A weekly dive into the pages of Colorado Politics’ predecessor, The Colorado Statesman, which started in 1898:

Forty Years Ago This Week: A dramatic outburst cut like a knife through the stagnant air of an otherwise boringly typical day when state Senate Majority Leader Ralph Cole, R-Littleton, and state Sen. Sam Zakhem, R-Denver, nearly came to blows in a shouting match on the floor of the chamber.

Although the public was not made aware about the nature of the argument nor how it had gotten so out of hand – rumor suggested it had to do with a bill Zakhem had introduced the previous month. The bill was intended to “prevent a former spouse from having to pay alimony to his ex-spouse if the ex-spouse entered into a second, informal, conjugal state.”

Coincidentally when Zakhem had been interviewed previously by Colorado Statesman reporters, he was unable to define a “conjugal state.” He had been further accused by fellow senators of desiring to police the habits of women rather than any true desire to save ex-husbands money.

Political commentator John Bromley had told The Statesman, “His bill is, at present, dead. And you should, each of you, hold your legislators to strict accord that it stay dead, for it is not wise to be, as Zakhem is here, punitive and discriminatory.”

Perhaps something along those lines was what Cole said to Zakhem before their fight, pundits surmised.

Twenty Years Ago: In 2000, two Columbine High School students, Nicholas Kunselman (15) and his girlfriend Stephanie Hart-Grizzell (16) were murdered in a Subway sandwich shop. Kunselman had been assigned to close the shop at 10 p.m. Because of his age, Kunselman’s duties had been in violation of child labor statutes – an opaque area of law that had largely gone ignored for decades.

Holding the tragic incident up as an example, state Rep. Don Lee, R-Littleton, introduced the Colorado Youth Employment Opportunity Act to update and re-focus laws regarding youth employment. Lee told reporters that he’d been deeply affected by the murders.

“There’s no way that he should have been working at that time of night, alone and without proper training,” Lee said. “Several other workers at the store were underage as well.”

It turned out, to the surprise of many lawmakers, that the youth employment act had not been comprehensively reviewed for 30 years. Lee’s bill sought to shift the focus from a collaboration between employers, youth and the schools to a collaboration with parents.

“It’s extremely important to have a relationship between the family and the employer when young people are working,” Lee said. “It would also streamline and clarify provisions limiting how late minors can work during the school week, allowing later hours for older students and for emancipated minors.”

Kunselman and Grizzell’s murders have never been solved despite a financial reward being posted at the time and increased in 2000.

Fifteen Years Ago: Choosing the most romantic day of the year, the Colorado Clergy for Equality and Marriage (CCEM) announced their opposition to the proposed gay marriage ban, set for the November ballot.

Phil Campbell, CCEM’s co-founder, said, “In the spirit of St. Valentine we gather as clergy on this Valentine’s Day to declare our support for marriage – even marriages that our government has declared illegal.”

CCEM members argued that all marriages fall under the First Amendment right to religion.

“It is time the state got out of the business of sanctioning what has always been a religious ceremony,” said Emily Hassler, pastor of Washington Park United Church of Christ. “If we are going to be fair about religious boundaries, then anyone wishing to enter into domestic bliss, whether homosexual or heterosexual, should seek a civil union from the state. To do anything else is to violate the First Amendment and to abridge the Fourteenth.”

However Jon Paul, executive director of Coloradans for Marriages, disagreed.

“Marriage has boundaries. In other words, I can’t marry my sister. I can’t marry somebody that’s underage. I can’t marry as many people as I want to,” Paul said. “There is no court in the country that has looked at our definition of marriage and said this is a 14th Amendment issue.”

But Reverend Gil Caldwell, CCEM member, equated the struggle of same-sex couples to the struggle of black Americans for civil rights.

“For these people who oppose us,” Caldwell said, “the idea of racial integration or the involvement of same gender loving people in marriage simply violates what has always been.”

Sean Duffy, former aide to Gov. Bill Owens, said that CCEM’s take on Christianity was one of the more important assets they brought to the discussion.

“It’s important to say, look, there are other members of the clergy who have a different view of this than Focus on the Family,” Duffy said.

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and the Colorado Springs Gazette.