Singing a Different Tune Regarding the “outrage” that John Denver “fans” expressed in the October 23 issue: C’mon, people, you are being silly! How many people made fun of ol’ John before he died? MANY! How many people bought his music before he died? NOT MANY! Why does someone have…
First, a pop quiz. The Guide the Ride transit plan, which metro-area voters are being asked to fund with a sales-tax increase, is: a) A terrific deal that, for mere pennies per day, will ease traffic congestion and pollution in major traffic corridors and provide commuters with badly needed alternatives…
Outside the Eulipions Cultural Center in Capitol Hill, a mostly black crowd is waiting to hear Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who’s in the middle of a ninety-city tour of the United States. The scene out front is like a festival: Candidates for elected office pass out fliers alongside…
Forget Eugene O’Neill. Never mind Tennessee Williams. To hell with Miller, Albee, Shepard, Mamet. If you’re looking for intricate, incomprehensible scenes of bickering family members engaged in acts of twisted loyalty and stark betrayal, head on down to the Regional Transportation District’s headquarters in LoDo. Admission to the meetings of…
Camp followers: Back when the Resolution Trust Corporation was still trying to clean up the S&L mess, Bruce Pederson and Jacqueline Taylor were two of the loneliest people in town. Whistleblowers who ratted on the RTC even while they were employed at the Denver office, they were assigned to an…
The City of Denver wants voters to put an end to what it calls an unfair tax break for telecommunications companies. But to the city’s surprise, at least two consumer groups are telling residents to hold the phone when they go to the polls November 4. That’s because the consumer…
Last month Cindy Martin, an instructor at the University of Colorado at Denver, asked the students in her Internet-based magazine-writing class to submit an introductory essay; she asked them to describe themselves with anecdotes that showed their “uniqueness.” Student Scott Lafferty thought he did a pretty good job. The 34-year-old…
Denver baseball fans find themselves nailed to the couch again this October, watching a pair of teams from distant cities contest the World Series. This is the way it’s been for five seasons, and likely the way it will remain for five or ten or who knows how many more…
A Killer Story After reading Alan Prendergast’s “The Killer Inside Him,” in the October 16 issue, I realized that killing him was too good for Gary Davis. First he should have suffered the way his victim suffered–and then we should have put fourteen bullets in him. Thanks for showing us…
Self-proclaimed millionaire Terry Walker can look for miles in any direction from his Southwestern-style mansion in the mountains just west of Denver. He can see just about anything from this lavish perch. The real question is whether anyone can see him. Walker, a 58-year-old businessman who says he emerged from…
Like hundreds of other men on death rows across America, Gary Lee Davis paid attention when Ted Bundy took the juice in Florida’s electric chair in 1989. Just hours before his execution, while the hecklers gathered outside sang “On Top of Old Sparky,” Bundy granted his last interview to psychologist…
With all its bureaucratic ritual and live, up-to-the-minute news bursts, Monday’s execution of Gary Davis was a collective wallowing in death by media injection. Not having carried out an execution in thirty years, officials at the Colorado Department of Corrections were determined to get it right. Not having covered one,…
It’s mid-afternoon on an unseasonably warm October day, and Taz is rubbing Rebecca’s back. They’re hanging out on the steps at downtown’s Skyline Park. Teens and young adults periodically stop by to bum a cigarette, chat or share some fries. Swells of laughter mix with the soft thwacking sound of…
About five years ago, a couple of male postal clerks at the downtown post office at 20th and Curtis streets started coming up with nicknames for some of their co-workers, who are mostly female. “Roly-poly ass,” “big black cow,” “horse teeth” and “black butt” are a few examples. “Wackadoo,” “Mack…
Rocky Mountain lie: Even before Colorado broke a thirty-year stretch by executing Gary Davis Monday night, a kinder, gentler, sappier era had ended. First came the news that John Denver, born Henry Deutschendorf Jr., had died in a plane crash off the California coast. (Earliest and, so far, most tasteless…
There aren’t many patients rich or important enough for a hospital to consider building a brand-new wing just for them. But Denver Health Medical Center is on the verge of bestowing such VIP treatment on one group: prisoners. Last week, administrators for the medical center (formerly Denver General) pitched the…
What, if anything, should the city of Denver do to prevent the construction of ugly buildings? With Denver’s construction boom showing no sign of letting up, neighborhood activists and some property owners are advocating the creation of design review boards with the power to dictate the design of new buildings…
When I first knew Grissom–it seems like a century ago now–he was like a lot of other well-heeled jock wannabes. He wanted sporting goods. All kinds of sporting goods, and nothing but the best. When Wilson came out with its top-of-the-line A-2000 outfielder’s glove, Grissom (a pseudonym) was the first…
Johnnie’s Market is closed. Cerrado. For the first time in over sixty years, Johnnie’s is not open for business. “Closed because of illness,” the sign on the door reads, although people walk right in anyway. They cannot imagine Larimer Street without Johnnie’s. Ed Maestas, who’s owned Johnnie’s for over two…
Cut Him Off I read Eric Dexheimer’s “Fill ‘er Up,” in the October 2 issue, with great disgust and disdain. Leroy Lucero’s Crossroads Managed Care is reminiscent of the institution and staff in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest–another bunch of self-righteous zealots who justify their cause under the guise…
Kneeling in prayer at Denver’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Kerry Dore lit six candles–one for each of his four children, one for his ex-wife, and one for himself. He had already purchased a pistol and bullets, and he felt that God was guiding him during his final hours on…
In this desert, no living thing moves. Rocks and saguaro cactus bake on the barren hills. The sun is so bright that it hurts to look at it–even on a television screen. A voice, British and full of Shakespearean portent, rolls over the scene. “It has all the hallmarks of…
