Today's News

Time was, Mike Shaak's life was pretty unremarkable: work, family, friends and pastimes.

Shaak enjoyed his job as a corn miller, and for fun he liked to drag race. Shaak also took pride in having lived all over the country, from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma to Arkansas. And, his two young daughters were the light of his life.

But suddenly, it all went dark.

Last year, Shaak’s retinas became detached. He had surgery, but it was unsuccessful. At age 37, Shaak was blind.

Although nearly 18 months remain in the race for the 6th Congressional District seat, an early look shows that the two Democratic challengers are facing hurdles when it comes to fund-raising.

"It's been slow," says John Flerlage, one of two Democrats running to oust Rep. Mike Coffman from his congressional perch in November 2010. Flerlage, a South Jeffco Democrat, says his fund-raising has been difficult because of the economy.

In Denver area ice hockey circles, he was known simply as “the goalie in the wheelchair.”

Kyle Stubbs and his chair stopped pucks for a lot of teams over the years: the Warthogs, the Grinders, Berserk, Spitfire, and Chimney Full of Squirrels, to name a few. And he frustrated the shooters of other teams too numerous to list.

On a recent Saturday, many of us who played with and against Kyle gathered at the Promenade in Westminster to say goodbye and to remember a man who refused to accept the limits that life imposed.

Residents along Deer Creek Canyon Road are opposed to a bicycle ride to benefit two local charities, saying the event will attract even more cyclists to an already busy and dangerous stretch of two-lane pavement.