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Detective James Rock remembers it as one of the worst professional decisions he’d made in 24 years with the Denver Police Department, although there was no way he could have known that at the time. He simply made one of those judgment calls that cops make a dozen times a…

Five years ago, the best minds in Colorado sat down with Governor Roy Romer and brainstormed a way to make environmental cleanups faster and cheaper. At least that was the idea. Present were leaders from industries, higher education, regulatory agencies and the environmental movement. The result of the one-day think…

What’s in a name? Rather than carry heavy tomes through the rest of Denver’s mayoral campaign, clip and save this handy guide: In Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary, a “crony” is simply a friend. Webster’s New World Dictionary turns up the heat, defining “cronyism” as “favoritism shown to close…

Four years ago, the Colorado Legislature passed a bill designed to make it more difficult for stalkers to track down their prey. What the law may have done instead is give potential victims a false sense of security. Senate Bill 91-74, enacted in 1992, limits access to driver’s license information,…

Two years after Mayor Wellington Webb tried to sell the Winter Park ski resort to the Winter Park Recreational Association for as little as $24.5 million, an appraisal commissioned by the city itself has valued the resort at nearly three times that amount. The Webb administration won’t make the appraisal…

Art of the Deal Calhoun, you are too kind. After reading your “Indecent Exposure,” in the May 10 issue, I took a look at the alleged art. Mutombo should sue. Herb Powers Denver Patricia Calhoun’s column was the most mean-spirited piece I have ever read. Shame. Denver should be honored…

When Geno Marcovici went into the hair-plug business last year, he didn’t give much thought to demographics. “I could have really narrowed it down,” he recalls. “But then I realized it was simple. Who wants a hair transplant? A man. We see millionaires from Aspen and dishwashers from Mexico. Here’s…

Some people just can’t face the prospect of former senator Bill Armstrong getting an honorary degree from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs on May 19. So they plan to turn their backs on him. While Armstrong receives his doctorate in “humane letters” at the urging of CU president…

Clara Munoz has finally gone home. Last week she boarded an Immigration and Naturalization Service bus bound for El Paso, Texas. Once there, INS agents watched as she and other passengers walked across the bridge into Mexico. At that point, Munoz and her compatriots became the responsibility–and headache–of the Mexican…

“This is my home bar,” Joe Canavan says as he looks down into his bourbon and water. “I’ve been bitching about how uncomfortable these stools are since 1946. That’s when I heard about this place. I was working across the street from here, and we heard they’d opened a bar,…

Cherchez la femme: Nope, Denver’s never had a mayor named Mary–as was readily apparent reading between the lines of the two dailies last week. For example, although the city has seen plenty of mayoral candidates in heavy pancake makeup, Mary DeGroot’s lipstick is a first–as was Denver Post reporter Tracy…

Representative Pat Schroeder, who’s still irked by Newt Gingrich’s recent remarks that women are unfit for combat, just may get the chance to prove him wrong. But it’s coming at a price. The Army is currently paying forty civilian women $500 each to subject themselves to a six-month regimen of…

The Ball’s in Your Court Regarding Patricia Calhoun’s column “Court Time,” in the May 3 issue: I have a suggestion for all those rich folks who have nothing better to do with their time (and money) than sue each other: Get a five-dollar annual pass to the City of Denver’s…

Anyone contemplating renting out a room in a residence that’s not up to code might want to consider this: Apart from gang members and assorted dime-store hoods, the fastest-growing segment of Denver’s heat-packing population is the city’s Department of Zoning Administration. In fact, every single one of the concealed-gun permits…

Westword staffers took home seven first-place newspaper writing awards at the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual state awards banquet last Friday–more than any of the state’s three major dailies. Sports and film columnist Bill Gallo led the way with first-place finishes in sports commentary and arts and entertainment criticism. Staff…

At first, Tony Behrendt’s room in the lower level of his parents’ posh Boulder home seems like a typical college-student hovel–it’s dominated by an unkempt bed, stacks of CDs, and posters and photos plastered on virtually every flat surface. Take a closer look at those pictures, however, and you’ll realize…

Two faux-tiger-skin coats, one beehive hairdo and ten pairs of uncomfortable pumps have already passed beneath the giant cat-face sign and tiki torches of the Kit Kat Club. “We told them to please look nice,” says Darryl Stubbs. “Well, and they do look nice. But I’m all nerves. There should…

Is that a gun in Dr. Norm Resnick’s pocket? Yes, and he’s not glad to see you. The beleaguered radio talk-show host on the USA Patriot Network can’t really say who would shoot him, but he has been packing double heat since the April 19 bombing of the federal building…

Imagine that you have a good idea, perhaps even a great idea, for a product that might help humanity–and, of course, make some money along the way. So you start your company and a few years later raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling stock to the public. Years…

History in the taking: Remember when the Denver Urban Renewal Authority declared much of lower downtown “blighted” just two short years ago? For that matter, remember when “historic” LoDo actually looked historic, rather than like a brick version of Glendale circa 1977, with a big mess of bars and, well,…