By John Gardner

The Surveyor
The safety word is orange, Larimer County
Sheriffs Ofce Sergeant Brad Harkin told a group
of volunteers seated in Berthoud High Schools
(BHS) cafeteria Tuesday afternoon. Each of the
volunteers had an orange band tied to their left
arm, indicating participation in the incident
simulation.
A group of about 30 volunteers gathered to
participate in an active-shooter training exercise
coordinated by the Larimer County Sheriffs Ofce,
and help create a realistic atmosphere inside BHS,
to simulate an actual event.
Ofcers with the sheriffs ofce, Boulder
County Sheriffs Ofce, Colorado State Patrol,
Colorado State University Police, Timnath Police
Department, Colorado Department of Wildlife,
and Larimer County Parks Department were
in attendance, as well as personnel from the
Berthoud Fire Protection District and Thompson
Valley Emergency Medical Services. While there
were medical personnel in attendance, Tuesdays
training was focused on law enforcement protocol
on how to handle an active shooter, mass casualty.
These instances are dynamic; every year they
change a little bit in what those threats are, said
Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith. So, were
making sure that we keep our focus and that the
other agencies are up-to-date, including the state
patrol and the other agencies that are here today,
because that is the reality with these situations.
Those folks are going to be a part of the response as
well.
Coordinating incident command,
communication, and understanding protocol in
these situations is key to successfully diffusing the
situation. Coordinating between all agencies is a
key to that success.
We recognize that if there was a school shooting
in Berthoud, it would include these organizations,
said sheriffs sergeant and exercise coordinator,
Ian Stewart. To us, its important that we have
common training and we do everything we can to
build those relationships with those other agencies
that we depend on so much.
According to Stewart, these types of school
shooter trainings are imperative to prepare todays
law enforcement ofcers. And with the sheriffs
ofce now providing law enforcement in Berthoud,
training at the high school was a valuable
opportunity.
Unfortunately, these types of situations are
becoming more and more commonplace in our
society, and its our responsibility to make sure
that our ofcers are trained to handle them,
Stewart said.
The training started at 8:30 a.m. with ofcers
being separated into groups, with each group
going through ve different hour-long training
stations. Each station focused on specic aspects of
an active shooter incident including: establishing
a medical triage station, establishing and setting
up an incident command system, tactics on active
shooters, and a lone wolf scenario where ofcers
were educated on tactics specic to situations
where they may be the rst responder with backup
20 minutes out.
According to Stewart, the lone-wolf situation is
an aspect that is generally reserved for more rural
areas where rst responders may arrive on scene
alone, with their closest backup several minutes
away.
Building relationships between agencies is
another aspect of training. It also allows for ofcers
to familiarize themselves with other agencies and
how they communicate in critical situations. It also
provides ofcers with a specic schools layout, so if
an event ever occurs, they are not walking into an
unfamiliar building.
That is important, Stewart said, because its
our deputies and all the other agencies we depend
on; were the ones who are going into the school,
were the ones who should know the oor plans.
The day culminated with a full walk-through
incident complete with volunteers acting as
shooters, victims, concerned parents, teachers and
students that lasted about an hour.
While the training was extensive and
comprehensive of what the ofcers learned earlier
in the day, these types of situations are always
difcult to prepare for, according to Stewart.
Can we ever be 100 percent prepared for
everything? No, Stewart said. But, we can be
better prepared for something like this.
Stewart indicated that the days nal scenario
is the best way to prepare; its also used as
an indicator of strengths between the various
organizations and also highlights deciencies.
This nal scenario is a litmus test on all those
[previous] scenarios, Stewart said. Looking
forward it tells us what we need to do better, what
do we do well, and where do we need to focus our
training in the future.
Sheriff Smith said the sheriffs ofce has
performed similar trainings annually for at least a
decade. But, he said, Tuesdays training was more
comprehensive and included several more agencies
than in the past. He said that school shooting
training is very specic as well.
The actual clearing of the building isnt
signicantly different than what we train for on
a daily basis, but how we coordinate this type of
incident, when they get going with so many people,
can be very chaotic, Smith said. If youre not
controlling that from the top down, you run into
utter chaos. So that is the challenge, bringing all
these things together.
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Photo courtesy Emily Sierra Photography
Harley, a celebrity dog for National Mill Dog Rescue,
takes a timeout at City Star Brewery in Berthoud.
In towns where there is a
strong sense of community,
there is no more important
institution than the local
paper.
Warren Buffett
Berthoud Weekly
Surveyor is on Facebook
PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS June 24, 2014
(Results are only for contested races)
TOWN BOARD cont. on page 2
Photo by John Gardner
Larimer County Sheriffs Office deputies carry out a volunteer acting as an injured victim of a shooting at a mock incident at Berthoud
High School on Tuesday, June 24. The training included several regional and local agencies.
Thursday, June 26, 2014 Berthoud, Colorado Volume 11, Number 26
Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot ... where good things grow
BerthoudSurveyor.com
Look whos in
the news!
Sgt. Jim Anderson
Darren Knoll
Robbie Emge
Bev McCue
Genevieve
Karpiel
Sierra Suits
Aynsleigh Wood
Abby Birdsall.
Susan Pennock
Josie Doman
Eriana Rennaker
Macy Fitzgerald
Celsey Selland
Classied ................................... 3
Crossword .................................. 7
Legal notices .............................. 3
Opinion ...................................... 6
Play ........................................... 7
Then & Now ............................... 5
Weather ..................................... 2
Law enforcement agencies use Berthoud High School to prepare for worst-case scenario
Trustees approve cell phone tower at Heron Lakes
By Rudy Hemmann
The Surveyor
The Berthoud Board of Trustees approved
staffs recommendation to award the contract
for the installation of a water pressure booster
pump and a temporary water ll station
adjacent to the towns water tank to Velocity
Constructors, Inc., at its Tuesday meeting.
According to a summary of bid results from
town engineer Stephanie Brothers, Velocity was
the low bidder for the project at $267,111.
Town administrator Mike Hart had stated
last summer, during board discussion of the
issue that, if the town were to have any hope
of serving the water needs of the proposed
subdivisions north and northwest of town, a
booster pump would need to be installed to
bring water pressure up to standards. After
listening to Harts reasoning the board, last
summer, adopted a resolution appropriating
funds for the project, however the September
oods delayed the project until this year.
In a related item the trustees were asked
to consider a resolution for a supplemental
budget appropriation in the amount of $365,000.
According to an information sheet from town
staff, this amount covers the cost of the booster
pump ($250,000), an additional $65,000 for bids
that were higher than expected, and $50,000 for
three-phase electrical power to be brought to the
pump site.
Following brief discussion between town staff
and members of the board the trustees approved
the resolution unanimously.
The trustees heard a presentation by town
planner Tim Katers during which he spoke in
favor of an AT&T/New Cingular proposal to
locate a 70-foot-tall wireless communication
(cell phone) tower on private property adjacent
to the water tank property northwest of town.
According to documents furnished by Katers,
the monopole tower would be located on Heron
Lakes property 20 feet east of a chain-link fence
demarking the boundary of the town-owned
property surrounding the water tank. He also
pointed out that a small equipment building (12
feet wide and 28 feet long) would also be located
at the site.
He noted the role of the board is to conduct
Preparing for the worst
State of Colorado Republican Primary
Governor
Mike Kopp ...................................................... 75,685
Scott Gessler .................................................. 88,583
Tom Tancredo ................................................. 101,953
Bob Beauprez ................................................. 115,388
Larimer County
Coroner
James A. Wilkerson ......................................... 17,641
Carolyn J. Speshock ........................................ 7,103
Federal
Weld County District 4 - Representative to the
114th United States Congress
Scott W. Renfroe ............................................ 17,577
Ken Buck ........................................................ 32,450
Steve Laffey ................................................... 11,349
Barbara J. Kirkmeyer....................................... 12,071
City of Loveland
Question No. 1: Citizen-Initiated ordinance to place a
two-year moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing
within the City of Loveland to fully study the impacts
of hydraulic fracturing on property values and human
health. Shall an ordinance be adopted that places a
two-year moratorium ont he use of hydraulic fracturing
within the City of Loveland to extract oil, gas or other
hydrocarbons and on the storage and disposal of its
waste products in order to fully study the impacts of
hydraulic fracturing on property values and human
health?
Yes ................................................................. 9,942
No .................................................. ................ ....10,844
Unofcial results as of 9:17 a.m., June 25, 2014. For more
results www.larimer.org and www.sos.state.co.us.
By Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer
The Surveyor
Fickel Park is the place to be in Berthoud this Sunday as it
is the venue of the 2
nd
Annual Hops & Harley. The festival is
a fundraiser for National Mill Dog Rescue, a Colorado Springs
based nonprot with close Berthoud ties. After all, Harley,
the rescues celebrity spokes dog lives here with Rudi and Dan
Taylor, owners of Wishful Living.
National Mill Dog Rescue (NMDR) rescues, rehabilitates
and rehomes retired and commercial breeding dogs from
puppy mills around the United States. While puppy mills
are not illegal, according to the American Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Puppy
mills usually house dogs in overcrowded and unsanitary
conditions, without adequate veterinary care, food, water and
socialization.
Both the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United
States have taken a stand against puppy mills.
In addition to rescue efforts, NMDR educates the public
about the conditions they have discovered at puppy mills
across the country.
Harley, a tiny, one-eye Chihuahua is the perfect
ambassador for NMDR. The rst 10 years of his life were
spent in a lthy cage at a puppy mill where his job was to
produce puppies to be sold at pet stores around the country.
According to Harleys wildly popular Facebook page, Harley
most likely lost his eye when his cage was power washed with
him still inside. A practice NMDR says is standard at puppy
mills, and many rescued mill dogs, especially smaller breeds,
are missing eyes because of this practice. NMDR has found
that dogs at puppy mills receive little to no medical attention
during their lives, and many of their rescue dogs have
lingering medical problems.
Last June, City Star Brewing hosted the rst Hops &
Harley in their tap room.
Last year we received an overwhelmingly positive response
from our local craft beer and dog loving community and the
event was far too big for our tap room, said Whitney Way,
owner of City Star Brewing and daughter of Rudi & Dan
Taylor. We moved Hops & Harley from City Star Brewing
to Fickel Park this year to enhance the event and allow for a
large turn out.
The goal of Hops & Harley is to not only raise funds for
NMDR, but also to raise awareness about the conditions of
puppy mills and the mission of NMDR.
With Hops & Harley in Fickel Park we can accomplish
both of these goals and offer a fun-lled day for families in the
local community, explained Way.
We here at City Star Brewing have seen the awful
realities of puppy mills rst-hand. We are essentially related
to Harley, after all. This has made us passionate about dog
rescue, she added.
Hops & Harley takes place this Sunday, June 29 from 11
a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is a chance for the public to meet
Harley, learn about NMDR, enjoy a City Star brew and listen
to live music provided by the Monocle Band, Frank Taggart
and Todd Silas. Participants can chow down on delicious
fare from the Oskar Blues CHUBurger Bonewagon and the
Giggling Greek.
There will also be childrens activities, a silent auction,
a photo booth and Hops & Harley souvenirs. One hundred
percent of the proceeds from this event go to NMDR and both
food trucks businesses are donating 10 percent of their festival
sales to the rescue.
Learn more about National Mill Dog Rescue at
milldogrescue.org.
City Star moves
2nd annual
Hops & Harley
to Fickel Park