Fifty Years Ago This Week: State Sen.-elect Roy Romer, D-Denver, spoke at the Democratic Forum in Denver to drum up support for the establishment of a new, four-year Denver State College.

Romer had chaired a legislative task force that had been formed in response to an identified need from Denver, Jefferson, Adams and Arapahoe county students who were not being adequately served by CU Boulder’s non-degree granting extension center in Denver.

The most feasible solution, Romer and the task force concluded, was to establish a four-year Denver State College as well as a graduate center to be staffed by personnel from CU Boulder, Colorado School of Mines and Colorado State University.

But CU Boulder Regents and the faculty senate remained intractable in their opposition to the formation of another state college.

In what was quickly becoming one of the most significant battles to face the legislature, Romer said that he took issue with “CU policy makers on the grounds that a separate institution could do a better job of meeting the unique needs of urban area students,” and more affordably.

In 1960, the state legislature had tasked CU Boulder for recommendations address the unmet educational needs of Denver students. The legislative task force found that 25% fewer metro Denver students were going to college compared to similar communities with a state college.

“The further fact is that students in the Denver area now enrolled in the CU extension center and in Opportunity School are different from students on a residence campus like Boulder,” Romer said. “Nearly 90% have at least a part time job, 75% work 40 hours a week, three times as many attend class at night, they are older, and have many special equational needs.”

According to Romer, the task force found that four educational needs existed for metro Denver students: graduate programs, undergraduate programs, high-level specialized technological training and vocational education.

In other news, Shirlee Harhues, president of the Denver Police Wives Association, spoke with The Colorado Democrat saying she was outraged with the continued dangerous practice of the Denver Police Department of having only one police officer per patrol vehicle.

While the issue was being debated, Harhues said, another police officer had been killed while patrolling alone. For years the Denver Police Wives Association had been lobbying heavily to force the city of Denver and the Denver Police Department to implement a two-man per squad car policy.

Harhues said that the Republican dominated “citizens committee” which was formed to address the issue, had informed her that the two-man cars policy would be implemented, but that it would “depend on who will get the credit.”

Twenty-Five Years Ago: Less than two years after she narrowly lost the House District 27 seat to Rep. Barry Arrington, R-Arvada, by less than 10 votes per precinct, Sue Windels again announced she would be making a new bid for her old, Republican-dominated northern Jefferson County seat.

Windels said that the near miss had been lingering in her mind and she’d been working hard since the November 1996 election to keep her name in front of the voters. Shortly after her loss, Windels had formed the newsletter The Voters Voice, which aimed to keep voters informed about political events affecting the community.

In her announcement, Windels argued that Arrington’s stringent pro-life views generated irritation among voters who believed he used his position to further his own religious views instead of representing his constituents.

“My goal is to represent all of the people of House District 27,” Windels said. “If elected, I will be a team player and listen to all points of view rather than using the seat to further my own agenda.”

Windels touted her long history working in education as Jefferson County Parent Teacher Association legislative chairman and Colorado’s PTA director of public policy.

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 Gazette.