Twenty-five years ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Precinct caucuses were approaching, but attendance at the neighborhood gatherings would be vying against feverish interest in the NCAA Final Four championship games set for the same night in Denver. Although scalpers were demanding upwards of $2,500 for seats, “A lot of people still think they are miraculously going to get tickets,” said Arapahoe County Democratic chair Gale Drexler. He told The Statesman that people were reluctant to commit to hosting caucuses, but not everyone was dissuaded. “My husband threatened to divorce me unless we have the caucuses at our house,” said Denver Republican chair Kathie Finger. “That way he can keep the TV on in the living room and run in and watch the Final Four.” Jefferson County GOP chair Chris O’Dell expected a high turnout in his county because of hotly contested races for sheriff and county clerk, “of all things,” The Statesman reported. In his precinct alone, state Republican chair Bruce Benson and state Sen. Sally Hopper were sure to show up. Arapahoe County GOP chair Tory Brown likewise was planning for a big crowd, including at the “powerhouse” Cherry Hills Village precinct that boasted regular attendees state Sen. Terry Considine and Neil Bush, whose father was living in the White House. …

… Republican state Sens. Wayne Allard and Sally Hopper squared off in opposing columns over whether to ask voters to legalize gambling in several historic mountain towns. “It’s not that I’m against preserving or restoring history,” wrote Allard, “I just think there are several other alternatives that would accomplish this.” There was “no doubt” in Allard’s mind that “organized crime and gambling feed on one another,” he wrote, warning that legalized gambling will burden law enforcement. “I do not believe we want to attract the type of tourists to our state who come to gamble,” he added. “To me, fishing, camping and hiking are much more healthy and desirable activities than staying indoors and gambling.” Hopper disagreed. The proposal, she wrote, would generate historic preservation funds. “At the same time, the limited gaming will add to the ‘Old West’ flavor of those towns.” Alarmist warnings about crime were raised when the state considered instituting a lottery, and that didn’t happen, she wrote. “Keep in mind that we are not talking about casinos,” she continued, stressing that the plan was for “limited” gambling – just slot machines, blackjack and poker. “I’m confident that passage of SCR 9 will not invite big city crime or Las Vegas promoters to invade any of the areas,” she added, asking only that voters be allowed to decide for themselves.

Fifty years ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … The Democratic-controlled state House and Republican-controlled state Senate were divided over the budget submitted by Republican Gov. John Love, though a group of Republican senators were giving their own governor headaches by refusing to back down from their own “hold-the-line” budget proposal. Twelve of the 20 GOP senators wanted a budget without any state tax increases, though Democrats charged that local taxes would need to jump substantially to make up for a big drop in aid to local school districts. State Sen. Roy Romer calculated that property taxes would have to go up by a cool $17.5 million to make up for the shortfall. Romer and House Speaker Allen Dines further argued that the Republican senators’ budget would undermine state colleges and universities, leading to “a situation in higher education that would spell the end for quality instruction …” In other legislative news, the House waved ahead a bill to let county health departments provide family planning advice to married couples, although employees with religious objections wouldn’t be forced to talk about birth control. Rep. Darrell Skelton opposed the legislation, which had already passed the Senate, saying he believed it “would encourage

promiscuity and adultery.” …

… 17-year-old Lynn Davidson shared her impressions of the final leg of the civil rights march on Montgomery, Ala., led by Dr. Martin Luther King, in a front-page story. Accompanying some 90 Coloradans – including Catholic priests and nuns, housewives, professors, labor leaders, state lawmakers – the high school student wrote that some local youth, who helped usher marchers, wore fluorescent red jackets to denote that they were among the 300 who had marched all the way from Selma, “and these carried themselves with a special pride.” “What do you want?” the marshals shouted. “Freedom!” the marchers roared back. A man drove up alongside and offered pint bottles of milk to the marchers and when that had run out stood at the roadside saying, “God bless you!” When the march passed into the “white section” of town, “the frenzied cheering and waving of the black marchers suddenly was replaced by the unmoving stares of the whites. There were no contorted faces; they didn’t jeer; sometimes even their eyes didn’t seem to hold anything at all,” Davidson wrote. Gathered in front of the Alabama Capitol, where a Confederate flag flew high, a speaker asked that it be replaced with the Stars and Stripes. Instantly, young marchers raised a thousand small American flags into the air. As the crowd of 30,000 broke into the Star Spangled Banner, Davidson concluded, “The new generation below the legislature had a new flag for the Capitol of tomorrow.”

– Ernest@coloradostatesman.com