News

Sucker Punchline Troubleshoot first, ask questions later: Regarding Michael Roberts’s “OutFoxed,” in the May 10 issue: Tom Martino is well-known for scolding consumers who put money into risky investments without doing proper due diligence. But now, when he finds himself on the losing end of a dubious $50,000 investment with…

In the beginning, there were no BushMaster 2000s, no Redz Comfort Gear, no 32 Degrees Defender Goggle systems, but rather loggers and ranchers, rough men of the forests and the plains, and they needed a modern tool to identify their interests from inside a pickup or astride a horse. So…

It’s a Friday afternoon at the Renaissance Children’s Center in Lakewood, and six-year-old Demetrey Fulks is out of control again. First he hit a boy over the head with a plush Pokémon toy. Then he ordered another student to bring him his Game Boy. Now he’s play-fighting with some other…

The members of the Denver Board of Education were so unimpressed by the superintendent candidates that a search firm produced almost two years ago when Chip Zullinger was named to lead Denver Public Schools that they decided to use a different company when it came time to replace him. But…

This all started over twenty-five bucks. Maybe if his jailers had let him keep his money five years ago, Robert Wirtz Jr. wouldn’t have embarked on his seemingly endless campaign against the powers that be in Grand County. But they took his money, and Wirtz wants his payback. Over the…

In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde took the Marquess of Queensbury to court in London, claiming the marquess had libeled him by calling him a sodomite. A trial was held; the judge decided the marquess had been correct. Since homosexuality was a crime in nineteenth-century England, Wilde himself was soon in…

Easter was last month, so the bunny sighted at Argonaut Wine & Liquor on May 5 must have been another animal altogether. Indeed. Playboy’s Miss May, Crista Nicole, was at the giant liquor store on East Colfax Avenue preening, penning autographs and promoting Pete’s Wicked Ale — which has paired…

For most of their lives, they had only each other. Constance Rolon was orphaned at age fifteen. She married, then lost her husband in World War II. Another man abandoned her while she was carrying his child. After Paul was born, Constance raised him on her own, working as a…

On April 20, a number of people in the broadcast and public-relations fields received a succinct e-mail from Scott McDonald, managing editor of news for Channel 31: “I wanted to let you all know that I had made the decision to resign my position at KDVR Fox 31 in Denver…

Tiers for Fears Big deal: After reading Julie Jargon’s “Culture Clash,” in the April 26 issue, I think it is high time we revisit the concept of how SCFD funds are divided. The Big Four in the top tier just keep getting bigger and greedier. (Haven’t Denver residents also approved…

Diane Veaseys dream rested on a windswept, 36-acre piece of land with a view of Pikes Peak. She calls it her ranch, though only someone who was raised in the confines of a city would think to describe it in those terms. She and her husband, Earl, moved to the…

So, Fred Pasternack is standing behind the counter on his first day at work — this must be back in 1962 — when a guy walks into the pawnshop. “I need a loan.” “Okay,” Fred says. “Whaddya got to hock?” The guy reaches inside his jacket, fumbles around a minute,…

Talk about greasing the wheels! At last Saturday’s Carousel of Wishes Ball (not to be confused with the Carousel Ball hosted in the early ’80s by Barbara and Twentieth Century-Foxy Marvin Davis, before they took off for La-La Land), sweeter-and-lighter-than-a-Krispy-Kreme Bob Goen, the Entertainment Tonight anchor who emceed the benefit…

Because it was spring, I was craving the sort of home-improvement supplies you need at this time of renewal, when outdoor projects seem not only possible, but inevitable. I was considering scraping and sanding decks, cobbling together outdoor furniture, laying down swaths of concrete, maybe even wielding a tube of…

Dave Minshall doesn’t get recognized on the street all that often these days, even though he spent well over two decades as a featured journalist on Denver television. But once a day or so, he says, someone will approach him and ask, “Didn’t you used to be…?” His stock answer:…

Heavy Traffic Road to nowhere: T.R. Witcher’s “Collision Course,” in the April 19 issue, confirms what I have thought for a long time: Motorists are a greater threat to public safety than are murderers. Last year, car accidents claimed a total of 84 lives. Motorists killed 37 pedestrians. By contrast,…

State of Siege The answer man: Regarding Alan Prendergast’s “Chronology of a Big Fat Lie,” in the April 19 issue: Now that CBS News and 60 Minutes have given us cause to reflect, once again, on the events at Columbine High two years ago, perhaps a modest proposal is in…

When schoolchildren visit the Museo de las Américas, one of the first pieces Jacquelynn McDaniel shows them is a contemporary painting titled “Pensamiento,” Spanish for “thought.” The first thing the kids notice is a large skull peering out from the dark background, she says, and they usually hate the piece…

In the coming years, Denver residents will see some major — and expensive — expansions and renovations at the city’s Big Four institutions. The Denver Art Museum and the Denver Zoo are both using money from a 1999 bond initiative to pay for major expansions; the Denver Museum of Nature…

Tier I Denver Museum of Nature and Science — $7,205,093 Denver Zoo — $5,636,952 Denver Art Museum — $5,636,952 Denver Botanic Gardens — $3,252,087 Tier II * Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities — $883,938 Butterfly Pavilion and Insect Center — $563,899 Central City Opera — $215,360 Cherry Creek…

On July 23, 1996, Adrienne Anderson grabbed her briefcase and drove across town to Gaetano’s restaurant, where she’d be meeting for the first time with some of the other Denverites who sat on the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District’s board of directors. Denver mayor Wellington Webb had appointed Anderson to the…