Qwest Chief Financial Officer Oren Shaffer, who is retiring April 1, netted $4.8 million pretax from the sales of options last week. He also sold $3.2 million of restricted stock, according to a federal regulatory filing.

Shaffer exercised 1 million stock options and sold 368,249 restricted shares, the filing indicated. The restricted shares already have been taxed, but Shaffer may have a small amount of short-term capital gains to pay.

"It's part of his overall compensation package," said Qwest spokeswoman Diane Reberger. She said the sales also are a "personal decision" on Shaffer's part.

Shaffer has made nearly $30 million from stock sales since November. Late last year, he netted $18 million from exercising stock options and sold $2.1 million in restricted stock.

Shaffer, 64, announced his retirement last week after a nearly five-year tenure with the Denver telco.

Denver may routinely rank as one of the leanest cities in the nation, but residents still are packing on the pounds like everywhere else. In an attempt to stanch that trend, group of public health, government and business leaders on Monday announced a round-table effort to improve the city's health.

The Metro Denver Health & Wellness Commission plans to hold five town hall meetings this month to hear ways to get individuals, families, business and government engaged in creating healthier lifestyles.

A list of the meeting sites is at mdhwc.org.

The group's three target areas are healthy schools, healthy work sites and making communities more welcoming to walking and biking with access to affordable, healthy food.

Joyzelle Davis