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Local News

  • Tradesmart to open in South Jeffco, offering media, sports items

    A new 40,000-square-foot South Jeffco emporium slinging everything from skateboards and paintball guns to secondhand DVDs and video games is slated to open Aug. 1.

    Tradesmart, a new concept store from the Amarillo, Texas-based Hastings Entertainment company, is banking on the idea that customers remain hungry for hard copies of media in an increasingly digitized world.

  • Park district selling 30 acres of land

    The Foothills Park & Recreation District recently placed more 30 acres of land up for sale, hoping to net $4.5 million for capital-improvement projects and other expenses.

    The five South Jeffco parcels, which the district calls “surplus land,” have not been slated for park development for various reasons. Most of the parcels are near existing parks, and several sit next to busy intersections, which would make accessibility difficult if parks were to be developed, Foothills executive director Ron Hopp said.

  • 16 county businesses caught selling liquor to minors

    Sixteen Jeffco liquor providers were cited for providing alcohol to a minor in a recent large-scale sting operation, marking a significant increase in the percentage of stores cited over previous years.

    Ten of the stores are in South Jeffco and include a mix of convenience stores, independent establishments and a grocery store.

    As part of the yearly sting operation, underage sheriff’s cadets attempted to purchase beer without providing identification at 70 county businesses.

  • County zeroes in on blighted bus benches

    Ugly, decaying bus-stop benches are an epidemic in South Jeffco, and the county is planning to address the problem by revamping its advertising-vendor policy, officials said at an Aug. 2 meeting with the county commissioners.

  • County considering rules for distressed properties

    The Jeffco commissioners are poised to enact a distressed-property ordinance designed to prevent foreclosed homes from becoming flophouses, nearly a year after the county lobbied the state legislature to allow such measures.

    The proposed ordinance, which the Sheriff’s Office revised after the commissioners earlier this year criticized a previous version as too intrusive on property rights, could be passed in as little as 60 days.

  • New Montessori school targets the younger set

    Preschool is considered by many to be the first fundamental step in a child’s education. But for some, an early start on learning can’t come early enough.

    A new South Jeffco Montessori school is attempting to address that need, offering programs for infants only 6 weeks out of the womb to children as old as 3 — the age at which traditional preschool typically begins.

  • Rec district discusses solutions to budget shortfall

    Foothills Park & Recreation District is facing a $143,000 budget shortfall for 2012, and its board of directors is considering the short-term solution of dipping into savings to bridge the gap.

    Though using savings could prevent the district from closing facilities or laying off employees in the immediate future, a more concrete solution could be necessary to prevent drastic cuts.

  • Library board considers filters to block porn on computers

    Pornographic images may soon be blocked from computers in Jefferson County public libraries, though the textual content of websites such as those of Playboy and Penthouse may not.

    At a library study session Aug. 11, board members weighed several options in regulating Internet content, including doing nothing at all. Other possible choices include blocking only images considered pornographic or blocking pornographic websites in their entirety.

    Though library staff and board members seemed to favor filtering images, that process would have several flaws.

  • County commissioners balk at closing library branches

    The Jefferson County Public Library presented its exhaustive zero-base budget last week to the county commissioners, making a case for funding that would help prevent branch closures but could deplete the system’s reserves in several years.

  • Poor economy puts pressure on Foothills Animal Shelter

    If foreclosures and high unemployment weren’t ample evidence of a recession, the animals coming into Foothills Animal Shelter might be.

    Facing hard times, many pet parents are having trouble footing vet bills and keeping food bowls full. Consequently the shelter, which celebrated its first year of operation this month, is seeing more paws coming through the front door, and animals are overall in worse health than they were only a year ago.

Columbine Courier is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in South Jefferson County, Colo., and the surrounding area.