Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: King Soopers president Jim Baldwin told The Colorado Statesman that he absolutely would not be running for governor against Democrat Gov. Roy Romer in 1990.

“Obviously I’m flattered with the prospect of being considered for the CEO job of the state of Colorado,” Baldwin said, “but nevertheless I’m a political neophyte and a person tends to lose themselves when they’re immersed in politics, sometimes selling their integrity for favors down the line.”

Baldwin had only just announced that he would be leaving his post at King Soopers.

“I’m obviously in a situation where I don’t need to work,” Baldwin said, “I’m extremely fortunate in that I can do pretty much what I want for a while. Politics is an option I can explore in the future but not likely in 1990. It would be kind of like asking for brain damage.”

Baldwin said that he was busy enough sitting on the boards of three different corporations and on five other non-profits as well as heading the Baldwin Foundation, which assisted organizations with matching grants.

“Besides it would be difficult to run a race against Gov. Romer,” Baldwin said. “I like Roy. I don’t see anyone on the horizon who can beat him.”

In other news, former American ambassador to Bahrain and former Colorado state Sen. Sam Zakhem was the guest of honor at the Douglas County Republican Party Lincoln Day dinner and was introduced by Republican National Committeeman Jim Nicholson.

Zakhem had recently been commended by the commander-in-chief of Central Command, Gen. George Crist of the U.S. Marine Corps., for his service in completing extremely delicate negotiations in Bahrain.

“You were in the midst of the fray at every moment,” Crist wrote. “It is only with your perseverance, political skill and close personal relations with the government that success was achieved.”

Fifteen Years Ago: “Colorado has become the epicenter of the problems of violence in our schools,” said Colorado Attorney General John Suthers at the annual school safety conference, “and there is still much to be done to secure campuses.”

Two days before the “Safe Schools” conference, two students suffered non-life-threatening injuries at a shooting at Deer Creek Middle School in Jefferson County. Details of the shooting had not been released but the perpetrator was in custody.

“Training and preparedness prompted by the Columbine tragedy helped the Deer Creek faculty respond quickly,” Suthers said. “The Deer Creek shooting reminded us of how difficult it is to protect our children from mentally ill outsiders.”

Although school shootings had risen in number since 1999, Suthers reminded the event attendees that schools were, by and large, safe places for students and teachers.

“Only a small fraction of serious crimes occur at school,” Suthers said. “Students are twice as likely to be victimized at home as they are at school, and three times as likely to be victimized in the after-school hours … than they are during school hours.”

Suthers also pointed to information sharing efforts like the Safe2Tell safety hotline that had produced law-enforcement successes, including intervention in bullying and student suicides and the thwarting of potential attacks.

“School violence in the decade after Columbine,” Suthers said, “shows there were fewer than those in the preceding ten years.”

In the same week, the Colorado State University Board of Governors unanimously approved a controversial rule to ban concealed carry permit holders from possessing firearms on campus. Pro-gun activists and groups said they planned to sue to block implementation of the ruling.

Rachael Wright is the author of several novels including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Denver Gazette.