COVID Updates
Jefferson County Case Summary:
Cases in Jeffco – Friday: 48,418 | Monday: 48,521 (+103)
Deaths in Jeffco – Friday: 843 | Monday: 844 (+1)
Currently Hospitalized in Jeffco – Friday: 31 | Monday: 33 (+2)
Recovered – Friday: 47,290 | Monday: 47,386 (+96)
Known Cases in Golden – Thursday: 2005 | Monday: 2016 (+11)
COVID Vaccine Appointments
State of Colorado: Where You Can Get Vaccinated
Jeffco Public Health Vaccine Call Center: 303-239-7000
State Vaccine Hotline: 1-877-268-2926.
Golden Testing Sites
Mines COVID Testing | Jeffco Fairgrounds COVID Testing
More Public Health References
Sign up for exposure notifications | CDC | Colorado | Jefferson County | City of Golden
Virtual Events
8AM Golden Merchants Meeting
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
8:40-9:35AM Tai Chi
9AM Golden Walks – Wednesday Morning Celebrating Life
10:15AM Baby Time with the Library
3-5PM Hard Times Writing Workshop
7-8PM New and Prospective Member Orientation (Colorado Mountain Club)
7PM Personal Locator Beacons and Two-Way Satellite Communication Devices
Real World Events
10-11AM Story and Craft Time @ Colorado Railroad Museum
4PM to closing Tuesdays at the Buffalo Rose:
Prime rib dinner for $25 (while supply lasts).
Dogs are welcome to sit on the patio on Tuesday nights.
79 cent Coors Banquet or Coors Light for Golden locals, students, and service industry workers
6:30PM City Council Regular Business Meeting
Tonight’s consent agenda includes the first reading of an ordinance that would establish a 180 day moratorium on new building permits in R2 and R3 zones. Unless one of the councilors asks to discuss it tonight, it won’t be discussed until July 13th. They will read two proclamations–one for Golden Day, which is June 16th, and one for the 4th of July.
Lodging Tax
They will discuss a proposed lodging tax. Lodging taxes are often considered a “no brainer,” in that residents don’t pay the tax–visitors do. City Staff estimates that a lodging tax of 6% would generate $1.5 million/year to start and would grow from there.
The matter becomes controversial when deciding where the proceeds of the tax should be spent. Theoretically, a tax should be spent on something related to the thing being taxed–like using gasoline taxes to maintain roads. The cultural organizations, which collectively bring more visitors to Golden than the Coors tours do, would like to see the lodging tax dedicated to maintaining our cultural organizations. Affordable housing supporters point out that it takes a lot of lower-income people to maintain a tourism industry, so a lodging tax should pay for affordable housing. Open Space supporters point out that our parks and trails attract people to Golden, so the money should be spent on acquiring and preserving Open Space.
The city is proposing to dedicate 20% of the lodging tax proceeds to “fund additional programs or projects to address the impact from visitors to the community. Such programs or projects could include enhanced maintenance, public safety, parking management, coordination, wayfinding, and other similar uses.” The purpose of the other 80% is much more loosely defined. Tonight’s meeting memo gives a number of example categories, including “park, trail, and open space improvements, community mobility, sustainability, technology enhancements, infrastructure projects, support for cultural arts, food insecurity, and even housing programs and projects.”
Some citizens are concerned about the plan to add such loosely-earmarked money into the city budget; thus leaving them unsure that they’ll get any of the things they want (cultural funding, affordable housing, open space, etc.).
Marijuana Retail Stores in Golden
Council will also discuss changing our regulations to allow retail sales of recreational marijuana. At present, Golden has one medical marijuana dispensary and no recreational marijuana stores.
COVID Restrictions
They will consider rescinding the Emergency Declaration that imposed COVID protection measures such as mask requirements.
Windfall from the Feds
The City Manager and Finance Director will lead a discussion about how we should spend the $5,219,780.36 that we anticipate receiving from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Future Considerations
Finally, Council will consider three proposals for future business. If enough councilors support these ideas, staff will formalize them and add them to a future agenda. The proposals include:
1) an ordinance that would require that beverages offered with kids meals must be healthy (for example water or unflavored milk) (councilors Trout and Fisher).
2) a proposal to name two unnamed city open space parcels after resident Tom Schweich, who has done extensive work on identifying Golden’s native flora and has encouraged preservation of our remaining open space (Councilors Brown, Dale, and Fisher).
3) a proposal to establish a Council Subcommittee to work on Clear Creek Management (Councilors Brown and Fisher).
Golden History Moment
49 Years Ago
The June 15, 1972 Golden Transcript begins by reporting on two deaths in Clear Creek the previous year:
“It was a great idea. A fantastic way to cool off from the sweltering June heat. A real kick for those who had the spunk to try it. How were they to know an afternoon of fun would turn into a nightmarish tragedy?”
The article goes on to describe how three boys tied their inner tubes together. The rope broke, scattering the boys. One hit his head on a rock, was knocked unconscious, and drowned. Another was swept underwater by the current and drowned. The third boy made it to the edge of the Creek and escaped uninjured.
The reporter interviewed several first responders, who were perplexed over how to prevent the deaths that seemed to occur so frequently. “The state has no cut and dried regulations against rafting or tubing.”
“According to law enforcement authorities, rafting and tubing is illegal, but the guidelines are so fuzzy they often conflict. For the most part authorities rely on boating regulations to prevent tubing and rafting on rivers. These cover safety equipment required for vessels such as life jackets, horns, fire extinguishers, paddle, etc.”
An Assistant District Attorney for Jefferson County said there should be clearly defined laws. “We’ve been complaining about it for three or four years.”
The article describes Golden High School’s rafting program, led by teachers Dewain Wood and Dave Bachman. Mr. Wood described the training they provided and the safety precautions they used, including mandatory life jackets. “His advice to Clear Creek rafters or tubers was ‘Don’t do it.’ The water is too shallow, yet deep enough to hide rocks.” He concluded by saying “Tubing is great fun on Friday night at the Golden swimming pool, but a real hazard on a fast river such as Clear Creek.”
More Recently
Golden opened the Clear Creek Whitewater Park in 1998, which has attracted far more tubers. We still don’t require life jackets., but for the past few years, the City has restricted tubers when the flow reaches 900 cubic feet per second (CFS). We still lose a person or two most years, but we would probably lose more without the restriction.
7-21-17
After multiple CPR attempts, a 48-year-old woman was pronounced dead in Golden Friday. This came after she flipped off her tube and went underwater in Clear Creek. KDVR report
8-14-17
Amber Raye Presson, a 31-year-old from Denver, died on Sunday, August 13, while attempting to rescue her son while tubing on Clear Creek in Golden. Westword Article
5-27-18
James Murray lives in a van near Clear Creek in Golden. He was taking a break from boogie boarding when his friend said he spotted a man floating face-down in the river. Murray ran down stream to the next rapid and jumped in…. Once on shore, an off-duty paramedic started CPR. The 45-year-old man did not survive. KDVR report
7-2-19
A whitewater tuber and a man wading in the creek with friends lost their lives Sunday when they were swept downstream. Patch article
6-17-20
A young woman has died in Jefferson County after being pulled from Clear Creek near Golden. She was 23 years old. CBS report
6-10-21
Authorities decided to enact the restrictions, which extend from the U.S. 6 bridge over Clear Creek, up to and including Vanover Park, after two “scary scenarios” in which two children wading in the river were swept up in the current, Golden’s Deputy Police Chief Joe Harvey said. Neither child was injured, but one boy was pulled over a nearby dam which flowed into private property. Colorado Sun article
Public Comment for tonight’s City Council meeting:
Hello,
My name is Nik White and I live in Golden and own Whitewater Workshop LLC where I teach whitewater kayaking skills and swiftwater rescue classes often in Clear Creek. I’m writing to express my support for the creation of the Clear Creak Management Subcommittee and/or Task Force Proposed Policy (item 12C on the City Council meeting agenda). I was on the working group organized by the city manager to come up with solutions for management of the creek corridor and I feel the work done in that working group is not finished. Some proposed solutions were excellent and should be enacted as soon as possible and other proposed solutions were changed or not implemented by the city.
In particular, the recommendation for a life jacket requirement above certain water levels was removed from the final proposals presented to city council. I think this is a grave mistake on the part of the city that should be revisited as part of the new proposed Subcommittee/Task Force.
On Saturday June 5th the water level was around 700 cubic feet per second which was the closure level proposed by the working group. I was teaching a swiftwater rescue class in the creek near the softball fields. During the class, I personally pulled 3 people out of the water who were not wearing life jackets who were in distress or actively drowning. My class had to spend time transporting people back to the north side of the creek who had fallen in and swam to the south side and couldn’t get back to their cars. A fire department was also teaching a rescue class downstream and mentioned performing multiple rescues as well. I chose to move the second day of my class to another location because I didn’t feel comfortable keeping my students in a situation where they were constantly being called upon to rescue swimmers.
A life jacket requirement at least at high water as proposed originally to the city manager by their working group would have made those rescues that day unnecessary.
Please support the creation of the subcommittee/task force to continue the work the working group started.
Thank you,
Nik White.
Resident, Owner Whitewater Workshop LLC
The Golden Transcript (originally called the Colorado Transcript) has been publishing since 1866. The Golden History Museum has been working on digitizing the historic issues. You’ll find old Transcripts online at coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.
