SARAH, HILLARY & DAN, left to right, gave it their all, & then some, during the 38th annual Fred Prindle Memorial City Park Bike Race, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Road Club with Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport June 7. Over the years the event has learned how to mix frivolity with some serious racing. One of the several races staged (for all ages & experience levels) benefitted the Challenged Athletes Foundation. PHOTO BY JEFF HERSCH

■ Grant allows autumn pilot project to augment 18-year-old spring distribution
 

BY RORY SEEBER

Denver Digs Trees,” the program managed by The Park People that has provided free and low-cost street trees to Denver residents every spring for 18 years, is adding an autumn distribution this year.
    A grant from EnCana Oil & Gas will fund the pilot project.
    Entitled the “Shade Tree” program, the initiative will distribute1,050 trees at low cost... or for free in designated neighborhoods... the first Saturday in October to take advantage of the fall planting season.

■ Stakeholders committee will make recommendations for policy, sites & enforcement
 

The Denver Parks & Recreation Department has selected 20 people to serve on an External Stakeholder Committee to help in the creation of a Dog Park Master Plan.
    The committee is an advisory group and will meet several times during the summer to develop ideas for the improvement of existing off-leash dog parks and the planning of new dog parks. They will consider such criteria as location, design, environmental and water quality, and provide general policy and enforcement recommendations.
    The panel is comprised of two members from the Parks & Rec Advisory Board, three representatives from Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation (INC), and 15 citizens representing the ten (numbered) City Council Districts.
    The advisory group includes veterinarians, owners of dog-walking businesses, members of the Great Dane Assistance League, dog trainers, foster dog owners, non-dog owners, and land use and business professionals.
 

■ Mother of two was brutally stabbed to death in 2005

BY RORY SEEBER

John Lee Carson, 34, was sentenced to 48 years in prison June 22 for the March 2005 brutal murder of Capitol Hill resident Brenda Denton.
    Denton’s body was found by a maintenance worker at the Belcourt Apartments on the 900 block of Lafayette. Coroner reports stated at the time that Denton had been beaten and slashed to death and had been dead for as long as three weeks before her body was discovered.
    Police thought briefly in 2005 that Denton, a 38-year-old mother of two, may have been a victim of serial rapist Brent J. Brents. Brents eventually pled guilty to 55 counts for numerous rapes, assaults and burglaries and is now serving 1,319 years in prison, without chance of parole.