Public Health References
CDC * Colorado * Jefferson County * City of Golden
Coronavirus report from Jeffco Public Health’s Case Summary Page, as of 3PM Wednesday:
Cases in Jeffco – Tuesday: 3118 | Wednesday: 3142
Deaths in Jeffco – Tuesday: 217 | Wednesday: 217
Ever Hospitalized in Jeffco – Tuesday: 444 | Wednesday: 442 (currently 13)
Recovered – Tuesday: 2660 | Wednesday: 2698
Known Cases in Golden – Tuesday: 123 | Wednesday: 123
The Mayor and City Manager gave a coronavirus update last night. Apparently a lot of people are unhappy with them–some for restricting access to the creek and requiring masks, some for not enforcing the restriction and the mask rule. Here’s a paraphrase of the City Manager’s comments:
Creek Access
They are looking at ways they can restore some level of access to the creek without encouraging the large gatherings that are the subject of the concern. They know that recreation is a high priority for our city and our city council and our citizens but need to find a way to do it in a way that’s safe so they can accommodate recreation and the different types of uses along the creek corridor and in the water itself without further risking group gatherings and public health.
Enforcement
It’s difficult when you have small town resources as we do in our police department. We can’t have every officer positioned along the creek to enforce all public health orders or creek closures at all times of the day, and the weekend–that happens to be one of our busier times throughout the city and we have many higher-priority calls on our police department throughout the city–things that our residents would want the police to respond to–vehicle break-ins, sex assaults, those kind of things, and those are always going to take higher priority over mask wearing and creek closures. This past weekend there were no citations from the police department, but the city gave close to two dozen verbal warnings. They’ll step up enforcement this weekend.
Great Improvements in Mask-Wearing Compliance
Mr. Slowinski also said that compliance with the mask rule has grown appreciably in the week and a half since they put it in force. He said when the rule had just started, they observed 80% compliance downtown, at 12th and Washington. Now they see 94% at that same corner. On the Clear Creek Trail, they saw 55% compliance ten days ago and 87% compliance now.
You can watch the update on the City’s Facebook page. I would guess it will also be available on the Agenda page sometime today.
Masks are required in public places in Jefferson County (which includes Golden). See more…. The Safer at Home and in the Vast, Great Outdoors protocol is in effect statewide. City and County fire restrictions are in place.
Virtual Golden
10:15AM Preschool Time with the Library (YouTube)
2PM History in the Baking – Learn to make focaccia (Facebook Live)
6-7PM Virtual Qs and Brews Trivia with the Library (WebEx)
6:30PM City Council Study Session (GCO.TV)
City Council and Golden Police Department leadership will review the department’s policy and operations. For more information, contact Chief of Police Bill Kilpatrick bkilpatrick@cityofgolden.net. The meeting can be viewed on the city’s website, or on GCO.TV and Comcast Channel 8 or 880 (HD). To listen to the meeting by phone, please call: +1-408-418-9388. Enter access code: 146 961 1547
7PM The Kevin Lufkin Jazz Trio in (live-streamed) Concert
Join the Kevin Lufkin Trio for an evening of jazz, funk and the classics. This show is a fundraiser for the Trio who are not able to work in the music industry at this time. If you are able, consider donating to support these musicians. All donations go to the Trio. This concert will happen on the First United Methodist Church of Golden Facebook page.
Real Life Golden
The Golden Library is open today! They are still offering curbside service. They also offer a reserved morning hour for vulnerable individuals. Monday through Saturday, they’re open from 10AM-1PM and 2-5PM. They are closed from 1-2PM for cleaning. See the details….
Live Music:
5PM Bike Night at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
8PM Karaoke at Rock Rest Lodge
Golden History Moment
This photo appeared on the front page of the Golden Transcript, fifty years ago today. The City campground was a point of considerable civic pride, and it made frequent appearances in the Transcript.
The area along 10th Street went through big changes during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1952, we built a new water treatment plant. In 1953, we closed the city dump, which had been located at the west end of 8th Street. In 1959, Golden voters approved construction of a new municipal center. In 1960, we opened a new recreation center (now the Golden Library) and a new outdoor swimming pool (now the lot where the Golden Farmers Market is held). In 1961 the new Fire Station/Police Station/City Hall opened at 911 10th St.
There’s a good reason why that land hadn’t been developed earlier: it was very much in Clear Creek’s flood plain, and much of it was either low and gravely (the sometimes creek bed) or low and swampy. It took a lot of earth moving and brush clearing over the years to make the area usable. The channel of the creek was straightened and deepened to deter future flooding.
In 1963, some community members began to speculate about building a city campground out near the water treatment plant. In 1964, the Golden Kiwanis Club took on the project and began clearing the scrubby growth out of the future campground. They cleared so much land that it went along the south side of the treatment plant (now the campground), behind it (now settling ponds), around to the north side (now the community garden area), and in front of the treatment plant (now Lions Park playground).
They leveled ground for campsites and installed concrete fireplace rings with grills and picnic tables. The Arapahoe National Forest Service donated some super heavy-duty wooden picnic tables, which the Kiwanis painted green. The city laid gravel to form a central road within the campground and also graveled the individual campsites.
The campground opened in 1964 and was immediately popular with tourists. 1965 was the 50th anniversary of Kiwanis International, and the Golden club continued to work hard on improving the campground and the picnic area in celebration of that anniversary. They added electric lights and water fountains. They planted trees on arbor day.
A Golden Transcript reporter interviewed several campers that year to see what they thought of our campground. They all loved it and thought Golden was a great town. One young woman said she particularly liked all the School of Mines boys, running around in their white shorts.
Letters to the editor of the Transcript came in regularly, thanking the town for the magnificent campground. Virginia Weigand, who wrote the Avenue Flashes column in the Transcript, checked on the campground frequently, and reported which states were represented by the campers. Her husband Fritz was a Kiwanian, so they had a strong family interest in the project.
There was an interesting event in 1969. One of the campers reported seeing a 55 gallon drum labeled “612 pound incendiary bomb – Rocky Mtn Arsenal” laying within the swirling waters of the creek. The Golden Fire and Police Departments found it, plus three other barrels in the bushes. They called the bomb disposal unit from Fort Carson, who retrieved the one from the creek and then carefully removed the lids from the barrels. “it was discovered that only some white gooky substance was inside. The drum in the stream was emptied then pulled up on the bank.” They speculated that the drums belonged to the School of Mines Research Foundation and had been used to store waste material of some kind.
Note that this event happened pre-EPA. I can’t help but wonder what the “white gooky substance” was.
The Kiwanis and the City continued to improve the park. In 1972, they replaced the porta-potties with permanent rest rooms. The campground had been free from the year it opened until 1972, but in that year they started charging $1/space/day, and hired someone to run the campground and keep it clean.
To this day, the campground continues to be an asset to the city. While most parks cost the city money to maintain, the campground is actually a revenue-generator.
The Golden Kiwanis Club went on to do more projects for the community. For many years now, they have partnered with Boy Scout Troop 130 to post American Flags all over town on certain Federal Holidays.
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.
