adams County, Aurora, Brighton, Commerce City, Thornton and Westminster officials currently make up the Airport Coordinating Committee. This same agreement also allows for the creation of an Airport Consultation Committee, which will be charged with “ensuring that Adams County and Denver
POSTAL ADDRESS
have the information needed from each other to carry out their respective responsibilities under the agreement and development of the land in the immediate environs of the New Airport,” according to a Jan. 17 Adams County statement. The call to Denver represents a renewed hope that talks will continue to move forward on Hancock’s ambitious plans to expand DIA by creating an Aerotropolis and spurring aviation and non-aviation related development in a 9,000-acre area around the airport. Adams County officials have been supportive of the proposed Aerotropolis plans but agree that Hancock’s proposed Airport City plans violate the 1988 agreement, which limits residential, commercial and industrial development to areas south of 72nd Avenue, and south and east of an open-space buffer along Pena Boulevard. “While we have not heard the specifics of their proposal, we welcome the news that our regional partners want to renew discussions to address major opportunities that will be created by a robust Airport City/Aerotropolis initiative,” Hancock’s spokeswoman Rowena Alegria said in a Jan. 18 statement. “Our goal from the beginning has been to participate in a comprehensive collaborative process and framework that will benefit the entire region.”
drunk driver Officials say driver pulled out a gun By Darin Moriki
dmoriki@ourcoloradonews.com Adams County Critical Incident Team is investigating the shooting of a suspected drunk driver by an Adams County deputy last week after officials say the man pulled out a gun during an accident investigation. Adams County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Terrance O’Neill said the shooting happened around 6 p.m. on Jan. 14 shortly after two deputies were dispatched to a stretch of road near East 142nd Avenue and Quebec Street to respond to a Report Every Drunk Driver Immediately (REDDI) call. O’Neill said the caller was following the suspected drunk driver and reported to dispatchers the driver flipped over his dark-colored sedan to the side of the road. At the scene, deputies reported the suspected drunk driver had sustained a heavy amount of damage to
his car and was crouched down by the caller’s car with what appeared to be a case a beer. O’Neill said one of the deputies was assessing the driver’s condition by asking him questions and giving verbal instructions, when the man stood up and pointed a handgun at them. The deputy then drew his weapon and fired two rounds at the man, who then fell to the ground. Brighton and Thornton Fire Departments personnel attempted to render aid, but soon pronounced him dead at the scene. The Adams County Coroner’s Office said the man had died “as a result of a single gunshot wound to the chest.” The coroner, Monica Broncucia-Jordan, said the man’s name was not being released at the request of his family. O’Neill said deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave while the Adams County Critical Incident Team conducts its investigation.
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