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Local organizations and neighbors work together in Villa Park to launch an ExtremeCommunity Makeover, to cleanup and restore 10 city blocks of West Denver neighbor-hoods. Photo by Marla Lindstrom Benroth.

Giant Health care fightahead at State Capitol

Beating back a set of health insurancereforms will draw lobbyists like moths tothe flame at the State Capitol.

Rep. Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora)introduced legislation that will requireinsurance companies to justify their rateincreases before they can take effect.Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D-Denver)also announced a companion measure torequire insurance companies to pay whatthey owe, when they owe it.

North Denver representatives,including Senator Paula Sandoval andRepresentative Jerry Frangas will likelybe front and center in the fight. Sandovalis noted as a friend of the insuranceindustry, but Sandoval is the primeSenate sponsor of the bill, which wouldturn health insurance upside down inColorado. Frangas is a bill co-sponsor.

The insurance industry has spent morethan $1 billion nationally on lobbyingactivity from 1998 - 2007. In just the firsttwo months of the 2008 session, the insur-ance industry had already spent $188,000

in lobbying just in Colorado. That figureis expected to increase dramatically bysession end. There are dozens of insur-ance lobbyists in Colorado.

Morgan says consumers should havea right to know where their premium dol-lars are being spent.

One insurance lobbyist, CaroleWalker with Rocky Mountain InsuranceInformation, told Steven Paulson, anAssociated Press reporter, that rate hikessometimes take as long as two years to

make a decision.The bill requires review of the pro-posed rate hikes within 60 days, soMorgan reason that this an example ofinaccurate sky is falling type argu-ments that have begun and will likelycontinue.

Morgan says insurance premiumshave increased in Colorado six timesfaster than inflation, and that consumersare getting less coverage.

We have an obligation to serve as awatch dog on rates to protect Coloradofamilies and businesses from being over-

charged, and to bring transpar-ency to our insurance rates sowe know where our money isgoing, said Carroll.

I dont think citizens canreally understand why mean-ingful health care reform hits adead-end unless they know howmuch time and money is spenton lobbyists to defeat reformefforts. The people will decidethe fate of these efforts.

After first reading, a pair a rezoning bills now move to a public hearing inCity Council on April 28th.

The rezoning, which woud changezoning in two areas of West Highlandsand Sloans Lake from R-2 to R-1, ishoped by proponents to stop scrape-offs of single family homes which are being replaced by duplexes and tri-plexes. Opponents say the re-zoningharms private property rights.

Significantly, Councilman RickGarcia successfully asked the CouncilsBlueprint Denver committee to add

language to the rezoning bills, extend-ing the effective date until January 1,2009. According to Garcia, the eight

months would allow projects in motionto be concluded. It would also allow aproperty owner who have said they hasplans for a scrape-off to begin. Garciaindicated that those changes were nec-essary to meet objections raised bythose on City Council.

Garcia said he expects a legal pro-test of the re-zoning to be filed. A legalprotest, if certified, would require tencouncil votes to pass the bills.

The re-zoing issymbolic as to how we are goingto deal with the implementaton of

Blueprint Denver (the city comprehen-sive plan), said Garcia.

More online at northdenvernews.com

by the North Denver News

Walk out to your car in the morning,and the odor strikes you first. You smellgas. And then you see the puddle of itunderneath your car.

That was the scene eighteen timesover this winter, as theives brazenlydrilled holes into the gas tanks of trucksand SUVs from below to steal gas.

Its amazing they didnt blow themselves to kingdom come, said VenWagner, a mechanic who welds gastanks for repair. If they got a tank thatwas mostly empty, a small spark couldhave ignited the gas vapor, and theywould have had a nice fireball.

Denver Police Detectives arrestedtwo men, Shad Reimer and RandellTomei, after a search revealed evidenceof the thefts, followed by a swift confes-

sion.It took police almost two months

to track down the thieves, who struckin the middle of the night, and left few

clues or evidence.Repairs to the trucks and SUVs raninto the thousands of dollars, as manyneeded a full replacement of their gastanks in order to be safely roadworthyagain.

Arrest in North Denver gasthefts

This month

North

DeNver News

Windows Dressed upp.34

Queens Day p.23

Zio Romolos p.15

Old Gardens p.18

18 gas thefts from parked trucks andSUVs have left a mess across NorthDenver

Reimer and Tomei

Cumulative Changes in Health Insurance Premiums, OverallInflation, and Wages and Salaries 2001-2005

40.1%

7.7%

25.1%

50.5%

60%

2.8%

1.2%

2.4%

13%7.2%

10%

8.0%

7.9%

6.7%4.7%

0%

10%

20%

30%

0%

50%

60%

70%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Health Insurance Premiums Wages and Salaries Overall Inflation

Sources: Colorado Health Institute (premiums) ,Bureau of Economic Analysis (wages), and Bureau of Labor Statistics (inflation).

North Denver re-zoning movesto final Council hearing

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April 4, 2008Page 2 North DeNver News

The Origins of Economic Distress:Apex and Foundation

We now have seen three financial bubbles arise and two burst in an aston-ishingly short period of time. The firstwas the internet/tech stock bubble, whichblew up, vaporizing some $7 trillion. Nextwas the housing bubble, in which homevaluations rocketed up 50% while GDPincreased 14%. Eric Janzen, writing inHarpers, put the inflated value of hous-ing due to the bubble at $13 trillion, using

the Federal Reserves Flow of Funds. Onegood way to recognize a bubble? Whenthe cost of an item (like a home) is increas-ing far more quickly than peoples abilityto buy the item. And now we are in themidst of a commodity bubble, with goldand oil leading the way, but also includinggrain, uranium and copper. The com-

modity bubble is currently being inflatedby two factors-- the plunging value of thedollar, which automatically creates priceincreases in commodities valued in dollars,and the massive asset rotation out of stocksand into commodities. Simply put, whenstocks and bonds look risky and none-too-profitable, investors switch to anotherasset class or type of investment. The stockmarket has been flat for a decade, mea-

sured by the S&P 500, so investors haveput their money into, or speculated with,oil, gold and the like. More buyers meanhigher prices, yes?

Some observers, like WilliamFleckenstein, put the bubble blame square-ly upon the Federal Reserve, and a sus-

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Out goes Republican hatchetman(see the law-skirting Trailhead 527)and nice guy oilman Bruce Bensonas head of the Denver Public SchoolsFoundation. And in comes self-de-scribed homemaker Kristin Richardson,another major Republican donor, tohead a foundation that ostensiblysupports an overwhelmingly poor,Hispanic, and urban school district invery Democratic Denver.

Richardson has donated $25,000 tothe Republican National Committee,along with checks to Pete Coors, Bush-Cheney, the American Renewal PAC,and Rick ODonnell. The AmericanRenewal PAC , with a track recordof supporting the most conservativeRepublican candidates for federal

office, was the leadership PAC of JCWatts, an outspoken Oklahoma con-servative.

All in all, Richardson has donat-ed more than $50,000 dollars toRepublicans, including a maximumdonation to Mitt Romney.

Give the high level of involvementof DPS Foundation-associated folks inpumping big Republican money intoDenver School Board races, this new

leadership development shouldnt bea surprise.

But what are the educational policypositions of a Bush, Coors and Romneysupporter. Vouchers? Support for char-ters?***

--North Denver News

Its a another big Republicandonor to head the Denver PublicSchools Foundation

Imagine our economy in three parts.The first is the foundation, upon whicheverything else rests. In the modern age,that foundation is energy- the vast enter-prise by which resources are taken fromthe earth (and increasingly the sun and

sky), refined, transported and used. Thethird, the apex, is the financial sectorthe creation of capital and credit, and itsexploitation. Everything feeds the apex,every credit card and check transaction,every major purchase (home, car, educa-tion) puts a percentage into the financialsector, however small. Finance is large-ly parasitic, feeding off value and tradecreated elsewhere. The middle ground between the apex and foundation is ourproductive economy, where labor andcapital combine to create value and ben-efit.

This metaphor is purely subjectivethere is no value judgement in putting banks at the top and oil drillers at the

bottom and everyone else in the middle.But it is helpful to understand how thesesegments interact.

Most Americans dont recognize thisstructure and the cracks that threatenthe stability of the productive economy.Our leaders, when aware, wont discussit. Interests, from corporate, to labor, toenvironmental, to bureaucratic, fear a realdebate about our common needs. Themedia, generally too depthless, wontdare to tell the story. Academia is too frac-tured and secularized to grasp the longview round it.

Regardless, the problems are real.Some measures of it are visited uponthe vast majority of American families.Real wages (adjusted for inflation) in the

United States are stagnant over the last

seven years, only 0.8% higher in January2008 then March 2001.

Inflation is said to be contained. Butthe reality? Energy prices leap ever higherdaily. Health care costs inflate at doubledigit rates. Even food prices threaten the

effective standard of living. The dollar isso weak that it may not be the worldsreserve currency much longer, a possibili -ty that could literally bankrupt the nation,leaving no buyers for the prodigious debtwe create month in and month out.

At its peak, the apex, the Americanfinancial sector is in miserable shape,despite extraordinary efforts by the FederalReserve to maintain stability. Highly lev-eraged in every market by speculation,from credit card debt to municipal bonds,we are seeing a gigantic house of cardscrumble. American prosperity is an illu-sion of debt. We borrow, and create moneythrough leverage, far in excess of thecumulative value of economic production

(GDP). At every turn, from mortgages, tobonds, we put a fraction down and prom-ise to pay later. A hedge fund, CarlyleCapital, related to the private equity fundthe Carlyle Group, failed last month-- itwas leveraged 32 times to one. In plainlanguage, it took $1,000 in collateral andpurchased $32,000 worth of mortgages--good old government insured mortgages,to the tune of $27.1 billion. No bank orcredit union could ever have done this32-to-1 trick, but a variety of pseudo- banks have done the same, essentiallycreating phony money through leverage.And many of them, including the giantinvestment bank Bear Stearns have nowfailed. That phony money is now gone,taking some $18 billion in shareholder

value with it.

see FINANCIALs on page 9

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Over 40 percent of Colorados highschool students never make it to grad-uation, and our state ranks 48th forhigh school dropouts between ages16 and 19, according to The ColoradoChildrens Campaign. Colorado ranks

26th overall out of the 50 states in thenumber of high school dropouts.

But even worse, the ColoradoDepartment of Education reports ashocking 72.3 percent of Hispanics inDenver are dropping out of school the worst rate in America. Villa Park,

south of West Colfax, where Latinoresidency reaches 80 percent comparedto 32 percent in Denver overall, is aneighborhood hit hardest. With a high

poverty level, 63 percent of householdshave income less than 100 percent ofDenvers median income.

Several organizations, in an effort toencourage Villa Park homeowners whostruggle financially by offering practi-cal help, have partnered and launched

what theycall ExtremeC o m m u n i t yMakeover, amassive out-reach to restore10 city blocksof West Denverneighborhoods,according toC o n f l u e n c eM i n i s t r i e s ,which is spear-heading thecleanup. The tenblocks are Colfax

to 6th, Federal toSheridan.

It is extremenot in the senseof TVs ExtremeMakeover HomeEdition, where beaten-up hous-es are razed tothe ground and

rise again as huge breathtaking state-of-the-art residences. The work in thiscommunity may be just an exteriorspruce-up, but its extreme in the senseof the sacrifice of strangers willing tobuild bridges of hope to those in need.Its extreme in the heart connections

that are made in the process.The initiative serves the communitythrough two primary projects:

Extreme Community Makeover

unleashed in Villa Park

see NEIGHBORHOOD on page 10

by Marla Lindstrom Benroth

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April 4, 2008Page 4 North DeNver News

Melanie BeatonNorth Denver Notions

CharmingOldDenver.com

The Official Blog ofCharming Old Denver

Jennifer Allan, Re/Max City Horizons, 303-947-1335

Denver School of Gymnastics (DSG)is celebrating thirty years of teachingchildren the wonderful sport of gym-nastics. Owners Debbie and Coach Joe Walker established DSG in 1967and it is one of the oldest private clubs

in America. Locatedat 58th and Lamar inArvada, DSG has hada strong presence inNorthwest Denverwith alumni and nowtheir children attend-ing programs.

If a child is havingfun, they learn faster,says Coach Joe, and this is the approachthat DSG uses in all levels of teachingfrom mom and tot all the way upto their competitive levels. This phi-losophy is different than most gyms,

we offer competitive team programswithout the long training hours ofother programs, says Debbie. Ourphilosophy is to train efficiently andeffectively during our practice hours.We encourage kids to try other activi-ties and believe strongly in family time,and that competitive sports at a young

age should not take up all of their extracurricular time. This is the team pro-gram philosophy that Debbie and Joehave used for 30 successful years.

Denver School of Gymnastics offersprograms starting at 18 months withParent and Tot classes that are availablefor boys and girls, as well as preschool

level classes that are forty-five min-utes. After preschool level, the pro-gram becomes available to only girls,and depending on their skill level thoseclasses are one hour to one-and-a-halfhours once a week. The girls can then

move up into DSGscompetitive team pro-gram that competeswith the USAG andlocally with the RockyMountain Leagueorganizations.

Denver School ofGymnastics also offersa Moms Morning Out

Program that runs Tuesdays, Thursdaysand Fridays through out the summer. Itis a half day program that offers gym-nastics, crafts and fun in the jumpingcastles.

In honor of thirty years, DenverSchool of Gymnastics is having areunion on August 16, 2008. This will be a great celebration for past alumnias well as current families attendingDSG, which have made 30 years pos-sible. If you are an alumni, there is analumni registration form available on

their website dsgym.com. Our biggestsuccesses are the amount of formerDSG gymnasts that still love gymnas-tics and DSG and that they bring theirown children back to train with us.

For more information the Denver Schoolof Gymnastics can be reached at 303-424-2910 or on the net at www.dsgym.com.***

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April 4, 2008 Page 5North DeNver News

How many neighborhood activistsdoes it take to screw in an energy-efficient light bulb, thereby reducingDenvers carbon footprint? Just two,and in pursuing this easy means toreduce energy consumption in theirown front yards, Kevin Suchlicki andSue Okerson started the Porch BulbProject.

The Porch Bulb Project endeav-ors to take a chunk out of residentialgreenhouse gas emissions by replac-ing incandescent porch bulbs withenergy-efficient compact fluorescentlamps (CFLs). For Earth Day 2008, thePorch Bulb Project, joining with its newpartner Groundwork Denver, aims todistribute 100 porch light CFLs in theSunnyside neighborhood.

The Porch Bulb Project evolvedbecause Okerson and Suchlicki wantedto take action in reducing Denvers

carbon footprint. They noticed lotsof porch lights on all night -- idealsituations for CFLs. So Suchlicki andOkersons bright idea was to replaceincandescent bulbs in porch lights withCFLs . . . for free.

Okerson and Suchlicki started out bydonating the CFLs themselves. To thisgenerosity, another 300 CFLs have beenadded from the Citys environmen-tal sustainability initiative GreenPrintDenver and the City Council offices ofRick Garcia and Judy Montero.

Since its inception, over 70 incan-descent bulbs have been replaced,reducing Denvers carbon footprint by almost four metric tons per year.

Although we still have a ways to go

-- a Denverites per capita emissionsare about 25 metric tons per year -- thePorch Bulb Project is low-hanging fruitthat moves us all in the right direction.CFLs use 25 percent of the energy anincandescent bulb uses and can last 10times as long, consequently reducingwaste, energy use, and the emissionsand pollution that result from that con-sumption. Additionally, each CFL cansave as much as $40 over the life of thebulb.

Groundwork Denver, a non-prof-it based in Northwest Denver, willwork to further the Porch Bulb Projectsaccomplishments, expanding the useof CFLs as well as providing infor-mation and resources in reducingresidential greenhouse gas emissions.Groundwork Denvers mission is toimprove the physical environment andpromote health and well-being throughcommunity-based partnerships and

action.The Porch Bulb Project is a compo-

nent of Groundwork Denvers ClimateChange Program. To volunteer forthe Porch Bulb Project, to donate bulbs or for more information aboutGroundwork Denvers Climate ChangeProgram, contact Program Director Julie Connor at 303-455-5600 or Julie.Connor@groundworkdenver.org, orvisit www.groundworkdenver.org.

For more information about Denvers

carbon footprint, visit www.greenprintden-ver.org. For more information about thePorch Bulb Project, visit www.porchbulb-project.org. ***

Low-hanging fruit on the

porch

by Julie Connor

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If your schedule allows,traveling on the shoulder

is the way to go.In travel lingo

the year is divided into three basic periods: high season,low season and the shoulder.The shoulder basically AprilMay, early June, September and October is close enough to high season for youto enjoy decent weather, but far enoughaway from peak tourist time so that youwont have peak crowds.

If you plan on going to Brazil duringCarnaval, Mexico during spring break,or the Big Island of Hawaii for theIronman, plan on paying a hefty pre-mium.

By traveling on the shoulder, Ive hadthe animal-rich Pantanal in Brazil virtu-ally to myself, nearly deserted beachesin Mazatlan, Mexico, and uncrowdeddive boats and dive sites in Hawaii.

Flexibility is key to airline travel dur-ing the shoulder. Depending on whatday of the week you travel you mightsave $100-200 on your airfare. I often

find that changing a travel date froma Monday to a Tuesday will save me a

bundle. And long-haul flights duringoff-peak and shoulder season are rarelyfull, so you might get a couple of seatsor even a whole row to yourself.

Bargaining is the key to getting hotelrooms at great rates during the shoul-der. Hotel reservation agents are sup-posed to first offer you full-rate rooms.But since hotels are unlikely to be fullduring this time, you have a strong

bargaining chip on your side as hotelswould rather have you there even at acheaper rate than have another emptyroom for another night. Dont be shy.Ask if there are any lower or special

rates, and youre virtually guaranteedto get it. Be cheeky and ask for a room

upgrade, and you mightget that too!

Once youre there, besure to check the hoursand availability of touristattractions, restaurants,

buses, trains, etc. Some places mighthave shorter hours, such as museums inEurope, that tend to close earlier in thewinter, and some smaller tourist townsmight close down altogether during thewinter. While a full stop to business is

becoming more rare, its still a good ideato check.

Choosing your hours carefully cango a long way toward having a calm,uncrowded visit to a very popularattraction. Ive visited the famous ruinsat Chichn Itz several times over thepast many years. Each time I go thereare more wonders uncovered, and eachtime there are more people who wantto see them. The last time I went I hadrented a car and driven all over theYucatn to several different ruin sites

and small towns, so I had flexibility. Igot to Chichn Itz at 8 in the morn-ing, before the crowds and before it got

blazing hot. I had this ancient majes-tic Mayan city virtually to myself. Bythe time the tour buses rolled in fromCancn with their thousands of visitors,I was done ruin-tromping and headedto an underground cenote to cool off.

For those of you with kids, the shoul-der season is hard to hit unless you wantto pull the kiddokens out of school. Butfor those of you who arent slaves to theschool-year schedule, you can travel tothe best places on earth, for less, andwithout feeling like the rest of the earthis there with you!***

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National author returns to

Highlands home, urges better

vision in new developmentby Elizabeth J. Wheeler

Page 6 North DeNver News April 4, 2008

Sarah Hilbert, 39, author ofWorking-Class Beauties: The

Colorful Brick Bungalows of DenversHighlands in the Winter 2007 issueof American Bungalow, this Marchvisited her parents in the familysHighlands home, which they haveowned for 34 years.

Over coffee she told me, I livein an amazing historic district inPasadena, California called BungalowHeaven. It is recognized nationwideas one of the first historic residentialdistricts of the country and for itscharming one- and two-story crafts-

man bungalows, all of which werebuilt from 1905 to 1920 for working-and middle-class families. Many ofthe homes in Highlands are similarto those in my neighborhood. Even inthe current unstable housing marketin California, realtors say our homesare selling because people want tolive in a character community thatis stable.

Hilbert stated that BungalowHeaven would never have come tobe were it not for a few people whowere shocked into action in the 1980swhen several beautiful bungalowswere torn down to make way for anugly, three-story apartment building.The parallels between Highlands nowand Bungalow Heaven 20 years agoare striking.

She referred me to this excerpt fromthe Bungalow Heaven NeighborhoodAssociation website (http://www.bungalowheaven.org/background.html).

Some of the more concernedneighbors began phoning others, andset up a meeting to see what could be done. Soon the precariousnessof our neighborhood became clear.To keep our bungalows from beingdemolished and replaced with a wallof apartment buildings, we would

have to aggressively push through adownzoning to zone the land backto single family use.

So we circulated petitions, drewmore and more people to meetings,insisted that other City Council mem-

bers listen to us -- and we showedthem the new apartment building.

After months and months of dis-

cussion, hearings, arguing with land-owners expecting to bulldoze andcash in, we won.

Two things concern Hilbert aboutthe process occurring in Highlands:

1. There is no enforced, vigilantdue process that allows neighbors tolearn beforehand that a home on their block will be torn down. Neighborsseemingly have no recourse overscrapes that occur in their near prox-imity.

She told me, My mother knows

a woman who had a new two-storydevelopment constructed next doorafter a scrape. She can no longergarden the same way she did in herbackyard because her natural light isblocked. Shouldnt she have been ableto voice that concern before the build-ing was created? Do the needs andwants of the immediate communitynot matter at all when a developmentis about to take place?

2. There are no design guidelinesand development standards in place.

From my understanding,Blueprint Denver would help delin-eate guidelines, but it sounds asthough there has been great difficultyin getting Blueprint Denver codified.While I would never advocate foruniformity in style and appearance,I would argue that placing two-sto-ry stucco, modern-style, glass-and-steel structures right in the middleof a block of small brick cottages is,at best, terribly unimaginative and,at worst, the path to destabilizingthe neighborhood by destroying thehumanscale and charm of the neigh-borhood, stated Hilbert.

Highlands shaped who I am - itforged my passion for old homes,and it made me seek out urban neigh- borhoods and urban communities

as an adult. I want to make surethat as Highlands changes, its donewith vision and responsibility andthat the community is wholly includ-ed in the process. ***

No r t h D e n v e r NEWS

North Denvers Bigger, Better Paper

To Advertise: 303.458.7541

A stucco, modern-style, glass-and-steel structure pierces a block with many smallbrick cottages on Meade Street. Design guidelines and development standards would

have prevented this obtrusive style and height. Photo by Elizabeth J. Wheeler

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Fran Schroeder and Corinne HuntDenver Icons

April 4, 2008 Page 7North DeNver News

Its first Mass was said in a rent-ed feed store on the corner of 25thAvenue and DecaturStreet on October 6, 1889,in what was the townof Highlands. In time it

would become part ofDenver. The celebrantwas Dominican Fr. Joseph T. Murphywhose audience numbered 28 people,

a listing of whom still exists in churchrecords. The pews and altar had

begun life as dry goods boxes, butattendance grew rapidly, and it was

decided to move servic-es to the old HighlandsTown Hall at 29th andFederal.

The first summer inthe new location, with

Edward D. Donnelly, the first pas-tor, assisted by Father Murphy, the

parish raised $500 to buy three lotsat West 25th and Grove, where a

If you own mostly fixed-rate invest-ments, such as bonds and certificatesof deposit (CDs), you will probablyhave to take smaller withdrawals eachyear than you would if your portfo-lio contained a greater percentage ofstocks. Thats because stocks, overtime, have more growth potential thanother types of investments - and youwill unquestionably need this growthto combat the two threats to yourretirement income described above:longevity and inflation. (Of course,

stocks also carry the risk of losingsome, or all, of your principal, but ifyou invest in an array of quality stocksand hold them for the long term, itdoesnt guarantee a profit or protectagainst loss but you may be able tohelp reduce the effects of price volatil-ity.)

Another factor behind your annu-al withdrawal rate is the amount ofincome you can expect from othersources. If you open a small busi-ness or do some consulting, you may be able to withdraw less from yourinvestment portfolio than if you hadno earned income during your retire-ment years. You also may be able to

make lower annual withdrawals ifyouve built up a sizable pension or401(k), supplemented by your month-ly Social Security checks.

Your financial advisor can help youdevelop a withdrawal strategy that issuitable for your individual needs andthat can counter the effects of infla-tion, longevity and market volatility.By making the right moves at the righttime, you can go a long way workingtoward the retirement lifestyle youveenvisioned.

You can reach Eric Jasper, AAMS at303.458.6655 for more sound financialadvice. ***

St Dominics

Church

two-story brick,R o m a n e s q u echurch schoolopened.

Five Dominican Sisters arrivedfrom Wisconsin in August 1890, to

open a school.A convent was built for them at

3035 West 25th.Despite a fire in February 1891,

the facilities were rebuilt, servedby several interim pastors, untilthe arrival of Father Roscoe F.Larpenteur in 1918. It was hewho oversaw the building of thechurch we admire on FederalBoulevard. Designed by thesame architect as that of theDenver Municipal Auditorium,Robert Willison, the EnglishGothic church was built of stonefrom quarries in Monte Vista,

Colorado, and Boise, Idaho.It was dedicated on February14, 1926, by Bishop Tihen withdozens of Dominican priests, brothers and sisters in theirwhite robes in attendance atthis, the home base for RockyMountain Dominicans. It wasthis church that opened the firstcredit union in the diocese in1933 to help parishioners duringthe Great Depression.

Viking Park, across FederalBoulevard from the church, pro-

vides a magnificent foreground forthis grand Gothic church.***

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When youre working, you proba-bly focus on how much youre puttingin to your investment portfolio. Butwhen you retire, how much you takeout will be a matter of considerableinterest. And thats why you have toprepare the proper withdrawal strate-gies.

Specifically, once you retire, youllneed to decide what percentage ofyour investment portfolio you canwithdraw each year without runningout of money. How much can you take

out annually?Theres no one right answer for

everyone. However, when youre con-sidering a suitable withdrawal rate,youll need to consider a few differ-ent factors - one of which is your ageat retirement. Given todays longerlife expectancies, you could easily bearound - and incurring a wide vari-ety of expenses - when you are 90 orolder. Consequently, the younger youare when you retire, the lower yourannual withdrawal rate should be.

But, when determining your idealwithdrawal rate, it isnt just the sheernumber of years that you need to con-sider - its also whats happening to

your purchasing power during thoseyears. Even with a relatively mildannual inflation rate of 3 percent, itwould take just 25 years for the costof living to essentially double. So,if you need, say, $75,000 per year tocover your expenses when you retire,you will need $150,000 per year in25 years. If we go through a periodin which inflation rises significantly,you might have to scale back yourannual withdrawals or adjust yourinvestment portfolio to provide moreopportunities for growth.

And, speaking of your investmentmix, its also a key factor in deter-mining your annual withdrawal rate.

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April 4, 2008Page 8 North DeNver News

Cyndeth AllisonNorth Denver Musings

the details of their lives.In fact, author and naturalist

Kathleen Cains lifelong love affairwith cottonwood trees led to her new

book, The Cottonwood Tree:An American Champion.

The book looks at cotton-wood trees from nearly every

possible angle. It discussesserious scientific informationlike their natural history, identifica-tion of the various subspecies, andhow they are contributing to ourunderstanding of genetics.

It addresses ecological issues, boththe very important part cottonwoodsplay in establishing and maintainingthe habitats in which they live, and

the dangers they facetoday.

It gives us a tourof famous individualtrees across the coun-try. It explains usesof cottonwoods. The bark is sweet foodfor horses, the woodmakes bowls, drumsand Santos and roofbeams for pueblos.

Kathleens bookdoes all of this andmore, in an engagingstyle. The technicalinformation is denseenough to please themost rigorous scien-tist. The tree stories

make you see and feel the enchant-ment of the species. In fact, it doessuch a good job that its been nomi-nated for a Colorado Book Award.

Enchanting? Cottonwoods?

Anyone who has grown up in thispart of the country must think ofthese as common trees, nothing spe-cial, just a hardy native. So I thoughtuntil I picked up Kathleens bookand began to discover all their specialcharacteristics, like the cottonwoodstar, or how they are the first to colo-nize a streambed, making shade forgrasses, flowers, and animals, homesfor birds, using their roots to hold thebank in place.

Reading The Cottonwood Tree:An American Champion was to lookthrough Kathleens eyes, to begin tosee the magic she sees in these trees.

And so I found myself, early in the

It was an unseasonably warmday in early March when my friendKathleen and I spent an amazinghour-and-a-half walking throughopen space looking at cot-tonwood trees.

She showed me manytrees, pointing out how toread their histories and howto read what they are tell-ing us about the environment theylive in. For example, you can telldrought-dropped twigs by the bel-ly-button shape of the end; twigsdropped for other reasons have flatends. She crushed some of thosetwigs to release their musty scent,which put me right back on the bank of the irrigationditch that ran throughour yard when I wasa kid.

Kathleen showedme the sawed-offstump of a gigantic oldspecimen and another

stump rotted awayonly on the south,looking like a natureshrine in the Irishcountryside. We sawflicker condos in thedead trees, still empty,and rodent homes inthe roots, and beaverdamage that will even-tually kill the tree. Wesaw a lone tree on thehilltop, as sincere as any Willa Catherknew, and a beautifully shaped shadetree with a bench underneath.

She showed me how to recognizefungus and how the tree protects

itself. We saw drops of golden sap onthe buds, just waiting for the warmthof the next few weeks to becomeliquid.

We saw Plains Cottonwoods andNarrow Leaf Cottonwoods, whichdont look to me like cottonwoods atall, and hybrids.

She broke a twig at the knuckleto reveal a magical center - a nearlyperfectly-shaped five-pointed star.

Kathleen glowed as she showedme each new wonder, and as she toldme the natural history associatedwith this type of tree. She loves eachcottonwood she meets. To her theyare individuals and she remembers

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spring, on a pathalong FarmersHighline Canal,rapt, as Kathleen alternated betweenheavy science and delightful folklore,touching bark, tramping through lastyears leaves, meeting any number ofthese strong, noble beings. I had no

idea there was so much to learn, orthat I, certainly no naturalist, as anyregular reader of this column knows,could have so much fun learning it.

Kathleen will be at the West SideBooks Stories for All Seasons on May10 reading from her book and sharingmore about the magic of cottonwoodtrees. Ill certainly be there. Why dontyou join us?

Stories for All Seasons SecondSaturday Readings, West Side Books,3434 W. 32nd Avenue, 303/480-0220,

May 10, 7:30 PM. ***

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April 4, 2008 North DeNver News Page 9

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ics

tained monetary policy that drove thecost of money to nearly zero for a fifteenyear period. Cheap money also channelsmoney from the productive sectors of theeconomy into financial speculation, widen-ing the cracks in the apex. Fleckensteins

book, Greenspans Bubbles, is a lengthytour of the effects of the Feds actions.Speculation is fueled by cheap money andleverage, and while regulators have turneda blind-eye to widespread and creative useof leverage, cheap money is purely theresult of monetary policy.

It seems, however, that bubbles andleverage are only a portion of the problemsbesetting the apex of the economy.

The Chinese are purchasing the debt ofthe United States at the rate of $1 billiondaily, totaling some $1.5 trillion so far. As James Fallows has reported, that meansthe poor of China have purchased $4,000in U.S. debt for every man, woman andchild in America. Put on hold for a secondwhat that means in geo-political terms.This represents a huge risk for both Chinaand America. For the Chinese, this is aninvestment risk. As the dollar suffers, thecommodities that they use for manufac-ture and the energy they import, get moreexpensive relative to their huge asset base.As some point, the Chinese will have todiversify (just like your 401k), and unwindthis giant dollar position, or risk gettingclobbered as everything they import goessky high in pricing. For the U.S., this is adebtors risk. If the Chinese call our loan,or begin to sell off their devalued dollarinvestments, we will be badly hurt. Theywill be selling into a falling market, riskinga run on Treasuries. Simply put, the interestcost to taxpayers will skyrocket, crippling

our ability to deal with Social Security,Medicare, Medicaid, not to mention every-thing else the federal government spendsmoney upon. This is an arrangement thatsimply can not be sustained.

China also invests in America throughSovereign Wealth Funds (SWF), and theybuy much more than just treasury bonds.

They are giant investors in private equityfunds, which increasingly, own Americancorporations, including many companiesyou are a daily consumer of.

As the American financial sector cra-tered this January, Sovereign Wealth Fundsfrom Singapore, China, Abu Dhabi and

Oman raced to the rescue. Or was it afiresale? Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, MorganStanley, Bear Stearns and UBS, the cream ofthe American banking industry, took in atotal of $30.5 billion from SWFs, accordingto CFO Magazine. Its unclear exactly whoall these investors are, and what their realstakes may total.

How active these SWFs will be as inves-tors, we dont know. But just as small busi-nesses know, when hometown banks getgobbled up and decision-makers move tofar away cities, loans get harder to comeby. If Americans believe that folks in AbuDhabi and Singapore have their best inter-ests at heart, they may be in for a nastysurprise down the road. But what we doknow is that the American economy nolonger has the strength or the flexibility tosupport its own banks and brokers.

Increasingly, the dollar is creating anew set of hazards for our financial apex.The weak dollar hampers our competitiveposition in the financial sector. No onewants to buy assets valued in dollars whenthose dollars will be worth less tomorrowthan today, an almost guaranteed outcomegiven the Federal Reserves rapid cuts ininterest rates. At some point, the worldwill no longer need the dollar, at least asa reserve currency (the currency assets areheld in). And since America has outsourcedits manufacturing base, increasingly out-source it high-value service industry, andis eroding its status as financial titan, what

will be left? Hollywood? Video games?Not a very pretty prospect. With our lowsavings rate and high consumer debt lev-els, we will be hard pressed to find thefunds to invest in technology, the area westill hold a global edge in.

Next month, the cracks in the founda-tion and what you can do.

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Spicy Pickle announced today thattwo of its Denver-area franchise loca-tions are extending their Smoking HotBenefit for the Friends of the DenverFire Department and the American Red

Cross/Mile High Chapter through April30, 2008. The promotion raises money forthese two Denver organizations everytime a customer says Im a Friend of theDenver Fire Department. Both walk-inand catering sales are included in theoffer.

Either directly or indirectly, DenversRed Cross chapter and the Friends of theDenver Fire Department are essentialto the quality of life in our commu-nity, said John Volmert, Spicy Picklefranchisee and owner of the two SpicyPickle locations at 988 Lincoln St. and

745 Colorado Blvd. Fire victims wouldbe in dire straits without the short-termhousing and living essentials provided

by the Red Cross. And the Friends of theDenver Fire Department works to ensure

that basic firefighter needs, not coveredby tax dollars - like firehouse furnishingsand exercise equipment - are made avail-able to our officers.

Until April 30, Volmerts two SpicyPickle restaurants will donate 10% ofthe proceeds from each sale to these twocommunity organizations when dine-in,carryout or catering patrons make therequest. Total funds will be split equally

between the two groups. The new April30 date further extends the success of thepromotion, which began March 1 to coin-cide with National Red Cross Month.***

Spicy Pickle locations extend Red Cross/

Denver Fire Dept deal thru Apr 30

Financial sector distress echoes through

the economycontinued from page TWO

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Group takes on neighborhood revitalization in Villa Park

April 4, 2008Page 10 North DeNver News

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1. In cooperation with Habitat forHumanity, they are building duplexhousing at 7th and Lowell.

2. Through the One Block, OneChurch, One Day initiative, compa-nies, churches and organizations areadopting a block a day to help hom-

eowners with painting, home repairs,lawn work and other projects.

On Saturday, March 29 on a beau-tiful sunny day more than 20 volun-teers descended upon the King and8th block in the Villa Park area wear-ing thick workman gloves and armedwith rakes, shovels, other tools andsturdy black trash bags. Another 10joined Habitat for Humanity in build-ing duplex housing at 7th and Lowell.

They all came with a purpose: aspart of the early battalion of the initia-tive to serve residents without charge.The Westside Christian Church, a blockover, provided support and cooked uphot dogs and hamburgers and served

fruit and soft drinks donated by areastores, such as Costco, King Soopersand Sunflower Market.

They Couldnt Believe it Juan Ricalday stands in the alley

behind his house peering upward intoa tree where Alvin Maes sits. With hischainsaw cranked, Maes fells widowmaker branches by the armloads.

I was so concerned about this tree,Ricalday says. But I couldnt climb upand cut the branches. I really appreci-ate this help With the money hemakes from day labor jobs, he couldntafford to contract it out.

Audrey shyly sits on the porch ofher modest bungalow. Two of her fivechildren, Tristian, 4, and Angel, 2, withcurly black hair and dark brown eyes,wearing matching outfits, play happilyin the front yard. A couple of hoursago Patricia Maes delivered a basket ofgoodies for Audreys 11-day-old girl,suffering from jaundice and just homefrom the hospital. Inside sits a stroller a replacement from Confluence forthe doll stroller the family was using acouple of weeks ago.

A worker passes by and chats. Asshe leaves, Tristian runs across theyard to the invisible border line calling

continued from page 3 out, Can I give you a hug?Fastened onto a fence in the mid-

dle of the block across from Audreyshome a big sheet of construction paperserves as the backdrop for 13 sheets ofpaper listing the names and addresseson the block of those who wanted help,and Extreme Community Makeover

crews task lists. They include: Trashcleanup. Trim Trees. Rake Yard. Scrapepeeling paint, replace bad plywood.One note says simply Wants to helpus out.

That is the organizational brain-storm of Alvin Maes, from the churchthat has partnered with Confluencetoday, Faith Bible Chapel (Pastor RogerFunks Sunday School class). Mr. Maesheaded up this particular One Block/One Church/One Day outreach. Maesand his wife canvassed businesses fordonations (Lowells provided cement),surveyed the neighborhood for needsand picked up rakes, shovels and othertools offered for loan from the Denver

councilmans office.The marching orders are postedon the fence of Bob Oliver, one of theresidents who rolled up his sleevesand worked with the crew in his yard.They helped him move a 400-poundparking block he is no longer able tomove by himself like he did four yearsago along with cleanup of both frontand back yard.

Oliver is a rotund Walmart greet-er whose license plate says WorldsGreatest Grandpa. In the midst of theswooshing of leaves and laughter ofthe workers, Oliver smiles brightly andsays, This reminds me someone stillcares. His wife pokes her head out theback door to thank everyone.

At the corner of King and 8th, threemen shovel the last of twelve pickuploads of leaves and garbage from adriveway; they have been workingsince early in the morning. The hom-eowners are afraid they will come tothe door with a bill afterward, but themen reassure them, No, we are doingthis to bless you free gratis.

The blessing goes both ways. Itswonderful to meet peoples needs andhelp them out, said one worker whose13-year-old son gave up a Saturdayhanging out with friends to join the

team.Many residents are nowhere to be

seen while workers make their waydown the block. Perhaps they are skep-tical? Perhaps they dont know how torespond to the unexpected kindness?

But among those who join the actionthroughout the day are three young

Latino boys who roam from yard toyard, pitching in to bundle sticks andstuff leaves into bags.

Revitalizing Urban NeighborhoodsAccording to a Confluence Ministries

board member, one of the impetuses forthe community makeover initiative isto stabilize the community and to pro-tect it from gentrification, or the buyingand renovation of houses and storesin deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income familiesor individuals. Gentrification improvesproperty values but often displaceslow-income families and small busi-nesses.

Facilitating the makeovers, Judeand Cindy Del Hierro, founders anddirectors of Confluence Ministries,have been serving Denver for over 25years - many of those years while living

and raising three children in the innercity. In 2003, a former synagogue andyeshiva became available as a home base at 1400 Quitman Street, about amile away from this days makeover.

With the help of hundreds of vol-unteers, and donations of top qualitymaterials from area businessmen, the

abandoned brick building has beengutted and transformed into a beau-tiful outreach center teaming withactivities. Community volunteers pro-vide English as a Second Language(ESL) classes, Whiz Kid tutoring, gui-tar classes, and teach computer skillsin their computer lab. A Mothers ofPreschoolers group (M.O.P.S.) meetsmonthly. During the Confluence blockparties, free basic health screeningalong with other services is also avail-able.

If you are interested in participating inthe 2008 Extreme Community Makeovers,or you belong to an organization, church orbusiness that would like to adopt a block for

a day, contact Confluence at 303-377-3050or e-mail trhoades@confluenceministries.org. For more information, go to www.con-

fluenceministries.org and www.extreme-communitymakeover.org. ***

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Page 11March 4,2008 North DeNver News

I watched the movie Hairthe other night; you know, the1979 film based on a Broadwaymusical that took place during

Vietnam with Treat Williamsas the rebellious hippy with wildhair! It reminded me how muchhairstyles have influenced ourperception of people and fash-ion. Whats in as far as hair-styles is anyones guess. The80s crazy big curls are back butso is the 20s bob and the 70s very straight look with bangs.So wear your hair like youdwear your favorite pair of jeans,comfortably and an ideal fit foryour lifestyle.

My preferred places to getmy hair quaffed in northwestDenver are Bliss, The Parlour,Honey Comb and Scarlet.

If you have fantastic curlyor wavy hair, Victoria at Blisswill know exactly what to doto make sure when you wakeup you dont look like Treat Williams in 1979. For colorI only trust Gabriel at TheParlour with my highlightedlocks. He is also fantastic with

NW Denve r Hairstyl e - b y Shop Gir l men and childrens cuts. Foran all around healthy Coloradolook, ask for Lisa or Angela atHoney Comb. And for the per-

fect shake and run short hair-style, ask Jill Kelley at Scarlet.

For some great style ideaswhile youre out and aboutin northwest Denver checkout Randee, the manager at

Fashion or Faux Pas?Do you have pressing fashion issues?

Questions? Or just want to talk abouta hot new shop? Drop the North

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Charlotte NichollsNorth Denver NotionsIn a rarely traveled hallway at North

High School, a group of faculty membersand students from The MetropolitanState College of Denver (MSCD) haveclaimed an unused classroom to createThe Viking Writing Center. The goal ofthis unique amenity is to strengthen allforms of student writing.

The center gives NorthHigh School students theopportunity to polish theirwriting skills while simul-taneously giving aspiringEnglish educators study-ing at MSCD the oppor-tunity to develop skills working withstudents. Students utilizing the centercan bring any type of writing duringany stage of the writing process.

The writing center has given MetroState students a great opportunity tolearn how to help students with indi-vidual needs. Its important to workwith actual students in addition to theo-retical and practical studies, JordanHeitman, MSCD student and writingcenter volunteer, said.

The Viking Writing Center opened inthe Fall of 2007, led by Dr. Jill Adams, anEnglish Education Professor at MSCD.Students of all grades and writing abili-ties are welcome, and the coaches are

prepared to assist in any stage of thewriting process, from brainstorming toputting the final touches in a finished

piece, or even just a friendly face totalk to. It worked really well to havemy students go down to the writingcenter for prewriting. It put them ina new environment, which allowedthem to be more open, expressive, andexperimental, student teacher Amber

Shearer said. The centeris open Monday, Tuesday,Thursday and Friday from7:30 a.m. 3:00 p.m.

In the writing centersearly days, MSCD studentwriting coaches providedindividual tutoring most

frequently. Over time, the coaches devel-oped new services, and the center nowoffers full class tutoring, presentations,helpful lesson materials, and extracur-ricular activities.

The center also hosts the Brown BagBook Club once a month. Participatingstudents receive a free book and freelunch while they discuss the book withpeers and MSCD students. The writingcenter hosted a writing contest last falland provides information on other con-tests for interested students.

Upcoming activities include Mangaartist visits on April 15 and May 6.Poetry workshop sessions on Fridaysduring learning family time will also be

held April 11-May 16.For more information on the center, con-

tact Jill Adams at jadams82@mscd.edu.***

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North DeNver NewsPage 12 April 4, 2008

Dixie Darr

North Denver Notions

In 1938, seventeen-year-old FernCoon, her sister June and a couple offriends attended a carnival at MapleGrove grade school in DesMoines. The girls entered acake walk and Fern won thecake.

She turned around andsaw a boy with blond hairand blue eyes. He wore brownslacks with very shiny shoes and awhite shirt with the cuffs rolled uptwo or three times.

Arent you going to share? heasked.

Feeling flus-tered, Fern said,I dont haveanything to cut itwith.

Oh, I have aknife, he grinnedand pulled out apocket knife.

So they allshared the cake,and then the boy,named Verle,walked Fernhome. He askedfor a date thatnight, and a fewdays later, he cameto pick her up in a1929 Chevy bor-rowed from hisfather.

When us girlswent out, Fernexplained, Dad always gave us twodollars to put in our shoe, in case we

needed to get another ridehome. He told me that ifVerle lit up a cigarette, I should get out

of the car right away andcome home. He said someboys would blow smoke inyour face and make you allcrazy.

And before they weredown the driveway, Verle

lit a cigarette. I know my dad saw it.Fern said, but we just kept agoin.

When we got into town, he turnedthe car down a dark road and Fern

said, Youd bet-ter stop right hereand let me out. Shewasnt going downthat dark road withhim. It turned outthat he lived at theend of that road.They were going topick up his folks togo to church.

They gotengaged later thatyear, but eventually broke up and bothwent on to marryother people.

Fern raisedher family in DesMoines. Verleand his wife (alsonamed Fern) movedto Colorado andthey didnt seeeach other for fifty

years.Coincidentally, both retired and

spent the winters in Arizona. Onemorning Fern drove her Crown Vic toa restaurant in Mesa where a group ofseniors went for coffee. A car pulled innext to her and she recognized the PolkCounty Iowa license plates. Two mengot out of the car.

Are you from Des Moines? Fernasked. I know everybody in PolkCounty. Whats your name?

Verle Darr, one said.Fern couldnt believe her ears.

Verle Darr? Albert and Goldie Darrsson? Dont you recognize me? Im FernCoon.

His wife passed away shortly after

that, and the reunited couple marriedin 1991, 53 years after they were firstengaged.

On March 25, 2008, at the age of90 and after 17 years of marriage tohis first love, my father, Verle Darr,passed away. I love you, Daddy. Restin peace.***

Love

Story

Verle Darr. Photo by Dixie Darr.

This is Martha, a 3 year old Rottweiler.

She was transferred from a local shelter,

and is very mellow and sweet, she loves

to lean on you, she is looking for her

forever home. If you are interested,

Please call: 720-937-0633.

For Adoption At

Planet Pethood4338 Tennyson Street

Plan

etPethood

theethicalpetstore

Giant Adopt-a-thon at the Oriental, May 31, 11-4! $10 Cat Spay Day April 15!

GemellisRistorante

4363 Tennyson Street720-855-9800

Open 5-9 Tuesday through Sunday

C h e c k o u t o u r W e e k e n d B r u n c h

Saturday and Sunday 9-2

D a i l y H a p p y H o u r 4:30-6:30 i n B a r

Half Price Drafts!

Liquor and Food Specials

It just might be the nicest restaurant space in all of

North Denver- Guerin Green, North Denver News

Gemellis is truly a find. Terrific food, easy-on the

wallet, and a style of Italian cooking that you dont find

much of in Denver.- Warren Byrne

KEZW The Restaurant Show

www.GemellisItalian.com