Latest news with #FortLupton
CBS News
07-08-2025
- General
- CBS News
Colorado veteran says dog saved his life while he was sleeping
It's out on the Coyote Creek Golf Course in Fort Lupton, where you might catch a glimpse of Hank Ford, riding the links in his golf cart while serving as the course's Marshall. Ford, however, is never on the course alone. "He gets me out of my own mind, said Ford. He's referring to his 3-year-old service dog, Tommy. "When he showed up, it was an instant bond. It was fast," said Ford. It's a pairing the Army and Marine Corps veteran never knew would be the key to changing his life. "I've got 20 years in the military, 11 years active, and the rest of it was reserves," said Ford. "Then, I was a lieutenant down at the penitentiary in Florence, so the prison… it just took a toll on me." Ford struggled for years with PTSD following his service. "I was in Desert Storm, I was in Bosnia when it first broke out, and I was in Operation Iraqi Freedom," said Ford. "With the stress levels after my last tour in Iraq, I actually lost my job and was forced into retirement." Tommy put his life back on course. "He wasn't the light at the end of the tunnel. He was the light," said Ford. "It was a dark place, and he turned it on, and he just completely turned my life around. It's now been two and a half years since Dogs Inc. connected Ford with Tommy. The organization helps train and provide service animals to people who need them most, including veterans. "Our bond is just so strong," said Ford. This past February, he would find out how strong. "He is my hero. [It] kind of chokes me up," said Ford. Ford says it was around 5:30 a.m., after his wife went to work, when Tommy started barking, pawing, and jumping on Ford to wake him up. "I was like, 'Leave me alone, I'm fine, I just wanna sleep,' but he wouldn't give up, so I'm like, OK, maybe he's got to go to the bathroom," said Ford. "I get up top, and all of a sudden I noticed that I'm like dizzy, I'm lightheaded, I'm really weak. But I get to the door to let him out, and he won't go." Tommy kept hitting Ford's chest, so Ford tried to check his heart rate and quickly realized it was higher than normal. He rushed to the hospital. "The docs said, with how bad my afib was, that I wouldn't have woken up or I would've had a massive stroke," said Ford. Ford says the doctors had to shock his heart rate back into rhythm. Through it all, Tommy stayed by his side. "He laid on my chest for hours," said Ford. "I don't know that he knows exactly what was going on, but he definitely knew something wasn't right." Ford says Tommy is a companion, a hero, and an example of why he says service dogs are the answer for veterans and first responders struggling with mental health. "They work. They have a purpose, and he serves that purpose fully," said Ford. "Yeah, he saved my life."
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Fort Lupton man redoing garden after hail storm destroys vegetables
DENVER (KDVR) — A Fort Lupton man is still in shock, 24 hours after his home was hit with intense rain and hail that destroyed his garden. Brian Martella said he couldn't believe what he was seeing as the storm rolled over his house on Wednesday, stunned that the weather went from sunny to the most rain he's seen in that area in only a matter of moments. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up for weather alerts from the Pinpoint Weather team In two years of living in Fort Lupton, he said he's never seen a storm like this. 'It was pretty much relentless,' said Martella. What started as a sunny day turned to chaos in an instant. It started with rain, Martella's rain gauge filling to two inches in what he said was only about 30 minutes. 'I mean, it was an absolute downpour. It was, it was pretty bad,' he said. Water flooded into his garage in a video Martella captured, mud and debris still left behind the next day. But rain wasn't the only issue. 'We looked out the window and it was just pea-sized to marble-sized hail,' said Martella. He has several ducks and chickens, and they all headed for cover under chairs in the front yard. 'The ducks were running for their lives,' said Martella. 'I mean, a big hailstone could probably take one of them out pretty easily.' Those hailstones also fell into his garden out front. 'Our radishes, our carrots, our lettuce, our onions,' said Martella. 'Garlic and then tomatoes and peppers over there.' All of them, destroyed by the hail. To make matters worse, he planned to sell those vegetables at a roadside stand for the first time this year. Despite the loss, Martella plans to grow again, but that extra bit of farm life may have to wait another year. 'I don't know if it's gonna grow back in the time we want it to,' said Martella. Despite the damage to the garden, Martella is thankful that his home and the tools in his garage that he uses for a welding business were unharmed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Are ghosts real? A social psychologist examines the evidence
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you'd like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@ Is it possible for there to be ghosts? – Madelyn, age 11, Fort Lupton, Colorado Certainly, lots of people believe in ghosts – a spirit left behind after someone who was alive has died. In a 2021 poll of 1,000 American adults, 41% said they believe in ghosts, and 20% said they had personally experienced them. If they're right, that's more than 50 million spirit encounters in the U.S. alone. That includes the owner of a retail shop near my home who believes his place is haunted. When I asked what most convinced him of this, he sent me dozens of eerie security camera video clips. He also brought in ghost hunters who reinforced his suspicions. Some of the videos show small orbs of light gliding around the room. In others, you can hear faint voices and loud bumping sounds when nobody's there. Others show a book flying off a desk and products jumping off a shelf. It's not uncommon for me to hear stories like this. As a sociologist, some of my work looks at beliefs in things like ghosts, aliens, pyramid power and superstitions. Along with others who practice scientific skepticism, I keep an open mind while maintaining that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Tell me you had a burger for lunch, and I'll take your word for it. Tell me you shared your fries with Abraham Lincoln's ghost, and I'll want more evidence. In the 'spirit' of critical thinking, consider the following three questions: People may think they're experiencing ghosts when they hear strange voices, see moving objects, witness balls or wisps of light or even translucent people. Yet no one describes ghosts as aging, eating, breathing or using bathrooms – despite plumbers receiving many calls about toilets 'ghost-flushing.' So could ghosts be made of a special kind of energy that hovers and flies without dissipating? If that's the case, that means when ghosts glow, move objects and make sounds, they are acting like matter – something that takes up space and has mass, like wood, water, plants and people. Conversely, when passing through walls or vanishing, they must not act like matter. But centuries of physics research have found nothing like this exists, which is why physicists say ghosts can't exist. And so far, there is no proof that any part of a person can continue on after death. Never before in history have people recorded so many ghost encounters, thanks in part to mobile phone cameras and microphones. It seems there would be great evidence by now. But scientists don't have it. Instead, there are lots of ambiguous recordings sabotaged by bad lighting and faulty equipment. But popular television shows on ghost hunting convince many viewers that blurry images and emotional reactions are proof enough. As for all the devices ghost hunters use to capture sounds, electrical fields and infrared radiation – they may look scientific, but they're not. Measurements are worthless without some knowledge of the thing you're measuring. When ghost hunters descend on an allegedly haunted location for a night of meandering and measurement, they usually find something they later deem paranormal. It may be a moving door (breeze?), a chill (gap in the floorboards?), a glow (light entering from outside?), electrical fluctuations (old wiring?), or bumps and faint voices (crew in other rooms?). Whatever happens, ghost hunters will draw a bull's-eye around it, interpret that as 'evidence' and investigate no further. Personal experiences with ghosts can be misleading due to the limitations of human senses. That's why anecdotes can't substitute for objective research. Alleged hauntings usually have plenty of non-ghostly explanations. One example is that retail establishment in my neighborhood. I reviewed the security camera clips and gathered information about the store's location and layout, and the exact equipment used in the recordings. First, the 'orbs': Videos captured many small globes of light seemingly moving around the room. In reality, the orbs are tiny particles of dust wafting close to the camera lens, made to 'bloom' by the camera's infrared lights. That they appear to float around the room is an optical illusion. Watch any orb video closely and you'll see they never go behind objects in the room. That's exactly what you'd expect with dust particles close to the camera lens. Next, voices and bumps: The shop is in a busy corner mini-mall. Three walls abut sidewalks, loading zones and parking areas; an adjacent store shares the fourth. The security camera mics probably recorded sounds from outdoors, other rooms and the adjacent unit. The owner never checked for these possibilities. Then, the flying objects: The video shows objects falling off the showroom wall. The shelf rests on adjustable brackets, one of which wasn't fully seated in its slot. The weight of the shelf caused the bracket to settle into place with a visible jerk. This movement sent some items tumbling off the shelf. Then, the flying book: I used a simple trick to recreate the event at home: a hidden string taped inside a book's cover, wrapped around the kitchen island, and tugged by my right hand out of camera range. Now I can't prove there wasn't a ghost in the original video. The point is to provide a more plausible explanation than 'it must have been a ghost.' One final consideration: Virtually all ghostly experiences involve impediments to making accurate perceptions and judgments – bad lighting, emotional arousal, sleep phenomena, social influences, culture, a misunderstanding of how recording devices work, and the prior beliefs and personality traits of those who claim to see ghosts. All of these hold the potential to induce unforgettable ghostly encounters. But all can be explained without ghosts being real. Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you'd like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@ Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live. And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you're wondering, too. We won't be able to answer every question, but we will do our best. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Barry Markovsky, University of South Carolina Read more: Is the Loch Ness monster real? Hearing ghost voices relies on pseudoscience and fallibility of human perception Why magical thinking is so widespread – a look at the psychological roots of common superstitions Barry Markovsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
