Homeless Is Where the Heart Is Feelings, nothing more than feelings: While I have not lived in Denver since 1996, I still read Patricia Calhoun’s columns faithfully each week. “Rise and Shine,” in the November 13 issue, brought back an uneasy, helpless feeling I had while living downtown. My daily…
When Joseph Paiva was arrested for breaking into a half-dozen neighborhood homes around his mother’s Aurora house and stealing TVs, stereos, jewelry, CDs, lapel pins, coins and other fencibles, his mother was shocked. But as the days passed and she thought more about it, she realized that, really, she was…
There’s nothing like a good catfight. For the past two decades, animal shelters across the country have been describing themselves as “no-kill,” giving people the impression that if they have to part with their pets, at least Rover and Fluffy will end up with another family rather than in animal…
1. Embattled Arapahoe County Clerk Tracy Baker complained that he couldn’t thoroughly review the petitions aimed at recalling him from office because: A. He was only allowed to have two people working eight-hour shifts poring over the 37,000 signatures on the petition before filing his response on November 12. B…
Downtown/Capitol Hill/Denver/Any corner/Any alley/Light posts/Sidewalks/Brick walls/Graffiti or art?/Artists or criminals? Either way it’s poetry to me. That verse is the prologue to Laura Russell’s book Urban Poetry, a collection of images of stencil graffiti in central and downtown Denver that Russell, a photographer from Bellingham, Washington, shot over a one-year…
The Denver Election Commission hadn’t finished counting the ballots for the November 4 election when petitions pushing the next citizens’ initiative showed up at the door. Taking no chances, the folks of YOTAA — Youth Opposed to Animal Acts — had collected more than 9,000 signatures in the name of…
How incestuous is the relationship between the Denver business community and the local media? Recent events in the life of one Eugene Dilbeck provide plenty of clues. On November 4, Dilbeck was sacked as president and CEO of the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, following a Channel 7 package…
In 1995, Joe Arcese, an administrator for a large urban college, had an idea. Enrollment was flagging, and the school had such low visibility that many potential students never even applied, because they didn’t think it was a genuine academic institution. “Back in the mid-’90s, a lot of people thought…
Denver’s Hot! Where’s the fire? Regarding Patricia Calhoun’s “The Bare Necessities,” in the November 6 issue: Tell me the truth: What would be wrong with Eugene Dilbeck going to a strip club? I thought that the idea of promoting conventions in the Mile High City would be letting visiting firemen…
Jasmine arrived wrapped in a soft blue-and-pink baby blanket. Helen Martin gingerly unbundled the dark-haired infant and dressed her in a frilly white baptismal gown. The baby’s mother and grandmother didn’t know what kind of bonnet to get, so they’d bought both sheer and solid white. It was up to…
Patrice Kenner RedEarth first realized her calling when she was 21. She was in the hospital visiting her nephew, who had just had a tonsillectomy, when she noticed that his roommate had a broken arm and a black eye. A gift from his foster parents. “It was my first exposure…
1. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Representative Mark Udall are both trying to restore millions of dollars in federal funding to a Boulder space-research center. Use your telescope to identify which activity the Space Environment Center contributed this past fiscal year: A. It conducted the “Space Weather Week” conference. B…
The sign on the door at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office read: “News Conference: Go up stairs and turn right.” Reporters who followed the instructions found themselves in a parking lot. It wasn’t the first time that Jeffco’s finest have sent the press in the wrong direction since the 1999…
Colonel Steve is one of those guys. You know, always moping around, hair hanging in his face, unsure of what he wants from life and, in any case, entirely unwilling to work to find out. He is obnoxious, loud, generally filthy, self-centered and prone to bouts of violent petulance. But…
While all of Denver (and a few suburb-dwellers who haven’t been discouraged completely from heading to LoDo for an evening’s entertainment) eagerly awaits Mayor John Hickenlooper’s long-anticipated fixes to downtown’s parking debacle, help is already at hand in certain areas just a few steps away from the core city. Back…
Sports fans come in every size, shape and disposition, but most fall into one of two categories. Members of the first group prefer to think positively about their favorite teams — to celebrate when they succeed, mourn when they misfire and keep hope alive even after the mathematical possibilities have…
Having seen the bright lights of Syracuse, New York, Carmelo Anthony thinks Denver is “a slow town.” But there’s nothing slow about the way long-suffering Nuggets fans are taking the smiling nineteen-year-old rookie into their hearts. “I don’t know about LeBron James,” season-ticket holder Vince Shaefer said after the Nugs’…
Taking Aim Target practice: Regarding Laura Bond’s “At Close Range,” in the October 23 issue: First, I would like to thank you for an unbiased (for the most part) article on shooting ranges, gun control and safety and such. Most articles I read on the subject are either too pro-gun…
After hours of walking the streets of Sheridan, hiking up driveways and picking her way through trailer parks, Vicki Johnson has this part down. She knocks on the door, rings a bell if there is one. Another knock; if there’s no answer, she rolls up the flier and wedges it…
The High Street Speakeasy sits on the southeast corner of 39th Avenue and High Street, wedged between Five Points and I-70. From the outside, it looks like less than nothing — exactly as a good speakeasy should. Inside, the guzzlery recalls the days when a shrill and righteous few decried…
The radioactive vomit will not spew fast enough for Ed Edmunds. Standing in the showroom of Distortions Unlimited, the Greeley gore factory he operates with his wife, Marsha, Edmunds is assessing an animatronic sculpture he calls “The Puker,” a life-sized model of a guy barfing into a vat of toxic…
There was a time in the mid-’80s when Stephen Gregory wondered if moving to Curtis Park was a mistake. The neighborhood was chock-full of old Victorian homes, but a number of them were boarded up, some in danger of collapse. Drug addicts wandered the streets looking for their next hit…
