Health department monitoring of mosquitoes began in early June through a network of mosquito traps set by Colorado Mosquito Control.  The Culex mosquito, known to spread West Nile virus, is tested to determine the risk of disease to humans.  Some municipalities in Weld County have mosquito control programs.  These programs reduce the number of mosquitoes but don’t eliminate all mosquitoes.  It’s important for everyone to take measures to prevent mosquito bites.  Recommendations for preventing mosquito bites and breeding include:

• Apply an effective mosquito repellent to exposed skin and clothing to help avoid mosquito bites.
• Wear light colors and loose fitting fabrics because mosquitoes seem to be attracted to darker colors and can bite through tighter fitting clothing.
• Drain any standing water that provides breeding places for mosquitoes.  Use a Mosquito Dunk (larvacide) if you have standing water that you cannot drain.

West Nile virus is carried by birds and transmitted by mosquitoes that bite the infected birds. Infected mosquitoes transmit the virus to humans, horses, and birds. West Nile virus symptoms may appear in 3–14 days after infection. Initial symptoms include fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, muscle aches and weakness and rash. Symptoms of severe illness include high fever, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, muscle weakness, vision loss, paralysis and even death. If someone develops symptoms, they should contact their health care provider immediately.

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Faith Bible Baptist Church in Greeley will begin teaching a series of lessons on civil unions in light of the bible.

Pastor Matt Walters will be conducting the bible study on Sunday evenings at 6 pm. The church is located at 320 35^th Ave. in Greeley.

In announcing the series, Walters explains that with the legislature recently passing a civil union law, it is important for Christians to know exactly what the bible says about such relationships.

“We live in a day and age where many Christians and even some denominations have felt they need to change to accommodate the times on this issue,” Walters said. “God’s eternal truths do not change just because society says something is now fashionable. Christians need to lovingly stand firm for the truths in God’s word.”

The church is not afraid to take a stand on social issues. Recently the church encouraged its members to sign petitions for the Brady Amendment, which would expand the definition of “person” and “child in Colorado’s wrongful death laws and criminal statutes to include an unborn child.

The amendment is sponsored by Heather Surovik, whose son Brady was killed by a drunk driver last year. Despite Brady being full-term and capable of surviving outside of his mother’s womb, the driver faced no consequences for killing Brady.

The church also is a strong supporter of the Pregnancy Resource Center in Greeley and each year participates in the organization’s “Baby Bottle campaign,” where members take home a baby bottle on Mother’s Day and return it filled with change on Father’s Day.

By teaching about civil unions it might seem as if homosexuals are unwelcome at the church, however, Walters said that is the farthest thing from the truth.

“At Faith Bible Baptist Church everyone is welcome no matter who they are. We love and are friendly to anyone who wants to visit us,” he explained. “In fact, we have had several ‘gay’ visitors who have come both singularly and as couples. In each case our people did not treat them any differently than any other visitors.”

Walters said he feels that where many churches and Christian leaders go wrong is by gravitating to one of two extremes. They either feel  they cannot take a stand against a lifestyle that the bible condemns in a misguided effort to show that they love people or they take such a strong stand against the homosexual lifestyle that it almost becomes their ‘pet sin’ to preach against.

“The key thing is to remain balanced and consistent in your stand. For instance, I have no doubt we have church members who have engaged in adultery but that doesn’t mean I am going to stop teaching that the bible says ‘thou shalt not commit adultery.’ The same goes for any other sin such as stealing and lying.”

“The homosexual lifestyle is no different. When these couples told me they were ‘gay’ I told them we would welcome them and we love everybody, but that doesn’t mean we are going to approve of a lifestyle the bible says is wrong.”

Walters says he finds it noteworthy that unlike the “gay” movement, thieves and liars are not lobbying politicians to pass laws defending their lifestyle.

“The bible lists many things that are sins besides homosexuality. Lying, stealing, swearing and a host of other things are also sins. Yet no one talks about not teaching kids that stealing and lying is wrong.”

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The siren system is used to alert those outside to seek shelter in the event of severe weather, especially on the imminent approach of a tornado.

The Office of Emergency Management recommends all households have a weather radio to receive weather alerts and other detailed emergency information. For more information on preparing for severe weather, please visit http://www.co.weld.co.us/Departments/OEM/ or contact Roy Rudisill at 970-304-6540.

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of endangering public transportation, a Class 3 felony, and harassment, a Class 3

misdemeanor, for punching a city bus driver.

According to police and court records, the Greeley man punched a driver on a Greeley-Evans

Transportation District bus after the driver ordered him to stop bothering a young woman, who was

another passenger, on Oct. 13. Naranjo complied with the verbal orders from the bus driver, then

walked up behind him when the bus stopped and ultimately punched the driver twice, threw him off

the bus and kicked him, records state.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 19.

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The event will be held at 10:00 a.m. and will recognize seven dedicated troopers, officers and deputies who served their communities and gave their lives in service to others.

The officers to be honored are:

Officer Lee Whitman, 1935, Greeley Police Department

Deputy Earl Bucher, 1940, Weld County Sheriff’s Office

Trooper Wallace McCarty, 1946, Colorado State Patrol

Officer Richard Ware, 1953, Evans Police Department

Officer Jameson Longworth, 1962, Greeley Police Department

Officer Richard Hart, 1982, Firestone Police Department

Deputy Sam Brownlee, 2010, Weld County Sheriff’s Office

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Local radio station, Pirate Radio 104.7 is sponsoring Education Options For Children on June 15. The event, which will be held at the Greeley Funplex at 1501 65thy Ave., is intended to highlight the many schooling options that are available for parents in the area.

The event, which will be held from 11- 1 p.m.,  is expected to have representatives from 12 different schools in the area. The schools will be available to answer questions and present information about the educational programs they offer. Schools include area charter and private schools. Public schools have also been invited to share their information as well.

Former school board member Brett Reese said the purpose for the event is simply to help promote healthy competition among schools in an attempt to provide the best educational opportunities for children.

“Many parents think the only school available for their children is the local public school,” Reese said. “In our area we have many more options than that. We have charter schools as well as several private schools. Parents need to be provided with the necessary information in order to make an informed choice as to which schooling option is the best for their children.”

Reese went on to explain that while public schools, such as Greeley/Evans District 6 have a one size fits all approach, every child is different and as such, has different needs.

“In District 6 every school teaches the exact curriculum. If you visited every elementary school on the same day you would see the thing being taught,” Reese explained. “Teachers have come to me and lamented the fact that they do not have the flexibility they need to tailor their lesson plans to meet the individual needs of their classrooms. The purpose of this expo is to help parents find the right school that is the best fit for their child.”

“What works for one particular student, whether it be in a charter, public or charter school may not be the best for another student, including brothers and sisters in the same family. I have no doubt that parents truly want the best for their children. This expo will give them the opportunity to help get the information to find out which school is the best for their children. How can anyone oppose the idea of presenting parents with information and allowing them to make a choice?”

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by Jack Minor –

Revealing the disconnect between Colorado politicians and the law enforcement  officers who are charged with making sure the state’s laws are followed, more  than half of the sheriffs in the state are planning to file a lawsuit against  recent gun control laws passed by Democratic lawmakers.

The lawsuit was announced by Weld County Sheriff John Cooke on Tuesday. Cooke  has previously publicly said he will not be enforcing the new gun control laws  because he believes they are unconstitutional.

“The legislators ignored the will of the people and passed these  unconstitutional gun laws and they need to be held accountable for their  decision,” Cooke told WND.

While politicians may pass the laws, law-enforcement officials are the ones  who have to deal with the real-world implications of putting the new laws into  effect. Because of this, 37 of the state’s 62 sheriffs have announced their  plans to file a lawsuit against the new laws, saying they are unconstitutional  and unenforceable.

David Kopel, an attorney with the Independence Institute, which will be  handling the case, said the brief is still being prepared but he expects to file  it in the next few weeks.

“We are still working out the details, but there is a very solid case here.  We are still working on some of the specifics, however we do feel we have a  variety of strong legal claims that are worth bringing to court,” he said.

Read the full story:

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Recent revelations that District 6 will be letting nearly 20 percent of their new teachers has caused the Greeley Tribune to blame part of the problem on charter schools by categorizing students as “resources” that the district is losing.

At Monday’s board of education meeting, District 6 Superintendent Ranelle Lang told board members that they would not be renewing contracts for 79 probationary educators at the end of the school year.

In explaining the cuts, Lang blamed the popularity of charter schools with parents in the district as well as recent sequestration cuts by federal lawmakers.

“The recent impact of charter school expansions and federal sequestration have the potential to produce a significant negative impact on our budget,” Lang wrote in a brief explaining the cuts.

However, the sequester cuts amount to only 25 percent of the teachers who will not see their contracts renewed. Of the remaining  teachers who will not have their contracts renewed,  nearly half are due to issues such as licensure problems or being hired late in the year. The remaining half is due to more and more parents opting to take their parents out of District 6 schools and place them in charter schools in the area.

Because there will now be fewer students in district 6 schools to teach the reason for the reduction in staff make sense. If a business sees their customer base dwindle, they frequently make cutbacks in personnel, or reduce their hours. After all, why should an employer pay an employee if there is less work to do?

What is interesting is how the Tribune chose to refer to the reason for the cuts.

In a recent opinion piece, the Tribune referred to students currently attending district schools as being merely “resources” for the district which the charters are taking away.

“While we don’t believe these cuts represent a dire concern, we do think they offer one more example the kind of challenges this district faces,” The piece said.  “It’s a reminder of the tight budgets District 6 works with and of the concerns we’ve long had about the way charter schools can unintentionally take resources from the district’s traditional schools.”

“While we’re not opposed to charters, we do worry about the way some charter schools in this community pull the best and brightest students out of the district’s traditional schools while leaving the traditional schools to handle those students who are most difficult to educate.”

It is telling that students are no longer considered precious children, who need to be provided with an education,  they are just a resource for the district just like a library has resources through its books, media , internet access and so on. In other words, the implication is students are just a tool for the district to use to help accomplish a task.

This is similar to statements made by MSNBC host Mellissa Harris-Perry said in a commercial recorded for the network that  children do not belong to their parents, but rather belong to the community.

“We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children. Your kid is yours and totally your responsibility. We haven’t had a very collective notion of these are our children,” she said. “So part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.”

The taped remarks were not simply an off-the cuff statement that can be attributed to misspeaking, but rather is a real indication of how members of the media apparently now view our children. While it would be easy to think the comment is simply an isolated incident, the Tribune apparently agrees with the concept.

After all, if you are a parent and have a student in District 6 schools, they are not children; they are simply a resource.

When Union Colony petitioned the school board for the right to open an Elementary school, members insisted the school be located in Evans and reach out to minority students to reflect what it called the “demographics of the community.”

When the school did so, it would seem this should be something to be applauded since not just Union Colony, but all the charter schools fulfill a need for parents who know what is best for their education.

Instead, the Tribune appears upset with parents who choose to take their “resources” somewhere else. How selfish of them. Don’t they know that by enrolling their child in a charter school they are taking something that does not belong to them and depriving the district of resources?

The argument about parents removing their children from public schools into charter schools is the same complaint that was used when the Christian school movement began.

There were instances where when a local church announced it would start a Christian school, principals would complain to the pastor that it was wrong to do so because they were removing the best kids in the school who did not drink, do drugs or rebel against authority while leaving behind the kids who didn’t care about following the rules.

The implication was the parents who raise their kids up with good moral standards have an obligation to send them to an environment where they will face peer pressure that goes against everything they have been taught.

Parents know their children and they know their needs and what is best for them. The idea that they have some kind of duty to failing kids to also keep their children in a failing environment is outrageous and offensive.

Rather than blame parents for wanting to place their children in the best learning environment for their children, the liberal media needs to stop looking at kids as simply resources that belong to the community and address the real problems.

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Many parents who went to drop their children off at school today were surprised to learn that District 6 had cancelled classes on Tuesday.

At around 5 AM District officials made the decision to cancel classes because of the extreme cold, winds and blowing snow. District policy requires a decision to be made by 6 AM. When announcing closures, the district posts the announcement on their website and Facebook pages. Additionally, announcements are sent out to local media, Denver media and staff. Announcements locally were made on Pirate Radio 104.7 FM.

However, many parents did not think to check local media or the district website to see whether their child’s school was closed.

This was understandable since a glance outside revealed very little snowfall last night. In fact, there have been days the district held classes with far greater snowfall then this morning. However, for those walking to school the sidewalks, while relatively clear of snow, were quite icy.

Because of this, many parents drove their children to school expecting to drop them off for class like any other day. At Scott Elementary School approximately 50 vehicles came by the school to be dropped off only to be told by a volunteer that classes were cancelled. Principal Lazlo Hunt said he was at the school taking phone calls and received multiple calls in the morning from parents unsure about whether classes were being held or not.

“When the district told me classes were cancelled, I looked outside and realized we would have parents calling to see if we had school today,” Hunt said.

“While we realize that might have inconvenienced some parents, it is a decision we do not take lightly, ever,” Theresa Myers, District 6 Communications Director said. “We knew the forecast said the snow would continue throughout the day and we didn’t want to get into a situation where kids might be able to get there safely, but have a difficult time getting home.”

Myers explained that another factor were school parking lots and sidewalks which were icy and could potentially result in injuries for children walking into the school and around school property.

“Because of the high winds and drifting snow, our facility crews were unable to clear sidewalks or parking lots, making it even more unsafe for our students and staff. We do try to make the decision as early as possible, but it’s even more essential that we make the correct decision whenever possible.”

While some parents might be frustrated because the weather didn’t appear to be bad enough for them to check the website, Myers said she can appreciate why parents may not have thought to check for closures, but ultimately there is only so much the district can do.

“We do not have the capability to email all parents district-wide, nor do we have the capacity to mass call parents,” Myers explained. “We know there will be some parents who don’t get the announcement, no matter what we do. That is why we require principals to go to the school and make sure the kids who show up are taken care of.”

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Easter is the holiday marked by a Christian claim that a man allegedly living in the first century was killed and actually came back to life.

Well, this is difficult to just…believe.

As we take an extremely abridged look at the traditional claims of Easter, remember that first , we don’t have all the answers.  Second, things in this world happen that we can’t explain, yet they are empirical, or can be observed.  And finally, if we already have our minds made up, we begin at a premise that is indefensible. Our pride, which every one of us has, yet denies, is utterly incompatible to a search of facts, honesty and truth. So set it aside for 2 minutes.

All of Christianity stands or falls on one event.  Fortunately for truth seekers, that event is measurable, researchable and, as opposed to every other world religion, actually happened in a time/space dimension that we can examine.

That event of course is the resurrection of a man of flesh and blood.

Many pastors or theologians or apologists would begin this discussion by opening the Bible.  But to do this commits a fundamental error called circular reasoning; or reasoning establishing itself on…itself.  Faulty.

Extra-biblical evidence

After decades of personal research, I have concluded that there are really only three men of history that are dependable historians relative to this resurrection event.

Tertullian was born about 100 years after Christ and was the son of a Roman centurion. He was raised inCarthageas a pagan, but after great research, became a Christian apologist. He writes that the Jews were so exasperated by Chrestus’ teaching, mostly because so many had turned to him, that at last they brought him before Pontius Pilate, at the time the Roman governor ofSyria, and by the violence of their outcries against him, extorted a sentence of crucifixion.

We have now seen that Jesus, or “Chrestus” lived in the first century and taught something that got him killed by a Roman governor; all examined apart from Biblical texts.  But, we have a long way to go to label this man divine.  Or even supernatural.

Josephus was a Jewish historian of the first rank, he was NOT a christian, writing at the end of the first century in his Antiquities.18.3.3

“now there was about this time a man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works (miracles perhaps)?  A teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.  He drew over to him many  Jews, and also many of the Greeks.  Some say this man was the Christ.  And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross,…but he appeared to them alive on the third day, the divine prophets having spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about him and even now, the sect of Christians, so named from him, has not died out.

Remember Josephus was not a Christian, but a Jew, writing to Romans, This story would not have pleased them in the slightest. He would hardly have included it if it were not true. And in all fairness some academics have claimed this portion of Josephus’ writings to be a later Christian interpolation, precisely because he would not have written it.  However, this argument is from silence and therefore discounted.

Pliny, a governor under Emperor Trajan, requested counsel about what to do with this       “spurious sect named after Chrestus who were willing to die for their belief that a man had died but a few years earlier claiming to be a god and rose up again“.

Why didn’t the Jewish (religious) or Roman (civil) authorities simply go to the sealed stone tomb, pull his body out and drag it through the streets dispelling rumors about this “magician’s resurrection”.

We have no more time.  It is said that the resurrection and life of Jesus of Nazareth is better documented than any other single event in history.  To avoid bias, we have avoided scriptural information of Jesus.  Historical accuracy of the New Testament canon, however can not be matched either textually or archaeologically.  Homer’s works are a distant second.  Sadly, these non-subjective facts are utterly ignored in our  failing schools and lives of the next generation.  25 of the 54 signatures on our Declaration of Independence are from men who were Christian seminarians.

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A local radio station in Fort Collins has been told it will not be able to have a float in the local St. Patrick’s Day parade, while other stations owned by national organizations outside the state are being allowed to participate.

The Downtown Fort Collins Business Association is promoting Lucky Joe’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 16, 2013. The DBA bills itself as existing “to promote the businesses of downtown Fort Collins.”

However, it appears that the group would rather promote businesses located in other states over a locally owned business. Pirate 93.5 FM submitted an application to have a float in the parade. The station is part of the “pirate fleet” that includes KELS 104.7 in Greeley. Both of the stations are managed by Brett Reese, who submitted the application along with a $75 fee.

However, JoAnn Cadoo, Membership and Volunteer Coordinator for the DBA told Reese his application was being rejected and the organization would be returning his check.

In an email to Reese, Cadoo said the reason was over media sponsorship of the event.

“Due to conflict in media sponsorship with the DBA we will not be able to accommodate your entry for the SPD parade this year,” Cadoo said.

On the organization’s website it lists two other radio stations, Tri-102.5 and KPAW  107.9 as media partners for the parade.

Both stations are owned by large media conglomerates. Tri-102.5 is owned by Townsquare Media Group in Greenwich, Connecticut and owns 243 radio stations in multiple states. Likewise, KPAW 107.9 the other station listed as a media partner,  is owned by Clear Channel Communications which is located in San Antonio, Texas.  The organization says it owns over 850 radio stations across the country. By contrast, Pirate 93.5 is locally owned.

Reese said if the issue was over sponsorship, he never applied to be a media partner.

“All we did was apply to have our float, representing a local radio station in a parade that is hosted by a group supporting downtown Ft.  Collins,” Reese said. “To this day I still have not been given a reason why our application was rejected. We never said we were going to be sponsors so I don’t know what she means by a conflict.”

Cadoo acknowledged that Reese followed all of the correct procedures, but stated the reason for the rejection was because they had already made agreements with the existing sponsors to not allow any other stations to participate.

“We operate our organization with respect for our Downtown and local businesses and as a good business practice we must honor our commitments to our sponsors,” Cadoo said. “We do have 2 media groups as sponsors of the parade, which includes 9 radio stations. All of these stations will have a presence in the parade. We uphold our agreements to them and therefore cannot include other radio stations outside of those groups. This is the reason for Pirate radio’s parade application denial.”

Wendy Williams in the city manager’s office told Reese that the city attorney advised her that the DBA was it was within their discretion to decide who could and could not participate in the parade.

Reese said while that may be, it is interesting that a group dedicated to promoting local businesses would chose to reject a local business owner over stations owned by businesses located outside the state.

“Their express purpose for existing is to promote downtown businesses. Yet, here when a local business followed the correct procedures to enter the parade they rejected us while permitting radio stations in other states to be in the parade.”

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by Peter Grady –

The head of a local political organization has taken issue with a recent editorial by the Greeley Tribune placing the blame for low test scores on voters.

In a recent editorial, District 6 needs everyone’s help,  the Greeley Tribune said residents who want to blame Superintendent Ranelle Lang’s leadership for the district dropping to the second from the bottom of the state accreditation list are actually the ones to blame.

“We would caution against grabbing a torch, however, unless you’re willing to take a hard look at yourself,” the Tribune said.

Last year, board member Judy Kron acknowledged the fault for the low scores lied with the school board, saying, “we own these scores.”

Brian Britton, head of the Greeley 9/12 Project said if Lang is not willing to show leadership on the low test scores, but instead wishes to blame others she should step aside and let someone else lead the district.

“Instead of passing the buck and blaming parents and non-English speaking students, Lang needs to simply step up and deal with the issue,” Britton explained. “Greeley has been a melting pot city for decades. We have had Mexicans, Germans, Dutch, Japanese and others since back when we were Union Colony. I suspect these people also spoke their native languages, yet they assimilated quite well.”

The Gazette has previously reported how Lang earns over $300,000 a year plus benefits to lead the district. Her husband, Robert Hammond is a current member of the Colorado Commissioner of Education.

The Tribune editorial says while “the district needs to take some of the blame for what happened,” it goes on to suggest the bulk of the blame for the failures lie with Greeley residents who are unwilling to support tax increases to give the district  more money.

Last November, voters approved a bond initiative that would enable the district to obtain $30 million to replace John Evans with a new school west of town. The measure raised property taxes to pay for an $8.2 million bond with the rest of the funding coming from the state.

However, voters appear to have gotten no major credit for their efforts. The Tribune said, “we applaud residents” for passing the tax increase but then went on to say, “that was a no-brainer.”

Residents are then taken to task for not voting for an even larger tax  increase with the paper complaining that residents are not willing to raise taxes on themselves even more. “Residents still refuse to pass any kind of tax increase that would bring the district more in line with its contemporaries.”

The statement comes on the heels of the Tribune reporting a few days earlier that the city’s unemployment rate is 7.6 percent.  Colorado was one of 22 states that suffered  job losses in December.

Britton said blaming local residents while giving district leadership a pass is outrageous.

“They are basically saying if the people of Greeley would just give the district more money than test scores would magically rise. Of course, the district will not offer any kind of guarantee that if the taxpayers give them more money this will happen,” Britton said.

Britton said the reason voters do not want to give the district more money is they want to see a return on the investment they have already made. “When I go to purchase a product, I want some assurance that I am getting a good value for my money. Until that happens it is an issue of trust. This district does not know how to effectively manage the funds it has.”

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by Peter Grady –

District 6 announced a shocking bit of news Monday evening when it was revealed that the educational program under Superintendent Ranelle Lang has resulted in the Greeley-Evans school district being dropped to one step from the bottom of the state accreditation list.

At Monday’s board meeting it was revealed that seven years after the district was removed from “academic watch” by the Colorado Department of Education for poor performance, the district has dropped to the “priority improvement” category.

The state has five levels of accreditation for all schools in the state, accredited with distinction, accredited, accredited with improvement plan, accredited with priority improvement plan and accredited with turnaround plan.

At the meeting board members were asked to vote on an improvement plan to help turn the scores around, despite being given almost no notice to review the details. At the meeting board member Logan Richardson expressed concern saying the first time he had seen the improvement plan was Monday evening.

Scott Rankin said that board members had received information about the plan in their packets late last week, however he echoed Richardson’s concerns about the lack of time to review the material.

The board was told by District officials that they needed to approve the plan at Monday’s meeting because the deadline for submitting the plan to state officials was January 15, the day after the meeting.

The new designation means the district now has five years to get out of the priority improvement category or face possible sanctions from the state which could include chartering the entire district.

The low scores are particularly troublesome  for parents of district 6 students when one considers that Lang is married to current Colorado Commissioner of Education member Robert Hammond.

Former board member Brett Reese said the dismal scores are a legacy from the previous board and the blame should be laid squarely at Lang’s feet.

“Ranelle Lang gets over $300,000 to lead this district. If this was a business that had these kinds of dismal figures, the board would demand the CEO resign immediately,” Reese said. “If Lang is going to take the large salary and all the perks that come along with it, then it is perfectly reasonable to expect her to take responsibility for the district’s failures as well. Under her watch district scores have plummeted to where we are nearly exactly where we were ten years ago.”

While on the board, Reese continuously championed for educational reform and attempted to convince fellow board members to think outside the box. Reese is a successful businessman in Greeley, owning several radio stations and is involved in the real estate market.

Among the proposals he suggested was to allow the board to hear a presentation from a representative from Apple regarding the possibility of the computer giant providing free laptops to each student. The motion to hear the presentation which would not have had any strings attached failed to get enough support  to bring it to a vote.

During Monday’s meeting, board member Judy Kron offered her resignation, citing not having enough time to devote to both the board and the District 6 Success Foundation, which raises funds for the District.

Last year, Kron admitted the previous board, of which she was a part was also to blame for the low performance of schools in the District. At a meeting in August, Kron said, “It is time we as a board finally admit that we own these scores.”

Kron also admitted the board has a trust issue with the community. “Frankly, there are a lot of people in the district who just don’t trust us.”

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GREELEY – Today in Weld County District Court, Samuel Sanchez-Brito ) was sentenced to 16 years to life in the Department of Corrections for the repeated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl.

On Sept. 6, Sanchez-Brito was convicted by a jury of sex assault on a child, a class-four felony, and sex assault on a child as a pattern of abuse, a class-three felony.

According to police and court records, Sanchez-Brito sexually assaulted the victim multiple times during the month of August 2011. The defendant was living at the Greeley home of the victim and her mother at the time of the assaults.

The indeterminate sentence means that Sanchez-Brito was sentenced to spend a minimum of XX years in prison, but he could spend the rest of his life in the Department of Corrections, which will ultimately determine his release date.

The case also represents a success for the “Preventing and Reporting Crimes Against Immigrants” program developed by the Weld County DA. The program, which launched in July 2012, seeks to encourage immigrants who are victims of crime to report those incidents to police and cooperate with prosecutors without fear of retaliation by authorities.

In this case, the District Attorney signed a U-Visa for the mother of the victim to allow her to temporarily remain in the country legally while she testified in court. A U-Visa is offered by the federal

government as an incentive for victims or witnesses of certain crimes.

“We want everyone to feel comfortable reporting crimes and assisting in prosecutions,” DA Ken Buck said. “This case serves as another example of how the judicial system in Weld County seeks justice for all victims of crime.”

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ben Whitney and Deputy District Attorney Sadie Medrano prosecuted the case.

For more information about the Preventing and Reporting Crimes Against Immigrants program, visit  www.weldda.com and click on “Community Information/DA Programs.”

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