COMPLAINTS ABOUT MINSTREL SONGS
COUNTY» After BOULDER hearing concerns from the NAACP Boulder County about teachers using historically racist songs, Boulder Valley Superintendent Rob Anderson promised to remove them from the elementary music curriculum.
“I do not believe that it’s appropriate for minstrel songs to be sung as entertainment,” he said, noting the songs were created to demean African-Americans. “In BVSD, we cannot stand by any material that was created for the purpose of demeaning any person.”
At the same time, he said, the district won’t censor teachers who want to teach about the history of racism by using the song lyrics.
He said the district also is working to address the systemic issues that led to the songs still being part of the approved curriculum.
“This is not a teacher failure or a school failure,” he said. “I believe this is part of a system failure. When your community speaks to you, you have to listen.”
Several people spoke at this week’s school board meeting about their concerns, including an elementary student who said his music teacher asked the class to perform “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and “Old Dan Tucker.”
Then, after his dad heard him singing the songs in the car, his parents explained the racist history of the songs, which as originally written demeaned African-Americans.
Motorcycle driver killed in crash.
LOVELAND» One person died in a crash between a motorcycle and a vehicle Wednesday evening.
Loveland police responded about 6:40 p.m. on a report of a two-vehicle crash. When officers arrived, the driver of the motorcycle, a 35-year-old man, was dead, police said.
According to an investigation, the motorcycle was traveling north on U.S. 287. The vehicle, driven by a 24-year-old woman, was southbound and stopped at a traffic light attempting to turn left.
As the motorcycle neared the intersection, the driver of the vehicle turned left, causing the motorcycle to crash into the car, the release said.
Man who made false explosives report sentenced to probation.
LONGMONT» A man who prompted a response from the bomb squad late last year has been sentenced to probation.
Adrian Leyva, 31, appeared in court Thursday before Boulder District Judge Andrew Hartman.
Leyva pleaded guilty to false reporting to authorities, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and received a stipulated sentenced for two years of probation, according to online court records.
As a condition of the plea, two other charges against him were dropped.
The events leading to Leyva’s arrest occurred around 6:30 p.m. Nov. 20 when he walked into the Longmont Community Justice Center with a note alluding to a dangerous device.
Deputies recover $120,000 backhoe.
WELD COUNTY» A man was arrested Wednesday after county sheriff’s deputies recovered a stolen John Deere backhoe on his property worth an estimated $120,000.
The vehicle was found Wednesday inside a building, and property owner Ramon Ramirez was arrested on suspicion of first-degree aggravated vehicle theft, a felony.
The sheriff’s office received a call about the theft about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday from Aims Community College in Fort Lupton.
Ramirez told deputies he found the backhoe on the side of the road Tuesday night and moved it to his shop, according to the sheriff’s office.
Greeley woman’s body found in Nebraska pond, police say.
NORTH PLATTE, NEB.» A woman whose body was spotted in a western Nebraska retention pond was a Greeley resident, police said.
The Lincoln County Dive Team pulled the body from the pond March 3. The woman was identified as Kimberly Ermi, 42. She didn’t appear to have any connections to the North Platte area, police said.
Police have been investigating her death as a homicide.
Suspect arrested in arson at Temple Emanuel.
PUEBLO» An arsonist struck Temple Emanuel in Pueblo on Wednesday, and police arrested a woman suspected of setting the fire.
Investigators arrested 62-year-old Patricia DeCesaro, who was taken into custody at the scene, according to a news release.
DeCesaro was booked into the Pueblo County Jail on suspicion of firstdegree arson and seconddegree burglary.
In November, a Pueblo man threatened to destroy the same temple, the second-oldest synagogue in Colorado. Investigators do not believe Wednesday’s fire is connected to the November threat.