Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Adopting a puppy for Valentine’s Day might be the perfect way to celebrate the love and commitment you share with your special someone. Denver has a surprising number of no-kill shelters, leagues and options where you can adopt a puppy.

The Denver Dumb Friends League is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to animal welfare in Denver. It has affordable rates, and all of their pets come with a wellness check and spaying or neutering. It takes the time to get to know you and ensure you will be a great fit for your new addition. All pets are micro chipped before leaving the shelter. The Denver Dumb Friends League is a staple in the Denver community and a great place to adopt a furry new family member.

The Foothills Animal Shelter is a wonderful non-profit shelter that specializes in the care of and welfare of dogs and cats. It will spay and neuter your new pet before it leaves the shelter. This is a newer facility and they take wonderful care of the dogs and cats received. Check out its Happy Tails page to read great success stories of placed pets to learn more about this organization.

Related: Top Specialty Pet Stores Around Denver

MaxFund Animal Adoption Center is a non-profit and a no-kill animal shelter, so it takes a strong stance on placing pets with just the right people. Its goal is to ensure all pets are placed into the prefect home, so they do not end up homeless once again. MaxFund has been a fixture in Denver. It specializes in great fundraising events and encourage members of the community to get involved with its mission to save the lives of unwanted animals.

Photo Credit: Think Stock

The Denver Animal Shelter provides great adoptions of all kinds of pets. You can view its available pets online with a great slideshow. You can stop in to meet the pet in person. They do adopt frequently, so if a pet is listed online, that doesn’t guarantee that it is still there. They will also spay or neuter all adopted pets. The shelter is also great to visit for many frequently asked pet related questions.

Related: Best Places to Take Your Dog in Denver

Lifeline Puppy Rescue is a unique puppy only facility that is a licensed no-kill rescue. It focuses on saving puppies from rural areas of overpopulation and poverty. Since it is open only two days a week, it usually has between 25 and 50 puppies available for adoption every weekend. It recommends that you arrive early. All puppies come with 30 days of free accident and illness insurance and it provides a $50 rebate once you prove that you have your puppy spayed or neutered. Additionally, it offers free obedience training for all puppies. Keep in mind this is an outdoor facility, so definitely dress for the weather.

Deborah Flomberg is a theater professional, freelance writer and Denver native. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.

That division between Clinton and Obama supporters was significant and some thought might even carry all the way to a contested convention.

Remembering that divided primary is helping soothe the concerns of some GOP leaders as they watch their own Presidential primary become more contentious. However, those same GOP leaders would be wise to recognize the key differences between the two primaries before they became too optimistic.

The 2008 Democratic primary was indeed contentious and it opened a great divide within the Democratic Party. However, the divide was over personality, not over the heart of the party. It was also over candidates and not where the party was headed philosophically.

The 2012 GOP primary is divided and contentious as well, but for the exact opposite reasons.

This year’s GOP primary is all about the heart and very philosophy of the Republican Party, and it is not about the candidates. That helps to explain the “flavor of the week” trend that has plagued the process for every candidate who isn’t Mitt Romney.

That scenario also helps to explain the worries about the eventual candidate’s ability to unify the party. Mitt Romney, or if he inexplicably collapses, someone else, will be tasked to not only unify the party around a personality, but also around a philosophy.

The reason that Ronald Reagan is regarded as a saint by Republicans is because he was one of the only modern GOP leaders that could unify the party both around a personality and philosophically. Since Reagan, no one has been able to duplicate the effort.

The Democratic Primary of 2008 divided a party that was still unified philosophically. The personality difference was a big deal, and still could have sunk the ship. However, Democrats were simply more pragmatic and focused about taking back the White House. Democratic leaders knew that tearing each other down in a way that could be repeated in the general election was counterproductive.

Republicans in the 2012 primary own no such pragmatism. It is perfectly acceptable in this campaign to tear down your fellow Republican with whatever weapon necessary, even if that weapon can be used in the general election.

The acceptance of that idea proves the lack of pragmatism within the Republican leadership and the deep divide over the very heart of the party. The problem is that when you fight with any means necessary for the heart of the party, there may not be much heart left to win once the fight is finished.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton displayed in 2008 how to fight to the bitter end, but not sink the party you wish to represent. They were able to bring their battle to the brink, but end it before the battle pushed the party over the edge.

If today’s GOP hopes to mirror the success of the Democrats in 2008, they must acknowledge that they are fighting a completely different battle in 2012. A battle not over candidates, but over what the Republican Party stands for.

That fight may be much harder to resolve than the one they will have with President Obama in November.
About The Blogger

- Dominic Dezzutti, producer of the Colorado Decides debate series, a co-production of CBS4 and Colorado Public Television, looks at the local and national political scene in his CBSDenver.com blog. Read new entries here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Dezzutti writes about federal, state and local matters and how our elected leaders are handling the issues important to Colorado. Dezzutti also produces the Emmy winning Colorado Inside Out, hosted by Raj Chohan, on Colorado Public Television.

Summit County Coroner Joanne Richardson says William Emberton of Stonington, Conn., died Thursday afternoon at a suburban Denver hospital. He was taken to the hospital Tuesday after being found face down at Keystone Resort.

Richardson says Emberton had a broken neck and an anoxic brain injury, meaning not enough oxygen was getting to his tissues.

He was wearing a helmet.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Agency officials say the plan approved Thursday will provide the basis to begin organizing the 880 employees in the new agency, known as Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and merging the state’s parks and wildlife programs. The plan also will be used to develop a report to lawmakers this month on the progress of the merger.

Gov. John Hickenlooper had suggested the merger with hopes of saving the state $3 million to $4 million a year. He signed a bill into law last year to combine the agencies.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

“I’ve been waiting years for this day to come and speak up,” said Anne Malver, a 51- year-old wife and mother of two, who says her former coach, Doug Boger, had sex with her for years when she was one of his students.

“I will admit it. I was a very tough coach,” said Boger, who is now based in Colorado Springs, but he flatly denied all of the abuse claims. “I definitely think I am the victim of a mob mentality.”

“He molested me sexually multiple times,” said Malver.
She said the sexual relations occurred in the 1970s when she was between the ages of 11 and 14 and Boger was in his 20s. Malver has never publicly disclosed the relationship until the interview with CBS4. Malver said Boger, who was coaching a group of girls in Pasadena, Cali. called ‘The Flairs,’ groomed her.

“The groundwork was tickling and rolling until the tongue was in the ear. He said ‘I just can’t wait till you’re 18, I can’t , I can’t. I want those legs to wrap around me,’” Malver says Boger told her. “And in the apartment being taken to the bedroom and being disrobed. And in the bedroom forcing himself inside me even though I was crying out for him to stop. And in that moment of pain he would say, ‘This is what all you girls want; this is what you all want.’”

Malver says over the course of three years, Boger had sex with her at least a dozen times.

Malver was one of four women who told stories of being sexually abused by Boger as part of a CBS4 Investigation, claiming Boger, who was once a national gymnastics champion himself, had sex with them during their pre- teen years. Boger is now trying to get back into the coaching realm in Colorado.

Boger say the claims of Malver, the three others who say he sexually abused them, and numerous other women who claim physical abuse are, “Fabricated. I did not do anything wrong, the sexual thing is absolutely fabricated. These kids all got together and fabricated this.”

Boger’s comments came during his first media interview about the accusations.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Boger. He called the accusations “fiction.”

Denise Gallion, another former Flairs gymnast, is now a 50-year-old mother of four. But she says when she was a 13-year-old gymnast under the tutelage of Boger in Pasadena; he began having sex with her.

“You just kind of go with it. He was like a boyfriend- that’s what was in my head,” said Gallion.

She says Boger was in his mid-to-late 20s when he began having sex with her. She said he had sex with her multiple times in California, on Catalina Island and on a trip to Hawaii.

“It was like a relationship. I thought I was the only one,” said Gallion.

Gallion says the underage sex has dramatically affected her life.

“I’m still trying to find myself at 50. I feel like I don’t know who I am and have always tried to be what everyone thinks is good,” said Gallion.

Charmaine Carnes began training with Boger in Pasadena when she was 8 or 9 years old. She said Boger groomed her for sex.

“He would start tickling up high then work his way down low,” said Carnes.

She said the playfulness eventually turned into unwanted sex.

“And he used his fingers to manipulate my private areas. He would kiss me and fondle me and fondle my breasts,” said Carnes.

Carnes said Boger eventually engaged in a full blown sexual relationship with her, having sex with her in her home when her parents were not around. Carnes said her parents implicitly trusted the gym coach, but were fooled.

“There was a mattress there and he would lay me down and we would have intercourse,” said Carnes.

Asked how her parents could not have known what was happening, Carnes said, ”There’s a great ability for parents to have denial.”

Like the other women, Carnes said her parents were dazzled by the charismatic Boger, their judgment possibly clouded by Boger’s ability to turn young girls into champion gymnasts.

A fourth former Flairs gymnast, who asked she not be identified, said Boger began having sex with her when she was 13-years-old.

“He didn’t care about our emotions, or our minds. We were just bodies, there to worship him and to be used by him,” said the now 51-year-old woman. “I was completely caught up in his world and didn’t realize the amount of damage he was doing. I trusted him.”

The woman said she has never shared stories of her sexual contact with Boger until now.

“A lot of the sex was humiliating. Enough so that I will never tell another soul some of what he did to me,” said the woman.

She said she is now sharing her story not for revenge, but to support the other women.

“I’m here to say everything they say is true. I know, because it happened to me too. We kids didn’t stand a chance,” said the woman.

She said at age 15, Boger got her pregnant, leading to an abortion.

“These are the things I can talk about,” said the woman, “other things are better left buried deep.”

The whispers about Boger and his pre-teen gymnasts eventually reached Richard Riordan whose daughter, Kathy, was one of the Flairs.

Riordan, who would go on to be elected Mayor of Los Angeles, told CBS4 he confronted Boger, who denied having sex with his young students.

“I kept telling him I don’t believe you one inch,” recounted Riordan,”Don’t care what you say you get the hell out of here.”

Riordan said he then warned other parents but was stunned at their reactions.

“I called a couple of other parents and they said, ‘Thanks for the warning but we’ll make sure our child doesn’t get involved,’ and they still let their children go to his classes.”

Finally said Riordan, he notified prosecutors in Southern California about what he had heard.

“But prosecutors weren’t interested because they didn’t know how to make good witnesses out of the children,” said Riordan.

Beyond the four women who say Boger sexually molested them, others say Boger physically abused them, causing serious injuries and even burned them with cigarettes to make a point.

“He kicked me, threw me against equipment, threw me against a wall and burned me with a cigarette,” said Amy Moran, now 38-years-old. ”He’s a monster and also a con man. He had our parents tricked.”

Former gymnast Monica Lenches said she witnessed the cigarette incidents.

“I remember him burning a girl with a cigarette. I remember him taking a cigarette to her body,” said Lenches.

Kathy Riordan, whose father said he tried to warn other parents and prosecutors, said that on a road trip to Arizona, when the team was staying at a motel, she caught Boger with a teammate.

“She was underage, they were in bed naked,” said Riordan. “Through the crack in the curtain I saw him in bed with my teammate and they both jumped out of bed naked. I have no doubt they were having sex.”

Boger was put on trial in Pasadena in 1982 on charges he physically abused young gymnasts. He was acquitted on those charges, and none of the women in this CBS4 Investigation were called to testify in that case. Charges were never brought against Boger on the sexual abuse allegations as most of the young girls say they never discussed what happened. Most said they never told their stories due to shame, fear, guilt or feelings that they would not be believed. And they say they were infatuated with their handsome coach, and did not want to cause him problems.

“I wanted his approval constantly,” said Mona Holmes, who trained with Boger for about a year and a half.

Boger, who now lives in Colorado Springs, is planning to again coach young gymnasts.

“That’s all I’ve done. That’s what I am. I am a gymnastics coach. That is still my passion, that’s what I do,” said Boger.

As he categorically denies the women’s accusations, Boger is receiving support from other gymnasts and their parents. On one internet message board, a person who identified themselves as former students of Boger’s wrote, “I am stunned at the allegations against him. He was by far the best gymnastics coach I’ve ever had in my entire life and I would not trade the 7 years I worked with him for anything. I never in my life experienced anything that Doug is being accused of and I will stand by him through this. He has had such a positive impact on my life and I will always support him.”

Another writer, identified as a parent of a gymnast wrote, “Doug has never been anything other than professional, supportive, and encouraging to my children. In fact, my children LOVE Coach Doug. “

The women tracked down in the CBS4 Investigation say Boger should never again be allowed in a gym.

“Doug Boger should never be in the presence of a child- ever,” said Kathy Riordan.

Mona Holmes said she was speaking out about her former coach to protect others.

“My priority is that man does not need to set foot in a gym again. He just needs to not be around young children, period,” said Holmes.

Speaking out about Boger may be about all they can do. Since the alleged sexual acts took place more than 30 years ago, it appears
the statute of limitations has run out, and Boger couldn’t be criminally charged, even if prosecutors wanted to pursue the cases. The women hope their stories prompt changes in California’s laws.

“I believe the statute should be lifted,” said Kathy Riordan. “Victims don’t come forward until later. It’s appalling that when they have the courage to speak out the law can’t help them.”

Some criminal charges- like murder- have no statute of limitations and can be prosecuted at any time. But that’s not the case in California when it comes to sexual assault of a minor.

“That we have it on murder but not child abuse and molestation says as a society how we view children, because when you abuse and molest a child you are murdering an aspect of that child,” said Monica Lenches.

“He was a fantastic coach, but that does not make him a good person,” said former Flairs gymnast Julie Whitman. “I came out to protect the little girls we don’t know that we want to protect, that’s why we’re doing this. If I can protect one girl, I’ve done a good thing.”

“It’s time that he knows he can’t walk around and pretend he didn’t do anything,” said Denise Gallion.

Doug Boger says the women are lying, “about everything. This came out of the blue and I don’t know why.”

Through tears, Charmaine Carnes said, “He stole our dreams.”

Arizona (17-8, 8-4 Pac-12) labored for stretches offensively, but played solid defense throughout to keep itself within reach of the Pac-12 lead. The Wildcats steadily built the lead to nine midway through the second half. And Perry, with some help from Hill, made sure Colorado didn’t come back.

Perry also had 11 rebounds and Kyle Fogg added 15 points for Arizona.

Colorado (16-8, 8-4) kept up with the Wildcats for a while, but couldn’t match their second-half intensity and lost for the fourth time in five conference road games.

Andre Roberson had 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Buffaloes, who were 4 for 19 from 3-point range. Carlon Brown added 11 points.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

It is the longest losing streak in five seasons for the Nuggets, who have dropped seven of eight games overall and also have lost five in a row at home.

Klay Thompson added 19 points, Dorrell Wright had 15 and Monta Ellis 14 for the Warriors, who snapped a two-game skid and posted just their third win in nine road games.

The Warriors, one of just two sub.-500 teams the Nuggets will see the rest of February, used a 37-20 third quarter to put this one away.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

A Toyota Tacoma truck was driving on the on ramp to southbound lanes of I-25 from 144th Ave. when it hit a patch of ice. The truck crossed all three lanes and slammed into the center median.

A Toyota Tacoma pickup struck the median of I-25 near 144th Ave. Thursday night. (credit: CBS)

That’s when the topper of the truck and concrete from the median flew into the northbound lanes of I-25, striking three vehicles. No one in those vehicles was hurt.

Two people inside the Toyota Tacoma were hurt but did not suffer serious injuries.

A Toyota Tacoma pickup struck the median of I-25 near 144th Ave. Thursday night. (credit: CBS)

All lanes of the interstate were closed until about 9 p.m. while the cars and debris was cleared from the accident site.

Kristen Hamling used to run a group called “Fired Up For Kids” and claimed all the proceeds from a firefighter calendar were donated to Children’s Hospital.

A CBS4 On Your Side investigation found Hamling may have used some of the money for personal use. The money was used on perchases that included a trip to Disneyland, a fitness center, pet store, restarurants, groceries and liquor.

RELATED LINK: Fired Up For Kids Story Archive

The group that has taken over the calendar is re-launching and ready for a new year.

“Everyone was just chomping at the bit to get going again and we have 100 percent of their support,” said Colorado Firefighter Calendar, Inc. member Perry Palmer.

The new non-profit Colorado Firefighter Calendar, Inc. debuted the 2012 calendar Thursday. The new group said they are looking to the future.

“We anticipate all of our events superseding any other event we’ve done in the past,” said Colorado Firefighter Calendar member Barbara Brooks.

Boulder Firefighter Tyler Capron is featured on this month’s calendar page and believes this fresh start will be just what the organization needs.

“We were all disappointed Fired Up For Kids ended but we are excited Colorado Firefighter Calendar, Inc. has started,” said Capron.

The new charity said they’re hoping to not just restart the right way but also bring in even more money to help kids.

“Some of the firefighters have been selling the new calendar and they’ve been selling off the shelf like crazy,” said Palmer.

The new organization said they don’t have financial goals set just yet but they know they’ve got the support of firefighters and the community.

The Denver District Attorney continues to investigate the case against Hamling.