Presidents have no authority to change the rules of citizenship on their own, as adjudicated sexual abuser, convicted felon and President Donald Trump is trying to do, but if Trump’s recent dictatorial attempt to end birthright citizenship at the stroke of a pen were to ultimately be realized, it would create negative repercussions for parents and babies born in the U.S. after February 19, 2025. Estimates are that about 150,000 children born in the U.S. each year and their parents could face obstacles under this system.
Category: Children
Children, Education, Elections, Local concerns, School District 51
Mesa County Ballot Issues 4A & 4B: School District 51 Bond issue and Mill Levy Override
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Ballot issue 4A asks if School District 51 can take out a bond (loan) for $190 million with a maximum repayment cost of $410 million and use the money to renovate, make additions to existing school buildings and upgrade classroom technology. Plans include doing high-priority repairs like roof replacements, adding fire sprinklers, upgrading classroom technology, making schools more secure and making it easier for disabled kids o access all school facilities.
Many of the local public schools were built in the 1950s-1960s and need maintenance and upgrades to keep them functional, up-to-date and safe into the future.
The bond measure won’t raise taxes because it replaces an existing bond that will be fully paid off on December 1, 2024.
Ballot Issue 4B authorizes the school district to extend the current mill levy override so the District keep getting a tax already in place that was approved in 2017 and keep the $6.5 million it generates annually to continue paying for additional student instruction days, updated instructional materials, teacher training and priority maintenance to extend the life of its buildings. (A “mill levy override” is a voter-approved increase in property taxes that provides a school district with additional funding.)
Children, City of Grand Junction, Local concerns, Safety
Photos indicate community support for 29 Rd. interchange vs. saving the Orchard Mesa Pool
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Crowd that turned out at a mid-September, 2024 kickoff at Edgewater Brewery for the “Finish the Loop” campaign to build the proposed 29 Road interchange on I-70. The project would cost in excess of $80 million. (Screenshot: KREX-TV/YouTube)
Crowd that turned out at a February, 2024 rally at Eagle Rim Park to save the Orchard Mesa Pool. The indoor public pool provides a year-round opportunity for kids to learn to swim and enjoy water recreation safely out of the river, helping to keep local kids from drowning. Saving the pool would cost fraction of the 29 Road interchange. (Photo: Marianne Taigmann/Facebook).
Activism, Children, Education, Firearms, Grassroots advocacy, Gun violence, Local concerns, Safety, Security
D-51 employee raises a red flag about the way D-51 conducts lockdown drills compared to other school districts
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A highly experienced School District 51 employee who came here from the front range with over 20 years experience in conducting lockdown drills in other school districts is raising red flags about the way D-51 conducts its lockdown drills, and the trauma it is causing students. The employee describes a heartbreaking experience during a lockdown drill with a room full of kindergarteners during the 2023-2024 school year and the lasting effects it had on students. The employee has brought the problem up with school counselors, the D-51 School Board and Tim Leon, Director of Safety and Security for District 51, and even proposed different ways to conduct these drills that are used in other school districts that don’t traumatize students the way D-51’s drills do, and offered research by the National Association of School Psychologists on how to mitigate the negative psychological effects that lockdown drills have on young kids, but the employee’s urgings have been ignored at every turn.
Charter schools, Children, Education, School District 51
D-51 employees share views on the proposed closure of Fruita 8/9 public school
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D-51 employees have shared their views with AnneLandmanBlog anonymously, due to fears of retribution by the District.
This message was sent to AnneLandmanBlog by a School District-51 employee who asked that I paraphrase their message rather than quote them verbatim, to help keep them anonymous. The employee fears potential backlash by the District for weighing in publicly on the way Superintendent Brian Hill is proposing to close the Fruita 8/9 public school.
Here is the message:
Activism, Children, Christian nationalism, Conservatives, Education, Extremism, Local concerns, Religion
People concerned about D-51 Social Studies Forums Nov. 15 & 16
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School District 51 is holding forums today and tomorrow (Wednesday, 11/15 and Thursday, 11/16) to discuss the state’s new social studies standards. The forums are today at Redlands Middle School and tomorrow at Orchard Mesa Middle School, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. each day.
So, what’s up with these forums?
Children, Conservatives, Dangerous Republicans, Democracy, Education, Elections, Extremism, Freedom under threat, Local concerns, politics, Weird western slope stuff
D-51 School Board candidate Barbara Evanson says she wants to ban “a ton” of material from school libraries
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In this excerpt from an interview with “Ruth” and “Lisa” (who do not provide their last names) posted on a YouTube account named “MesaCountyCompass” on October 8, 2023, “District 51 School Board candidate Barbara Evanson says she would ban “a ton of material” from school libraries that she feels is inappropriate.
Activism, Children, Christian nationalism, Conservatives, Education, Elections, Extremism, Freedom under threat, Homophobia, Intolerance, LGBT issues, Mesa County, politics, Propaganda, Separation of Church and State
Woodland Park-based Christian nationalist group working to influence Mesa County District 51 School Board election
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Truth & Liberty Coalition fliers seek to influence the local school board election by focusing on right wing culture war issues. The fliers were placed at La Milpa Tortilleria on 30 Road.
High-quality, multi-colored, bilingual fliers created by the front range Christian dominionist group Truth & Liberty Coalition are showing up at businesses around town. The fliers use right wing culture war rhetoric targeting gay and transgender students in an attempt to influence the outcome of the November 7 District 51 School Board election. The fliers appear to endorse CynDee Skalla, Jessica Hearns and Barbara Evanson.
The fliers were found at La Milpa Tortilla Factory in Grand Junction and are bilingual in English and Spanish.
Charter schools, Children, Education, Environment, Public health, Safety
CU Anschutz environmental toxicologist: Ascent Classical Academy’s lead remediation will have to meet tighter EPA standard of 3 micrograms/sq. ft. for floors, instead of the current standard of 10 mcg/sq. ft.
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The former Rocky Mountain Gun Club building at 545 31 Road, where Ascent Classical Academy plans to open a new charter school eventually, after missing its initially-proposed September 5 date for occupancy. The gun club signs were still on the building as of early August.
Michael Kosnett, M.D., M.P.H., at CU Anschutz School of Public Health in Aurora, CO, an expert in medical toxicology, occupational and environmental health who specializes in occupational and environmental toxicology of heavy metals, including lead, weighed in about the type of post-remediation lead testing that should be used at the Ascent Classical Academy building (swipe or bulk testing), and what the residual lead levels are allowed to be in this situation.
Lead is a highly poisonous element that, according to UNICEF, is responsible for 1.5% of global deaths. Children are particularly susceptible to its effects.
Charter schools, Children, Education, Health, Public health, Safety
CDPHE now says Vertex used an approved test for lead at the Ascent Classical Academy building; lead levels still in question
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How much lead exposure does it take to poison a child? This much.
AnneLandmanBlog received the following email from Bradley Turpin, Milk and Institutions Program Manager in CDPHE’s Division of Environmental Health and Sustainability saying the company that performed the post-remediation testing for lead at the new Ascent Classical Academy building (the old Rocky Mountain Gun Club at 545 31 Road) did in fact use a test that they are allowed to use in this instance. He apologized for the confusion caused by their former statement that bulk testing would be appropriate in this situation. The official did not comment on the current lead levels in the building, but CDPHE does appear to be involved in overseeing the remediation.
Children, Education, Firearms, Health, Local concerns, Mesa County, Public health, Safety
Ascent Classical Academy used the wrong kind of post-remediation lead testing in the Rocky Mountain Gun Club building, according to CDPHE
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How lead is dispersed at shooting ranges (Georgia Dept. of Public Health/Seattle Times)
The Vertex Company LLC of Denver, which Ascent Classical Academy hired to test the old Rocky Mountain Gun Club building for lead contamination after the building was remediated, did the wrong kind of testing, says an specialist with Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).
Caren Johannes of CDPHE’s Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division Compliance Unit, who oversees closed shooting ranges, looked over online remediation report (pdf) that Ascent posted its website on August 11, 2023, and concluded that the Vertex Company did the wrong kind of testing for lead in the building, so their results will not be valid.
Charter schools, Children, Education, Ethics, Health, Local concerns, Public health, Safety, Weird Grand Junction Stuff
Ascent Classical Academy’s lead remediation report shows 30 of 66 areas tested in their new school do not meet HUD requirements
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How much lead exposure does it take to poison a child? This much. And so far no one has guaranteed there isn’t this much lead remaining in the old Rocky Mountain Gun Club building, which is being repurposed to serve as Ascent Classical Academy’s new charter school in Grand Junction
Notice: Since this article was written, AnneLandmanBlog has found out from Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)’s Hazardous Waste department expert in charge of dealing with closed firing ranges that Ascent contractor Vertex Companies of Denver utilized the wrong type of post-remediation testing technique for this facility, rendering the results in the report Ascent posted on August 11 invalid and essentially useless. Read more about it here.
The 8-page, post-lead remediation testing report that Ascent Classical Academy Grand Junction posted on its website August 11, 2023 (pdf) shows that 30 of the 66 sites tested for lead in the old Rocky Mountain Gun Club building at 545 31 Road, which is to serve as the new charter school, still have lead levels 5-23 times above HUD allowable limits.
And Ascent did not test the air inside the facility.
Derek Shuler, CEO of Ascent Classical Academies, in 2018 (Photo: YouTube)
The post-remediation testing was performed by the Vertex Company, which included a disclaimer in the report that essentially says it wasn’t feasible to test all areas of the building, so there may still be areas where lead dust levels exceed HUD limits.
Charter schools, Children, Ethics, Health, Public health, Safety, Secrecy
Ascent Classical Academy still has not provided proof to the public that their new school building is lead-free
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UPDATE as of 8/11/2023, 4:00 p.m. – Ascent Classical Academy updated it’s blog today with a link to a report (pdf) provided by remediation project manager, the Vertex Company. The actual remediation was performed by Hudspeth Environmental Remediation Company based in Centennial, whose website says they specialize in asbestos and lead paint removal. According to the chart provided in the report, many areas remain 5 to 23 times above HUD’s recommended lead clearance cleanup standard of <10 µ/sq.ft. (less than 10 micrograms per square foot). Among these are the men’s bathroom on the first floor, which had 71 µ/sq.ft, the floor of the first floor “men’s restroom in the tactical area,” with 83 µ/sq.ft., the former “Handgun range – floor in NE corner” at 68 µ/sq.ft., “Handgun range – floor in middle by west wall” at 57 µ/sq.ft., the “Handgun range – center of floor in room south of handgun range,” which had 130 µ/sq.ft., the “Handgun range – floor in SE corner” at 98 µ/sq.ft. and “Handgun range – floor in room south of range” with 230 µ/sq.ft.
The “Discussion” part of the report states,
“As it is not feasible to sample all areas of all surfaces, the wipe sampling strategy utilized by VERTEX does not provide for, nor ensure that all surfaces within a subject property undergo wipe sampling; thus, the possibility exists that lead-in-dust concentrations on surface locations not sampled during an assessment may be in excess of HUD and/or CDPHE Regulation 19 cleanup standards.”
Translation:” It’s not feasible to test the whole property, so there may be lead concentrations in places we didn’t check that may be in excess of HUD and CDPHE’s cleanup standards.”
Ascent does not yet have a Certificate of Occupancy for the building.
The Ascent Classical Academy charter school is planning to move into the old Rocky Mountain Gun Club building at 545 31 Road, which formerly served as an indoor shooting range for 7 years. The inside of the building is currently being rebuilt and their website says the first day of school will be Tuesday, September 5, 2023, but to date, Ascent still hasn’t provided the public with documentation from a government health authority that their building poses no threat of lead poisoning to occupants, and they appear to be withholding information on the remediation status of the building. [See above update.]
Children, Dangerous Republicans, Ethics, Janet Rowland, Public health
Commissioner Janet Rowland takes credit for the contributions of fired Public Health Director Jeff Kuhr
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A post on Janet Rowland’s “VoteJanetRowland” Facebook page promoting the child care center at the county’s new Clifton Campus community building. Jeff Kuhr was key to making the child care center in Clifton possible, but Rowland never mentioned his contributions. (Janet is the blonde in the hard had in the photos.)
Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland wasted no time in taking credit for the contributions towards improving childcare in Mesa County made by former Public Health Director Jeff Kuhr, whom Rowland recently pushed out through an expensive and vicious months-long campaign over a personnel disagreement.
On July 29, Rowland showed off the new Clifton Community Campus at 3270 D 1/2 Road to Governor Jared Polis, crowing that it was “designed to be a community hub featuring an early childhood education center…” without ever mentioning that Public Health Director Kuhr was the one who initiated the big push to expand child care in the county (pdf) and helped the County get funding to make the childcare center possible.
Children, Cringeworthy, Domestic terrorism, Education, Embarrassing Republicans, Fake patriotism, Firearms, Gun violence, Lauren Boebert, Safety
Colorado House Rep. Lauren Boebert trashes pin representing child massacred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde
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Advocates for Moms Demand Action, a gun violence prevention group, handed Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) a pin on July 18 honoring 10-year old Maite Rodriguez, one of 19 children massacred in the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022.
Maite’s body was so mangled by gunfire that she was only identifiable by her favorite pair of green Converse tennis shoes with the heart drawn over the right toe that she was wearing that day. Maite, her fellow students and teachers were killed with an AR-style rifle. (Click here for a demonstration of why AR-15 style rifles are so much more damaging to the body than other types of firearms.)
Boebert promptly walked to a trash can with the pin and flier explaining its significance and tossed it into the can, right in front of the people who had handed it to her.
Children, Crime, Safety
Grand Mesa Little League president’s background raising concern
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Photo from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Friday, April 26, 2002
Some people are expressing concern about the president of Grand Mesa Little League after finding out about an arrest in his background that involved sexually-tinged abuse of younger kids, and seeing worrisome comments about his behavior on social media.
Christopher Riley, who was formerly known as Christopher David Rasmussen, was arrested November 21, 2001, on charges of third degree assault and false imprisonment after he tied up a 14 year old boy at Grand Junction High School who had resisted Rasmussen’s attempts to videotape him nude. Rasmussen was also accused of filming additional students nude at the school earlier that month. Rasmussen’s name was made public in the Daily Sentinel at the time because he was 18 years old at the time of the incident.
Children, Conspiracy theories, Ethics, Human rights, Janet Rowland, Public health, Weird western slope stuff
Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland has used county agencies to advance her personal ideology and interfere in personnel decisions before
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Board of Mesa County Commissioners. (L-R: Bobbie Daniel, Cody Davis and Janet Rowland). Photo: Mesa County
District Attorney Dan Rubinstein announced he’s closed the investigation into the Mesa County Commissioners’ allegations of financial wrongdoing by Mesa County Public Health Director Dr. Jeff Kuhr, saying,
“We lack sufficient evidence of anything criminal…” and “…[We] lack sufficient evidence that Mr. Kuhr was personally involved in, or personally directed, any level of reporting that would make him criminally culpable for material misstatements.”
With Janet Rowland at the helm, so far the Commissioners have spent $49,000 in taxpayer funds on a financial audit of Kuhr in an attempt to try find some reason to fire him, in addition digging up and spreading around negative personnel comments about Kuhr from as far back as 2011. So far, everything they’ve found, including a $219 alcohol purchase that has since been reimbursed, have fallen flat. Even four members of the Mesa County Board of Health have said nothing they’ve seen about Kuhr so far rises to the level of a fireable offense. Then they all resigned in protest after learning the Commissioners were going to fire them if they didn’t agree to fire Kuhr.
Charter schools, Children, Cindy Ficklin, Education, Elections, Liberals, Secularism, Separation of Church and State
Drinking Liberally hosts Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross & D-51 School Board candidate Darren Cook
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Drinking Liberally is a non-partisan social group that holds get-togethers in town at food and drink establishments while hosting guest speakers. The event focuses on protection of our civil liberties, like freedom from government and corporate overreach (for example denying workers the right to organize, denying women the right to access abortions and preventing transgender people access to medical care). On Tuesday, May 23, the event was held at Edgewater Brewery at 905 Struthers, by the Colorado River.
The packed crowd included notable conservatives like Tom Keenan and Cindy Ficklin, members of the far right wing group, Stand for the Constitution. The event featured two Speakers: newly-elected Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross and Darren Cook, former longtime D-51 teacher who is running for D-51 School Board.