PHOTO BY KATHY SCHNEIDER

8 FORT LUPTON PRESS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011 WWW.FTLUPTONPRESS.COM

■ see BACK IN THE GAMEpage 9

KEVIN DENKE

The scream.That’s what Kristi Ander-son remembers. One second her daughter, Amber Anderson,

chased a loose ball toward the stands in the southwest corner of the Fort Lupton High School gym. And then she disappeared. “I started counting heads out there and I went ‘Oh, God, that’s her.’ My first reaction was I’d never heard her scream like that ever before.” Amber’s cries had pierced the rau-cous din of the gymnasium – packed to watch the Bluedevils take on rival Brighton High School. And, then, silenced it. “It dropped like a heartbeat,” Kristi said. “When the crowd realized she was over there screaming, even before I got there, they had complete-ly silenced. “You could hear a pin drop.” When Kristi reached her daughter, Amber was laying on her side, her face covered by her hands. It was Jan. 29, 2010 and one thought went through Kristi’s mind. “In my mind I just remember thinking I’m not prepared for what I’m going to see.”

A hair offIt all begins with the hair.

Of all the sacred pregame rituals that athletes practice, Amber’s path to game time rests on her hair. If her cascade of blond hair is manageable, if she is happy with how it looks, pulled back, normally with a headband, it can say a lot about the night ahead. It did that night. The hair just wasn’t cooperating. “I know this is going to sound weird but if my hair is off then my game’s going to be off,” she admitted. “It’s just those little things.” And, on this night, it was a lot of little things. And it all went wrong on the biggest of nights. The girls had the gym for the “Pack the House” against the Bulldogs. The boys basketball team didn’t have a game. The spotlight belonged to them. And it was slipping away.

A pair of knee injuries devastated Amber Anderson’s high school athletic career. But her own determination and a coach willing to take a chance soon might have her

KEVIN DENKE

Back in the Game “The refs weren’t working for us that night, my shots weren’t go-ing in,” Amber said. “My teammate, Jasmine Shaffer, her shots weren’t fall-ing. Nothing was working for us that night.” Shaffer remembers the game all too well. “Me and Amber, boy, we knew we had that game,” Shaffer said. “We just felt it was our game. We just went into that game ready to go.” The final bad sign for Amber came on the bench between the first and second quarter. “I’d throw up in my hands,” Amber said. “My coach was like, ‘Are you OK?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ He’s like, ‘I think you should sit out for just two minutes.’” Amber got back in the game. And 30 seconds later, it hap-pened.

you OK?” Amber remembers being on the floor for what felt like close to an hour. “Since nobody knew what was wrong with me, they didn’t want to touch me,” she said. “They thought it was my face, they

didn’t want to touch my head. They didn’t want me moving. I said, “‘No, it’s my knee, it’s my knee.’” Kristi remembers the odd sense of relief when Amber rolled over and she could see her daughter’s face. “It’s bittersweet, I guess, but I was happy when I noticed it wasn’t her face,” Kristi said. For Shaffer, there was something sickeningly familiar about Amber on the floor, writhing in pain. Shaffer tore her anterior cruciate ligament – one of four main ligaments in the knee – her sophomore year. “At first, I thought it was her ankle but the way she yelled and was gri-macing, I knew it was something bad,” she said. “I knew what she was going through right when she went out of that game. It was hard for me to see.” Finally Amber’s boyfriend at the time swept her up and carried her off the court to the training room.

“When she went out, it was hard,” Shaffer said. “She was like my second hand on the court. It was hard not having her out there with me.” Fort Lupton lost the game 72-39. Amber remembers learning, that as a fitting end to a promising night that went bad, the team’s five-gallon water cooler spilled on the gym floor. “Everything just kept getting worse and worse that night – every-thing just piled up,” Amber said.

Hoping for good newsSchool staff called 911 after Amber

got injured. But, by the time she got back to the training room, the pain in her knee was gone. The ambu-lance wasn’t needed and Kristi took her daughter to the hospital.

Losing Amber, losing the gameThe thought among most fans and

spectators in the gym that night was that Amber, her hands cupped over her face as she wailed in pain, smacked her head or face on the bleachers when she jumped out of bounds to save the loose ball. “I was probably like 3 feet, 4 feet away,” Shaffer said. “The ball was go-ing out of bounds. She threw it into me actually. I saw her go down.” Amber remembers a sharp stab-bing pain radiate through her right knee. And then it becomes a blur. She remembers Fort Lupton High School teacher Lynn Moore fanning her with a magazine. “I remember I opened my eyes and everybody was right there,” she said. “I don’t remember falling, hitting ground. I just remember everyone around me asking “Are you OK? Are

WWW.FTLUPTONPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011 FORT LUPTON PRESS 9

For Amber, who is ada-mant she isn’t a crier, her emotions got the best of her in the emergency room. “She held it together really well until Jasmine got there,” Kristi said. “When Jas-mine came in, she was pretty emotional.” Amber remembers when she emerged from the emer-gency room. “When I came wheeling out in my wheelchair (from the ER) my whole team, coaches, friends, family were sitting in the waiting room,” she said. “There was like 30 people there for me.” There was no definite di-agnosis of an ACL tear. Amber was optimistic. “When I got back to the training room, it didn’t hurt anymore,” she said. “When I got to the hospital, I thought ‘Wow, I think I came for noth-ing. I’ll be back playing in a week.’ I told my team ‘I’ll be back playing Tuesday, you just watch.’” “She still wanted to have it in the back of her head that it wasn’t her knee,” Kristi said. “’It was going to be fine, it was going to be good. This was just a little setback.” Doctors offered some hope that it might be just an injury to the medial collateral ligament – a brief, four-week recovery with no surgery. Amber doesn’t remember the customary audible pop when the injury happened that would signal an ACL injury. “That was the hardest thing – the anticipation of wondering was the worst, not knowing,” she said. “If some-thing popped, I would have known. Nothing popped in my knee so I didn’t know.” As a testament to the trickiness of a knee injury, it was about a month before an orthopedist diagnosed an ACL tear with associated cartilage damage. And Amber laughed.

Breaking down“I prepared myself but not

good enough for when they told me ‘you’re going to need surgery, you’re not going to be playing anything for six

BACK IN THE GAMEfrom page 8

months,’” Amber said. The laughter was a defense mechanism – one that she adopted a long time ago. “When I’m really hurt, I take it as a joke,” Amber said. “I take serious things as a joke sometimes. They told me, I just laughed. I didn’t believe it.” Kristi didn’t see it as much as a defense mechanism but a façade to mask her devasta-tion. With the diagnosis not only did Amber face, at the very least, a half of a year of reha-bilitation, but her senior year of softball – where she was the team’s starting catcher – was wiped out. She started to look at colleges for softball and had just signed up for a competi-tive summer softball league. When the reality sunk in, Amber cried. “I think it was just the final say of, ‘OK, it is torn,” Kristi said. “That was all it took when he finally told her the MRI showed conclusively that it was torn.” “It just dawned on me when I got in the car,” she said. “Usually I don’t cry in front of other people. When I got in the car, I really broke down.”

Turning 17On March 15, 2010, doctors

at Children’s Hospital completed the complicated, two-hour procedure of graft-ing a new ligament in place of her torn ACL. It was Amber’s 17th birthday and it was about to become the longest day of her life. Any surgery brings ap-prehension. The fear of the unknown was an added fac-tor for Amber, a first-time patient. She slept for six to seven hours after the surgery because doctors gave her Benadryl allergy medication. “I woke up and I jumped because I didn’t know where I was,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it was over.” Her mind quickly focused on the task ahead. “Now what?” she thought. “What am I going to look forward to tomorrow or the next day? Where do I go from here? That was just my next thought. How do I go up in-stead of down?” But the day wasn’t over yet. Doctors used an antiseptic to wash Amber’s knee but, unbeknownst to her, the antiseptic actually induced

a scary, late-stage, allergic reaction. After she got home, the skin around Amber’s eyes began to puff up – she likened it to a raccoon. “As the night went on, it just kept getting redder and redder and redder and just fire red.” Kristi said. “I thought ’Something doesn’t look right.’” She called the hospital and they suggested Kristi called the surgeon to double check. As she called the surgeon, Amber went into anaphylactic shock. Amber remembers her whole body became paralyzed and not being able to breathe. “You think you’re pre-pared for everything until your kid tells you, ‘Mom. I can’t breathe, call 911,” Kristi said. “I couldn’t even remem-ber how to call 911.” Amber’s younger sister, Autumn, called 911 while Kristi tended to Amber. Kristi is trained in CPR and she grappled with the thought that she’d need to resuscitate her own daughter. “I can just remember go-ing ‘Oh my God, am I going to have to save her now?’” Amber, shaking and screaming through gasps,

asked her mom, “Are they ever going to get here?” “They’re coming, they’re coming,” Kristi told her fran-tically. And then Amber took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “She’s completely still,” Kristi said. “And I thought ‘”Oh my God, she passed out.’” And then Amber opened her eyes. “’No, Mom, I’m trying to calm myself down,’” Amber told her. “Don’t ever do that again to me,” Kristi told Amber. “It scared the living daylights out of me and her sister.” Amber’s 17th birthday started with them leaving the house at 4 a.m. for the surgery. It ended the next morning when they left the hospital at about 3 a.m. “It was a long day,” Kristi said. “That was a scary night,” Amber said. “We kept teasing her that it would be a birthday she’d never forget,” Kristi said. And Amber agrees.

■ see BACK IN THE GAMEpage 10

PHOTO BY KEVIN DENKE

Amber Anderson can return to the spot in the Fort Lupton High School gym where she fi rst injured her knee but most of the moments afterward remain a blur.

Back In The game

Back in the Gamefrom page 9

Photos by Kevin DenKe

Left, the shuttle machine is one of amber anderson’s more grueling exercises; above, physical therapist David James guided amber through her first knee rehab and is help-ing through the process again. Right, a leisurely spin on a cy-cling machine starts off ander-son’s therapy session.

n see Back in the Game page 17

“I was just scared I was goIng to go out and dIsappoInt people.”- Amber Anderson

the next stepWhen the dramatic day of

her surgery was over, the long road ahead remained in front of Amber. For someone who admittedly likes to accomplish the next task in front of her – the long hours of rehabilitation loomed. “I just want to know the next step,” Amber said. “I want to know what I have to do to get to this step? How do I get there? When can I get there? I just want to get it done. Unfor-tunately, it’s something you can’t rush.” “Amber’s always been one that ‘Let’s get it and get it done. I wanna go,’” Kristi said. “And whenever the process was slowed – because your body only lets you go so fast – and when she didn’t make the progress she wanted. I think she thought if she got better quicker, then she’d be released quicker. They don’t do that. That graft takes six months to heal before they’ll release you.” Unable to rush the recovery, her therapy lagged as Amber eschewed the necessary home therapy exercises that accom-panied her multi-weekly rehab visits at the Children’s Hospital facility in Broomfield. She admit-ted that denial, maybe some depression set in. “I don’t have to work. It’ll come on its own,” she told her-self. “I got off track, didn’t do my exercises.” Kristi thinks it was a natural reaction to being left without sports – something that was so ingrained in her as a young kid. “We would start in the fall with volleyball, then basketball, then soccer, then softball,” Kristi said. “We kept that cycle up until high school. Then I told her she had to make a choice. She stuck with basketball and softball.” Now she had neither. Softball was lost for the year and Amber focused her mind on returning for the 2010-11 basket-ball season. Unable to help the softball team, Kristi said Amber

distanced herself from the team. “They wanted her to come and be part of the team and she said ‘No, I can’t do it,’” Kristi said. “They wanted her to man-age it and she said ‘I’m not a manager. I’m a player. If I’m not going to be considered a player and a teammate, then I don’t want to do it.’” Kristi said she was disap-pointed but understood. “I know her enough to know where she was coming from,” Kristi said. “It’s her decision. I couldn’t make that for her as hard I wanted to push her to do that.”

coming backWhen Amber was released

to start playing bas-ketball in October, she knew her responsibilities went well beyond getting herself ready

to play again. She would be the team’s lone senior – a far cry from the sophomore who took a reserve role as a senior-laden Bluedevils’ team made the play-offs in 2009. She feared she wouldn’t be able to lead the team and her teammates would realize it. “I was just scared I was go-ing to go out and disappoint people,” she said. “My team was really looking forward to me being back and I didn’t want to go out there and disappoint, to say ‘OK, she’s not ever going to be back. She’s never going to be what she was last year. We can’t depend on her.’” Her first game back against Elizabeth she calls “really rough.” The encouragement from teammates, coaches and parents meant little. “Everybody said ‘No, you played good,’” she remembered.

“I said ‘No, I know I can do bet-ter.’” The mental comeback nearly equaled the physical comeback for Amber, who built her game on playing with a reckless disre-gard for her body. “I went from being so (she pauses) so … everywhere,” she said. “The ball’s over there, OK, I’m there. The fear of going and saving the ball always came into my mind. “I could never go jump and try and throw the ball back in bounds again because that’s how I hurt my first knee. That was the hardest part.”

it’s timeIn her second game back

against Berthoud, Amber scored 16 points in a loss. But it was up and down – one step forward, one step back through

the early games. She wondered. “I just saw what I needed to do and I tried to go and do it,” she said. “For a while, I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t ready.” The turning point in her season came in a game at En-glewood High School. Maybe it was the thought of having her grandmother in the stands. Her grandparents were tireless fans for Amber, but health woes sidelined them from coming to many games anymore. “That’s when I said ‘OK, I’m going to get going. It’s time,’” she said. As her knee strengthened, as she found her game again, Amber relished the joy of play-ing again even through the struggles of a young team. “I’d rather be playing and losing by 100 points then sit-ting the bench and not being

able to play for six months down the line,” Amber said. “I’d rather being running up and down, doing suicides 600 times than watching my team struggle.” And just when it all looked like it was coming together; Amber had one of those nights.

happening againIt actually was one of those

days. She had a crummy day at school already. Then, as she began her preparations for the Jan. 15 game at Northglenn High School, Amber’s hair wasn’t working and she’d even forgot a sock. “God, everything’s off to-day,” she thought. She remembers the stifling Northglenn gym. “It’s like 90 degrees in here,” she thought.

And she was tired right from the start, even in warm-ups. When she checked out two minutes into the game, Kristi wondered. “I thought that’s strange,” Kristi said. For Amber, it was more than strange. The words of her physical therapist from earlier in the week ran through her head. “Be careful you don’t want to push yourself,” Amber remembered him telling her. “Your left knee is really weak in there, in the tendon. I remember this playing in my head ‘If you’re tired, you need to sit.’” Amber checked back in the game. And then she was down again.

hearing the pop“OK, get up,” Kristi said as

she saw her daughter down on the court. And then the screams. “I thought, ‘Oh no, Kristi said. Amber was playing defense and, as the ball handler went to penetrate, Amber went to shift with her. Her knee twisted and, this time, Amber heard the pop.

Kristi wondered what could have possibly gone wrong with Amber’s right knee, firmly se-cured in a large, black brace. “One of the parents said ‘Kristi, I think she’s holding up her other knee.’” “My coach (Joe Gutierrez) comes over and I’m yelling ‘it popped, it popped, it popped,’” she remembered.

A trainer on hand for the game checked Amber and assured her she was OK. Amber got up and walked off the court but it didn’t feel right. “Something’s wrong,” she thought. “It was so unstable. It just felt like I was walking on a twig.”

10 Fort Lupton press Wednesday, March 9, 2011 WWW.FtLuptonpress.coM WWW.FtLuptonpress.coM Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Fort Lupton press 11

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Shetriedtojogitoffonthesideline.AndtherewasthemomentofindecisionbetweenAmber,Kristiandhercoach. ForAmber,themomentsfrombeforeherfirstinjurycamefullcircle. “IrememberCoach(JoeGutierrez)lookingupatmymom,justgivingherthatlooklike‘ShouldIputherinorshouldInotputherin?’be-causehedoesn’ttrustmeinthefirstplace. “Thefirsttime,whenIwasplayingandthrewupinmyhand,Itoldhim‘I’mfine,’”sheadded.“Hedoesn’ttrustmeafterthat.” Kristihelplesslyshruggedbackfromthestandswhenshecaughtthecoach’seye.Shedidn’tknowtheanswer,either. Amberwentbackintothegame.Shelasted10seconds,andsheknewitwasover. “IknowI’mdone.Iknowwhat’swrong,”shesaid.“IknewwhenIfell,itwasmyACL.” Thistimeitwashermomwhoharboredthedenial. “TherewereafewtearsfromherbutIthinksomehowshejustknewitinherhead,”

Back In The game

Back in the gamefrom page 11

Kristisaid.“FormeitwasthefinalitythatIhadjustwatchedherplayherlastgame.Ire-membersittingtherethinking‘Oh,Iforgotthecamera’and‘Oh,well,it’llbeOK.I’llgetherthenextgameandrealizingyoucan’tdothatbecausetheremightnotbeanextgame. “ThatwashardformeknowingthatwasprobablythelasttimeI’dwatchherplaybasketballprobablyeveragainorpossiblyanysport.” Shaffer,awayatcollegeinScottsbluff,Neb.,gotatextmessagefromAmber. “Shetextedmerightaway,toldmethatshetoreherACL,”Shaffersaid.“Itwashardforme.IwasaboutreadytocryonmySidekickthereforaminute.Itwasverydifficultformetotakethatin.”

On the mend againItisaFridayinFebruary,justacoupleweeksafterhersec-

ondsurgery,andAmbersitsinacornerofthebrightlycoloredwaitingroomoftheChildren’sHospitalcampusinBroomfield. Asshewaits-wearingayel-lowFortLuptonsoftballteamtanktopandapairofgreenshorts-shementionsthatsheisexcitedaboutateambond-ingnight–dinnerandamovie.

Wherewilltheyeat?Theyhaven’tdecided.Whatmovie?Shedoesn’tknowyet. Andthat’sOK.Theroadtoanotheryearofrehabilitationisfilledwithroutine.Thenightwillbeararenightofsponta-neity.Sheawaitsherturntodisappearthroughaglassdoorintoalargegymfilledwithapairofexaminationtables,awall-lengthsetofmirrorsandexerciseequipment. Shehasbecomefamiliarwiththisplaceand,overthenextsixorsevenmonths,itwillbehomeagainfortwotothreetimesaweekassheendureshour-longtherapysessionstorehabilitateherknee. PhysicaltherapistDavidJamesopensthedoorandasksifshe’sready. JamesworkedwithAmberthroughherfirstrehabandhe’llguideherthroughthisoneaswell.Heisfamiliarwithher,andheisalsofamiliarwiththein-jury.Heestimateshe’llseefourtoeightpatientsadaywhoarerecoveringfromasimilarinjurywithvarieddamage. “Thefactthatwehavethatmanyhastodowiththefactthatallwedoistakecareofteenageathletesspecifically,”

Photo by Kevin DenKe

Part of amber’s rehab is mental, learning to do the things she did before without fear of injuring her knee again.

n see Back in the game page 20

www.ftluptonpress.com wednesday, march 9, 2011 fort lupton press 17

LegaL Notices

legalsfrom page 16of Sections 1, 2, 11, 12, 35, and 36, Township 11 North, Range 57 West of the 6th P.M., Weld County Colorado

The public hearing on said license will be held in the Chambers of the Board of County Commissioners of Weld County Colorado, Weld County Centennial Center, 915 10th Street, First Floor, Greeley, Colorado 80631, on March 21, 2011, at 9:00 a.m.

If a court reporter is desired, please advise the Clerk to the Board, in writing, at least five days prior to the hearing. The cost of engaging a court reporter shall be borne by the requesting party. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you require special accommodations in order to participate in this hearing, please contact the Clerk to the Board’s Office at (970) 336-7215, Extension 4226, prior to the day of the hearing.

Petitions and remonstrances may be filed in the office of the Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners, located in the Weld County Centennial Center, 915 10th Street, Third Floor, Greeley, Colorado 80631. E-Mail messages sent to an individual Commissioner may not be included in the case file. To ensure inclusion of your E-Mail correspondence into the case file, please send a copy to egesick@co.weld.co.us.

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERSWELD COUNTY, COLORADO

DATED: March 4, 2011

PUBLISHED: March 9, 2011, in the Fort Lupton Press

ADVERTISEMENT TO BIDWELD COUNTY– BID #B1100056

Through this Request for Proposal, the Weld County Sheriff’s Office hereinafter referred to as the County, respectfully requests proposals from responsible and qualified firms for a fully operational, flexible, secure and reliable Inmate Video Visiting System. The system will need to be provided and installed in the Weld County Jail, located at 2110 “O” Street, Greeley, CO. In addition, the follow-on maintenance plan and associated cost should be detailed.

The Board of Weld County Commissioner reserves the right to reject any or all bids or any portion thereof, to waive any informality in bids, and to accept the bid that, in the opinion of the Board, is in the best interest of the Board and of the County of Weld, State of Colorado. The Board of Weld County Commissioners shall give preference to resident Weld County bidders in all cases where the bids are competitive in price and quality.

Please go to http://www.co.weld.co.us/Departments/Purchasing/index.html under Current Requests to find out more details. If you have any questions, please call Purchasing at 970-356-4000 x4223 or x4222.

WELD COUNTY COLORADOBY: MONICA MIKA DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

Published: March 9th, 2011Ft. Lupton Press

N O T I C E

The Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, Colorado, on February 9, 2011, conditionally approved a Site Specific Development Plan and Use by Special Review Permit #1766 for the property and purpose described below. Conditional approval of this plan creates a vested property right pursuant to Article 68 of Title 24, C.R.S., for a period of three years.DOCKET #: 2011-08APPLICANT:James Terry10711 State Highway 52Fort Lupton, Colorado 80621LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Lot A of Amended Recorded Exemption #2765; located in the W1/2 NE1/4 of Section 2, Township 1 North, Range 67 West of the 6th P.M., Weld County, ColoradoTYPE AND INTENSITY OF APPROVED USE: For a Kennel (up to 99 dogs of a non-specified breed) in the A (Agricultural) Zone DistrictSIZE OF PARCEL: 13.25 acres, more or lessFailure to abide by the terms and conditions of approval will result in a forfeiture of the vested property right.

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERSWELD COUNTY, COLORADO

DATED: March 4, 2011 PUBLISHED: March 9, 2011, in the Fort Lupton Press

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR TEMPORARY ASSEMBLY

Pursuant to the Weld County Code, a public hearing will be held in the Chambers of the Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, Colorado, Weld County Centennial Center, 915 10th Street, First Floor, Greeley, Colorado 80631, at the time specified. If a court reporter

is desired, please advise the Clerk to the Board, in writing, at least five days prior of the hearing. The cost of engaging a court reporter shall be borne by the requesting party. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if special accommodations are required in order for you to participate in this hearing, please contact the Clerk to the Board’s Office at (970) 336-7215, Extension 4226, prior to the day of the hearing. The complete case file may be examined in the office of the Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners, Weld County Centennial Center, 915 10th Street, Third Floor, Greeley, Colorado 80631. E-Mail messages sent to an individual Commissioner may not be included in the case file. To ensure inclusion of your E-Mail correspondence into the case file, please send a copy to egesick@co.weld.co.usDOCKET #: 2011-21DATE: March 21, 2011TIME: 9:00 a.m. APPLICANT:Martin Gutierrez7717 County Road 31Fort Lupton, Colorado 80621REQUEST: Application for a temporary assembly of more than 350 persons on April 16 and 17, 2011LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Lot B of Recorded Exemption #3375; being part of the E1/2 of Section 28, Township 2 North, Range 66, West of the 6th P.M., Weld County, ColoradoLOCATION: 7717 County Road 31, Fort Lupton, Colorado 80621 (See Legal Description for precise location.)

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERSWELD COUNTY, COLORADO

DATED: March 4, 2011PUBLISHED: March 9, 2011, in the

Fort Lupton Press

PUBLIC NOTICE

WELD COUNTY

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, That, by virtue of a tax distraint issued by the undersigned as County Treasurer of Weld County, Colorado, in favor of the County of Weld, State of Colorado, and said goods of Schmidt’s Bakery.

I have levied on the following described goods to wit: RESTAURANT EQUIPMENT AND FIXTURES. Will be sold as one unit. For a complete list complete list contact the Treasurer’s office at 970-353-3845 x3256

Which I shall expose for sale at public venue at 5750 W. 10th St, Suite D, Greeley, Colorado 80643, in the County of Weld, State of Colorado, on the 10th day of March 2011 at 9:00 a.m. to the highest bidder for cash or certified funds unless pre-approved for personal or business check. Inspection of equipment will be from 8:30-9:00 a.m. March 10, 2011.

PAYMENT DUE AUCTION DAYPlease direct questions to Revenue Agent Teri Shipp, Weld County Treasurer’s Office at 970-353-3845 x3256

Dated this 9th day of March 2011

John LefebvreWeld County Treasurer

Published in the Fort Lupton Press Date 03/09/2011

PUBLIC NOTICE

Weld County Public Works, P.O.

Box 758, Greeley, CO (970) 304-6496 has filed an application for a Regular (112) Construction Materials Operation Reclamation Permit with the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board under provisions of the Colorado Land Reclamation Act for the Extraction of Construction Materials. The proposed mine is known as the Geisert Pit, and is located at or near Section 31, Township 6, Range 65, Prime Meridian.

The proposed commencement is July 2011, and the proposed date of completion is March 2012. The proposed future use of the land is Water Storage. Additional information and tentative decision date may be obtained from the Division of Reclamation, Mining and safety, 1313 Sherman Street, Room 215, Denver, Colorado 80203, (303) 866-3567, or at the Weld County Clerk and Recorder’s office, 915 10th Street, Greeley, CP, or the above-named applicant.

Comments must be in writing and must be received by the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety by 4:00 p.m.

Please note that under the provisions of C.R.S. 34-32.5-101 et. Seq. Comments related to noise, truck traffic, hours of operation, visual impacts, effects on property values and other social or economic concerns are issues not subject to this Office’s jurisdiction. These subjects, and similar ones, are typically addressed by your local government, rather than the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety or the Mined Land Reclamation Board

Published in the Fort Lupton Press March 9, 16, 23, and 30.

20 Fort Lupton press Wednesday, March 9, 2011 WWW.FtLuptonpress.coM

James said. “There’s more of them playing sports, they’re more likely to end up in-jured.” James’ familiarity with Amber is a guide for him as he helps her through the rehab process. Many of the questions he asks her – as he methodically moves her surgically repaired and now scared left knee back and forth – have to do with how much she is working on her knee at home. “Each stage of the rehab for an ACL construction has a different emphasis,” James said. “The very beginning is getting the motion back in the joint to look just like the other as soon as possible,” he adds. He raised his voice to em-phasize the words “as soon as possible” as he looked at Amber. “The patient is highly responsible for doing home stuff to help that happen,” he continues. “If they don’t do it, it turns out being something we have to help them with.” Amber giggles and admits she’s “really bad” about that part. The other aspect of the first stage of ACL rehab is re-gaining strength in the knee. James says knowing Am-ber’s tendencies is helpful but says this knee rehab will likely be different from her right knee. “We try not to put any expectations on how this one will be compared to that one,” he said. “It’s always dif-ferent.” Amber will spend the hour working her way around the room on the dif-ferent exercise equipment. She points to the shuttle machine and says “I hate that thing.” For the exercise, Amber lays on her back and pushes a weighted carriage back and forth with her knees. The weight can and will be adjusted as her therapy pro-gresses. When she is finished with the machine for today, there are still hard feelings about the shuttle and she admits that the machine

Back in the gamefrom page 17

has made her cry more than once. “That’s probably the hard-est thing I’ll ever do. I can’t explain how much I hate that,” she says. “This is all easy stuff compared to what I have to do when I get more stable and strong. When I do that, then it gets a little harder.” For all her love of team and competing with her teammates out on the court or field, Amber goes through the rehab process alone but she doesn’t think of it that way. “Actually I never think of it like that,” she says. “I just thought you know I got to be there for them. I only have to be here. As long as I’m there for them on the court. They can’t be here with me during this.” She admits she cried on the bench in games after her second injury but her coaches reminded her it was important for her to still be strong for her team. Still she is reminded that when the season ends for teammates, her rehabilita-tion will go on. It would have been easy to sink back into depression and denial that she doesn’t have another season to prepare for. But, now, that may not be true.

the surpriseAmber and Kristi thought the

result of her first knee injury

meant an end to any chance of playing collegiate basketball or softball. But a funny thing happened when they visited Northeastern Junior College in Sterling follow-ing her first injury. “When we talked to the basketball coach, the minute he found she’d torn her ACL, it was like she didn’t even exist,” Kristi said. “She was shattered.” Amber wasn’t going to bother talking to the softball coach. “Why would he be inter-ested,” Amber thought. “I didn’t even play this past year.” “Let’s just talk to him, we’re here,” Kristi insisted. Brock Bassegio, charged with reviving the NJC softball program, saw something spe-cial in Amber immediately. “One thing I could tell right away was that she was a competitor and that she was passionate about softball, two things I definitely want on my team,” Bassegio said. “I have talked with other coaches and have heard nothing but good things about her.” “We must have talked to him for an hour that day, just the three of us,” Kristi said. Then, in a strange coinci-dence, Bassegio happened upon Kristi and Amber the next day at a gas station in Hudson. “I thought maybe that was a sign that good things are to come,” Bassegio said. But, if Bassegio might have been impressed byAmber be-fore, Kristi assumed the second

injury would kill any interest. She e-mailed the coach with her daughter’s bad news. To her surprise, Bassegio wasn’t deterred at all. “When I found out that she had her second ACL surgery and talked with Amber on the phone, I could tell that she was already working hard and will continue to work hard until she is 110 percent and ready to play,” he said. “Holy cow,” Kristi re-members thinking. “I am so shocked.” Bassegio said they would work with Amber in her ongo-ing rehab when she comes to school this fall. “I told her that when she comes in the fall, we will be on her schedule, if she needs more time, or needs a day off, she just has to let me know, whatever it takes for her to be ready to go for the spring season,” he said. Amber signed an official let-ter of intent to play softball at NJC. Bassegio’s confidence will be her drive through the second round of rehab. “He’s just that confident,” she said. “My mind says don’t disappoint him, don’t let him down. I had too many mental lapses the first time I hurt my knee.”

Senior nightAmber didn’t have any inten-

tions to put on her blue and white, No. 22 Fort Lupton uniform again.

She had made her peace with the end of the season. She didn’t want to wear her uniform on the bench or even in warm ups. She still kept stats, provided insights to her coaches on the bench and was the first to greet her teammates as they came off the floor. And that was enough. “I’m not a player now,” she told her mom. “I’m done now.” “It was kind of a hard thing for her to find out where her place was and what her role was,” Kristi said. Her time on the bench actually got Amber thinking she might make a good coach. Gutierrez can see it. “She came and talked to me about how she could help the team,” he said. “She initiates the contact as the kids are coming off the floor. She’ll pull them to the side and give them pointers. She sees different things to their play, even though she’s not playing. She could curl up. But she chose to help the team. I think if the opportunity came along, she’d be a great coach,” he added. With some prodding from Kristi and Gutierrez, she decided to slip on her uniform one more time for senior night. “For me, I just wanted to see her one last time in that uniform even though she couldn’t play,” Kristi said. “It was nice to hear her name called one last time.” Amber got to ceremonially start the game by standing on the court for tip-off. For Kristi and Amber, the night was a chance to reflect not on what could have been but what was including back-to-back playoff appearances her freshman and sophomore years and a playoff victory. “I think we finalized back when she had her surgery. For us the finality of it had already taken place,” Kristi said. “It was still nice to see her out there and for some of the people that respected her to see it come to an end.” “I actually held it together. I’m not much of a crier in front of other people,” Amber said. “I got a few bouquets of flowers from family and friends and my coach. It was nice.” Contact Kevin Denke at 303-659-2522, ext. 225 or kdenke@metrowest-newspapers.com

Additional reporting by Steve Smith

Photo by Kevin DenKe

For one rehab exercise, amber is tethered to a weighted pulley as she sidesteps back and forth.