Thirty Years Ago This Week: Answering to mounting pressure, Gov. Roy Romer announced a special legislative session on Sept. 7 to address an onslaught of juvenile violence that had swept across the Denver metro area and the state.

One approach being considered by Romer’s staff was a ‘boot-camp’ for juveniles apprehended in the possession of firearms.

At a joint meeting of an interim committee on juvenile violence and the Juvenile Justice Subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Commission, Barbara McDonnell, executive director of the State Department of Institutions said the boot-camp approach was considered “the governor’s iron fist plan.”

State Rep. Mary Ellen Epps, R-Colorado Springs, who two years previously had sponsored a successful bill to establish a system of running several prisons in the state like military boot camps, told McDonnell that she had visited a juvenile detention facility and witnessed inmates “lounging around, watching television, etc.,” in an atmosphere that “must seem like summer camp to them.”

McDonnell said that there were currently 20 youth offenders in a boot-camp program at Mount View Youth Detentions Center and there could be more under Romer’s plan to establish a new “youthful offender program” for 14- to 18-year-olds as “an interim step between the present juvenile justice system and the adult corrections system.”

In September, legislators would have four to five days of special session to hash out the details of this program, with a price tag of $10 million according to the governor’s office. But many lawmakers were wary of the purported cost, arguing that there were very few facilities available to house offenders, and the state could not raise taxes even to make purchases as simple as new prison beds.

“If the governor wants to come up with the money to house juveniles in the idle Aurora Jail, I’ll be a lot more receptive,” said Rep. Ken Chlouber, R-Leadville, member of the Capital Development Committee.

Sen. Dottie Wham, R-Denver, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which had killed four gun control bills during the regular legislative session, said she was highly skeptical that anything would be achieved.

“It can’t be done in three or four days,” said Wham. “A special session ought not to be called unless there is substantial reason to believe we could do something.”

Meanwhile, Senate President Tom Norton, R-Greeley, and House Speaker Chuck Berry, R-Colorado Springs, were enraged that Romer called the special session when they were both in attendance at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Texas.

“I hope we’ll hit the ground running and that we can deal with this emergency and adjourn by Friday, Sept. 10,” Norton said.

Tom Bastien, chief lobbyist for the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, said he didn’t expect the Legislature to do much of anything,

“Not anything that will do any good,” Bastien said.

But House Democrats lent their support to Romer. Minority Leader Sam Williams, D-Breckenridge, lauded Romer for “taking the leadership role” in addressing the rising violence.

“If the right elements are in place it could do more than anything else to solve these problems,” said Assistant House Minority Leaders Peggy Kearns, D-Aurora. “To implement the plan, money could come from the budgets of the Department of Corrections and Division of Youth Services, from programs we know just don’t work.”

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, went further and called for tougher gun control legislation.

“Last session we had several excellent bills, which were killed on partisan grounds in committee, which would have kept guns out of the hands of juveniles and would have punished the adults who gave children guns,” DeGette said. “To me, and to the majority of Coloradans – 70% – children who do not have the judgement to vote, to drink, to take on any of the civic responsibilities that we as citizens assume should not have weapons of any kind.”

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.