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John Horan has handled a thousand bodies, but even now, after 25 years, the forgotten ones still get to him.”This was an eleven-year-old child,” he says, examining a green cardboard package no larger than a deck of cards. “I can’t imagine how anyone could abandon the remains of an eleven-year-old…

Those conservative politicians who routinely bellyache about the alleged liberal bias of the media seldom include mainstream talk radio in their rants, and for good reason: Most hosts with an overt ideological slant, be they local or national, are only slightly less right-wing than was Benito Mussolini.Understanding that, the folks…

Ready, Aim, Misfire Carried away over concealed-carry: Patricia Calhoun’s May 11 “Fire Away” column proves that she is either incredibly naive or was under a very tight production schedule. She states that over a year after the Columbine tragedy, we still hear the gunshots, but “now they merely disturb our…

After preparing for this day for two years, Peter Thomas leaves Denver on the morning of Monday, January 2, 1999, nearly misses the connection at JFK in New York (runs to make the flight), changes again in Stockholm and then lifts off for St. Petersburg. He has checked through two…

Last June 2, emergency teams gathered for a closed-door meeting at the Colorado Convention Center and learned that deadly anthrax had been released at a Sixteenth Street Mall food court. The dissemination had been subtle — 10,000 to 20,000 spores, a microscopic amount, is all that is needed to infect…

Mayor Wellington Webb is so confident in Denver’s economic future that he’s willing to bet the house on it — or at least the city’s convention center. Webb agreed last week to give developer Bruce Berger a $55.3 million subsidy to build a Marriott hotel adjacent to the Colorado Convention…

The driver of a black Ford Bronco heads west toward a traffic circle on 15th and Pine Streets in Boulder. Visibly confused, he fails to slow down to the suggested fifteen-mile-per-hour speed limit, swings around the circle, which has replaced what would be a four-way stop, and heads back east…

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Sure as fuck ain’t the Denver police. This is one of Denver radio personality Peter Boyles’s favorite new jokes about this city’s little no-knock-raid publicity problem, but he can’t say it on the air, for obvious reasons. Less obvious, however, is why the ubiquitous KHOW talk-radio…

I bring my wallet, telling myself that I will use a few old Post-its crammed inside for my notes. But the minute I pass through the massive wood-and-glass doors, my credit card begins to throb. I have come to the new REI flagship store, located in the husk of what…

The topic that the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News cover worse than any other is themselves. Sometimes the inaccuracies are unintentional; they’re caused by a predictable lack of objectivity, perhaps, or the seemingly benign but actually corrosive tendency to give statements made by their overseers a free pass…

Of Rags and Road Rage Patricia Calhoun, as the editor of a rag that (with justification) regularly bashes King Webb’s violations of various statutes and constitutional guarantees, it’s surprising that you would agree with him on denying Denver citizens the right to protect themselves with a firearm (“Fire Away,” May…

Everyone will tell you that Edward Bryant is the nicest guy in the world. Responsible, a good friend, kind to his cats, endlessly helpful to other writers. So where does this come from: “The muzzle of the .357 belched flame and the back of Mrs. Hernandez’s skull exploded outward, the…

“You wanna eat?” said Jeffie. Kin stared out the passenger’s window of the big old Chevy at the neon dazzle of Colfax Avenue. “I want to do someone.” “Aw, come on.” Jeffie put his free hand on Kin’s wrist, let the fingers lie there lightly. “Let’s eat. I’m buyin’. Burgers…

It’s Sunday, August 11, 1996. Somewhere on the 17000 block of East Dickenson Place, an alarm is going off, which is not uncommon. It could be a car alarm or maybe a home alarm, but Nsikak Ekiko says it’s not coming from her house or her garage. Her neighbors think…

On an afternoon in early March, Marty Packham stood glumly as he watched two locksmiths drill new keyholes into the doors at Pier 1 Imports at 1201 East Colfax Avenue. Packham had worked for the national chain of fashionable furnishings on and off for fifteen years. He was a true…

According to Andrew Bergey, station manager of Community Access TV of Boulder, or CATV, “It’s pretty much been business as usual around here” — but perhaps “business as unusual” is a better way to put it. Beginning last November, when Boulder public-access star and dedicated eccentric Jann Scott was suspended…

Elected and public officials have it rough. They’re cooped up in the stodgy State Capitol or some city administration building all day, and if they do get any exercise, it’s usually hopping from one chicken-fried-steak fundraising luncheon to the next. Even if these meals are free (well, free for them,…

In the days of eating catsup and bread for dinner, Raul and Sylvia Vasquez dreamed of this. The Suburban with the TV, VCR and Nintendo set; the four-acre country home with the swimming pool, pasture and pet burro; the people, the applause and the conga line. This was thirteen years…

KVOD isn’t dead yet — really. Tune your radio to 1280 on the AM dial and there it is, playing the classical music that’s long been its stock in trade. But because the frequency has been purchased by Rodriguez Communications, a Dallas company that specializes in Spanish-language programming, most observers…

School Daze I agreed strongly with many of the things said in Julie Jargon’s “The First Step,” in the May 4 issue. I am a student at P.S.1 and have been very close to Linda Reilly for many years. I came to the school when it was just getting somewhere;…