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Colorado News Miner 138
Dinosaur Ridge destruction, conversion therapy, a Boulder racist, Colorado crime, and more.
by Ari Armstrong, Copyright © 2025
Ari's Recent Columns at Complete Colorado and the Colorado Times Recorder:
• Bureaucrats dither as Colorado dinosaur tracks fade away
• Much of Colorado public education a slow-rolling disaster
• Path to Camp Amache ran through Denver’s Chinatown
• When cancel culture came for a Wheat Ridge brewpub
• Colorado 'free' school lunch measures wrong policy for problem
• Amache: The sordid story of Japanese internment in Colorado
• 'Land-use socialism' on the local ballot in Littleton
• Debunking a seance scam: Colorado's original ghost busters
• When Harry Houdini exposed Denver's spirit photographers
• Gov. Candidate Offers No Campaign Promises, Instead Pitches 'Unseen War' with 'Demons'
Dinosaur Ridge Degradation: As I've written, the the main trackway at Dinosaur Ridge is rapidly degrading. A recent article in the Jeffco Transcript is somewhat more optimistic. But if you go look at the tracks for yourself, you will plainly see the problems. Here are three photos I recently took of the site. You can see cracking and sluffing rocks, failed retaining walls, root wedging, poor water drainage, and a failed water retention wall.
Polis on City Cast: "Gov. Jared Polis on RTD's Failures, Taking On NIMBYs, and His Plans for the Future." Polis discusses the "abundance agenda." He correctly explains that high housing costs are largely caused by government-constrained supply.
Sandefur on Conversion Therapy: Timothy Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute writes, "Conversion therapy–at least, the kind offered by counselor Kaley Chiles, the plaintiff in the Colorado lawsuit–isn't like other kinds of treatment. It involves no medical intervention. It consists exclusively of talking. . . . People have the right to communicate, even if their words might seem foolish or dangerous to others." Here is the key point that Sandefur does not cover here: At issue are the rights of the minors receiving the "therapy." It would be very strange to say that a minor has the right to consent to transgender-affirming health care but does not have the right to consent to conversion therapy. Yet that is the standard leftist position. On the other hand, forcing a minor into conversion therapy could amount to child abuse. Compare: Would we let parents take their child to a "counselor" who urged the child to commit suicide? Obviously not. So the issue is not just that adults have the right to freedom of speech. The issue is that minors have rights too, and subjecting minors to certain forms of speech without their genuine consent can violate their rights. In short, minors have the right to consent to conversion therapy and the right to avoid it.
Boulder Racist Attacked: Nathaniel Ellis, secretary for CU Boulder's Turning Point USA, is on film saying he wants to depart Black Americans and saying, "I'm actually racist. I'm just straight-up racist." Front Range Anti-Fascists posted flyers about Ellis, and someone allegedly yelled "f*** you, fascist, "before striking Ellis on the head" with a hockey stick, Westword reports. See also Fox31. This illustrates our predicament. People who flirt with neo-Nazi ideas and who proclaim themselves to be racists are genuinely evil people (capable of reform). At the same time, they have a right to voice their views without fear of violence. If there is no free speech for racists, there is no free speech. A major problem with the so-called "antifa" movement is that its members often equate violence with speech, so they undermine their ability to defeat racism ideologically.
What the Flock? Olivia Prentzel: "After police used Flock cameras to accuse a Denver woman of theft, she had to prove her own innocence." See also 9News. Kyle Harris: "The Denver Police Department has signed a free trial contract with Flock to use the company's Aerodome flying drones."
Health Insurance Hike: John Daley: "Congress failed to extend tax credits to help people pay for health insurance on state marketplaces. Now hundreds of thousands of Coloradans will see their costs double."
Masters Film: A teaser for Peace Officer, a film about Bill Masters, Colorado's longest-serving sheriff, is out. See also the article by Jason Blevins.
Colorado Crime: In a recent fundraising email for Coloradans for Common Sense, a pro-Republican group, Mark Hillman says, "Since 2017, violent crime has risen faster in Colorado than in 48 other states. Car theft is rampant, violent crime is surging, sex crimes are soaring, drug use is pervasive." ChatGPT finds support for Hillman's claims for the period from 2017 to 2022. However, it's also true that crime mostly has decreased since 2022. Here's a recent report from Colorado Politics: "Violent and property crime rates in Denver and Aurora saw sharp declines over three years. . . . Denver's crime rates declined steadily since 2022. . . . Still, Denver topped the list of cities in violent crimes, with more than 234 per 100,000 people. . . . Aurora also saw a noticeable decline since its 2022 apex." The paper cites an October 28 report from the conservative Common Sense Institute.
Domestic Murders: CPR citing the AG: "Of the domestic violence deaths in 2024, 38 were victims; 26 were perpetrators, some of whom died by suicide or were killed by police; and eight were considered 'collateral deaths,' all of whom were children under the age of eight. . . . Five of the children were killed amid custody disputes between their parents, highlighting custody litigation as a high-risk period for families experiencing domestic violence."
Westy Teen Attacked: Fox31: Allegedly a woman and a teen attacked another 16-year-old girl inside a Westminster store, "as employees and other customers watched." Fox31 reports, "The teen says a supervisor later stepped in and handled the situation. . . . Many businesses do not allow employees to become involved in conflicts or apprehend suspects for their own safety. In some cases, doing so is a strict violation of company policies and can result in dismissal." Okay, that's crazy, and anyway it doesn't explain why others apparently stood by and did nothing.
Not Posting Rent: Denver Post: "The Denver Post has not paid more than $2 million in rent to the city as the newspaper attempts to buy out its long-term lease of the 11-story building it once called home." Maybe the city should not be in the real-estate business?
Montezuma Schools: I've glanced at articles about Montezuma-Cortez School District superintendent Tom Burris from the Colorado Times Recorder and the Durango Herald. I'm not going to spend the time to try to figure out what's going on. It does seem clear, though, that the underlying bureaucratic and political system gave rise to the tensions.
Commerce City Homeless: Fox31: "The city's plan to get them off the streets is twofold: Offer services to those experiencing homelessness while also clearing encampments from public spaces like parks and sidewalks." Another needed key policy is to free up the housing market.
Wolves: I think the wolf reintroduction plan was ill-conceived, but I don't see why the federal government is getting involved (beyond just partisan payoff politics). Specifically, per the AP, the feds are barring Colorado from getting wolves from Canada.
Medicaid Spending Out of Control: So says Democratic Governor Jared Polis.
Anti-Trans Catholics: James O'Rourke: "Colorado's Catholic Bishops have directed parishioners to gather signatures at church to place anti-trans initiatives on next year's election ballot."
Murder In the Sky: In 1955, a Colorado man murdered 44 people by giving his mother "dynamite wrapped as a Christmas gift," reports CPR. The man had purchased flight insurance for his mother. History Colorado also has a small exhibit about the crime.
Pettersen Induced: Rep. Brittany Pettersen had to be induced because her child's heart rate was low and had "the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck." Scary.
Church Housing: The Montrose Methodist Church is in a fight with the city over homeless people "camping" on church land.
Denver Horror Collective: It exists, and it has out a book of short stories.