WEEK OF MARCH 27, 2025
VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 16
FREE
Judge says ESD must restore banned books Superintendent says district will appeal federal court action BY NICKY QUINBY SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
A Parker family plays a game of cribbage on a large board that they built in front of two witnesses for a Guinness World Record attempt to have the world’s PHOTO BY HALEY LENA largest cribbage board.
World’s largest cribbage board is family’s goal Game tradition was passed down through generations BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
No timers, no teams — just a deck of cards, a 10-by-3 inch board with small holes, small wooden pegs and a goal to get the 121st point. This is all a player needs to play the centuries-old game cribbage. The card game dates back to the 1600s, and is said to be derived from an English poet, Sir John Suckling. It’s traditionally played with
two players who advance across the board by using card combinations of pairs, threeof-a-kinds, straights or card groups that add up to the number 15 to score points. “You have to be very lucky or you have to be very skilled,” said Parker resident Allison Denny. “Sometimes, even if you’re very skilled, the luck needs to be there for you to actually win.” But Allison Denny’s family is bringing the game to new heights, as they aim to have the world’s largest cribbage board. Allison and her older sister, Emily, who now lives in Europe, were first introduced to the game at a young age by their mother, Paula Coffee, who was excited to share with her kids all of the Italian games she used to
VOICES: 16 | LIFE: 18 | CALENDAR: 21 | PUZZLES: 23
play while growing up. Paula’s maternal grandparents were both from Campobello di Mazara in the province of Trapani, Sicily. Her grandfather came to the United States in 1905 and her grandmother in 1910. The family began to play cribbage shortly after arriving in the U.S., and it quickly became a family tradition and was passed down through generations. Paula learned how to play cribbage when she was 11 years old, often staying up all night playing with her siblings. “We had seven kids in our family and not a lot of money, so we played cards a lot,” Paula said. SEE CRIBBAGE, P8
A federal judge has ordered the Elizabeth School District to return banned books to library shelves. Denver-based U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney on March 19 granted the ACLU’s request for a preliminary injunction and ordered the Elizabeth School District to return banned books to their shelves by next Tuesday, March 25. ESD voted last summer to permanently remove 19 titles from school library shelves, saying they were sexually explicit and age-inappropriate. District students, parents of students, the local NAACP chapter and authors of the removed books challenged their removal on First Amendment grounds. The judge rejected the district’s arguments to exclude some evidence and dismiss district emails as hearsay. The court also denied the district’s request for an evidentiary hearing. “In sum,” reads the preliminary injunction, “Plaintiffs have shown that the District removed the 19 books based on the authors’ and books’ content and viewpoints on issues such as race, sexual orientation, gender identity, LGBTQ content, and to promote the Board’s self-proclaimed ‘conservative values.’” “At this stage,” the judge went on, “the court must conclude that the District’s ‘decisive factor’ in removing the books was SEE BANNED BOOKS, P5
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