Read it and sweep: For a guy who didn’t get much attention when he started committing his crimes (Denver police even denied that a rapist was methodically working the Washington Park area), Theodor Castillo–along with his newfound friends and alter egos “big-p Paco” and “little-p Paco”–was certainly all over the…
Throughout the colorful history of tennis–a game almost as old as war–only two men have won the Grand Slam. In 1938, the year Hitler decided he owned Austria, American Don Budge swept the Australian, French, British and U.S. Open tournaments–a feat as daunting as a pro golfer winning all four…
Straighten Up and Fly Write Regarding Patricia Calhoun’s “Last Writes” in the January 26 issue: I, for one, will certainly miss David Chandler’s excellent work. He has been the only reporter smart enough (and experienced enough, I realized after reading Calhoun’s obituary for him) to tell us the real story…
For nearly a year now, Cliff and Karen Fischer have glimpsed the future of health care. They are not thrilled with the view. In recent months, the Clinton administration and Governor Roy Romer have unveiled plans to correct health-insurance woes. Although different in some respects, both strategies rely on a…
Wouldn’t you know the day Mildred Hedrick got the good news was the one day in her 73-year history on which she was physically incapable of talking? “Yep, I had the flu,” Mildred confirms, “lost my voice entirely and all I could do was shake my hands at everyone and…
Boulder’s Penny Lane coffeehouse has always drawn a widely varied clientele–from expensively clad businessmen to grungy teenagers with ragged clothing and pierced nostrils. But over the past several months, a new breed has been added to the mix: real estate agents. “They’re coming in here all the time, showing people…
Few flatlanders who zip through mountainous Park County pull off the road to stop at the Shawnee Trading Post, about an hour west of Denver on U.S. 285. But for those locals with something on their minds, proprietors Roy and Leona Nelson have pulled chairs around the wood stove, and…
DISBARRED AND IMPRISONED, NICK AVILA CAN’T STOP BEING A LAWYER.SPLIT VERDICT IF ATTORNEY NICK AVILA WAS SUCH A GREAT GUY, WHY IS HE IN JAIL? How the drugs ended up in Avila’s hands is undisputed. According to federal investigators, Phil Guerrero was driving in Louisiana on August 21, 1987, when…
part 1 of 2 Nick Avila’s graduation from the University of Colorado’s law school in 1976 and subsequent career, no matter how short-lived, were nothing short of a miracle. A product of the city’s lower-class Globeville neighborhood, he seemed that rare person: someone who had stuggled to make good–and then…
How the drugs ended up in Avila’s hands is undisputed. According to federal investigators, Phil Guerrero was driving in Louisiana on August 21, 1987, when he was pulled over by state troopers who observed him making an illegal lane change. The troopers noted that Guerrero was acting nervous, and asked…
Clearing the air: Denver’s weekly mayor/council meeting tackled a particularly tricky issue at the January 25 session: what to do with Paradies, the DIA concessionaire whose owner had just been found guilty of bribing Atlanta officials for deals at their airport. While councilmembers moved into executive session to discuss Paradies’s…
Michael Jordan has already tried to play major-league baseball. And failed. You can look it up. Back in 1890, The Baseball Encyclopedia informs us, one Michael Henry Jordan, the pride of Lawrence, Massachusetts, appeared in 37 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 125 at-bats, the 27-year-old outfielder managed to get…
Denver deputy mayor Bruce Alexander, the city’s chief negotiator in the Winter Park deal, is the ski area’s former banker–a tie that has remained undisclosed throughout months of debate on the proposed sale of the resort. Also the city’s manager of parks and recreation, Alexander has been Mayor Wellington Webb’s…
No More Mr. Ice Guy Regarding Bill Gallo’s “Thin Ice” in the January 19 issue: I’ve got news for Mr. Gallo. Maybe his macho mind doesn’t regard figure skating as a sport, but any intelligent individual can obviously see that it is not only a sport, it is an art…
The birthing process for Sue Ratcliff lasted 25 months. Laid off from her job as a Sheridan police officer after becoming pregnant in late 1991, Ratcliff sued the little southern suburb, citing sex discrimination and failure to follow the outline of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The waiting ended just…
Michael Jackson always said he loved the children of the world; now he’s paying the price. On January 25 an estimated $10 million of Jackson’s money settled the civil suit of a fourteen-year-old boy who had claimed the singer molested him. But Jackson still can’t rest easy–he has another litigant…
part 1 of 2 He enters the room slowly, gripping his gnarled cane and a colleague’s arm for support. But don’t be fooled. He may be 78, with bad knees in the bargain, but Howard Higman–University of Colorado professor emeritus, chairman of the Conference on World Affairs and living legend–doesn’t…
part 2 of 2 For two of the past three years, the Conference on World Affairs has been the target of protests by a small group of women calling themselves, among other things, Women in Support of Castration. The women are deeply offended by the CWA program, which lists the…
The cat in the hat: Local viewers might have had some trouble recognizing the self-proclaimed “Black Avenger” as he appeared on Eye to Eye with Connie Chung last Thursday night. Gone were the black leather chaps, the stylin’ beret–and much of the attitude. Ken Hamblin looked–and sounded–like he’d just left…
First night on the new job, Calvin Natt called a couple of his guys by the wrong names, and he found himself constantly amazed. “I had no idea the kids had so much athletic talent,” he said the next day. “I’d only watched them on tape from the East game,…
Hamblin on Wry Regarding Patricia Calhoun’s “The Smother Brother” in the January 12 issue: In my opinion, the central point that most stands out about Kenny the Negro (as he sometimes calls himself) is not his newfound rap that mimics and cashes in on the success of the real star,…
A $7.50 can of sale paint was no bargain for 44-year-old Denver antique dealer Myke Johnson: She might wind up mortgaging her house to pay for it. But Johnson won’t find a lot of sympathy in Edgewater. The little suburb’s police force reportedly turned out en masse for Johnson’s trial…
