The last time Dwayne Hudson spoke to his children, it was October 2004. The next seven years were spent reading, working out, studying and thinking of the now fourteen-year-old Dwayne Jr. and his thirteen-year-old sister, Asenath, whose name stems from the Old Testament. This time was spent in a Denver…
Wednesday night featured the third round of busts involving Occupy Denver, although the arrestee list increases by only one man: Billy Reno, a 49-year-old homeless veteran and recent Westword profile subject. As increasingly colder temperatures drive the campsite toward more desperate measures to guarantee warmth, the group organized a movement…
Neil Therrell doesn’t know what day it is. More than that, even: He has no idea. His first guess is October 22, and when he is told that was last Saturday, he appears skeptical and asks what day of the week it is. Therrell is more behind than most, but…
Update, 3:11 p.m. October 26: Occupy Denver’s most recent report, via its Twitter account, is that a total of five people have been hospitalized within the past day. The group is urging people to contact Mayor Michael Hancock’s office to advocate on behalf of protesters using tents to stay warm…
Neither snow nor SNOBAMA could prevent President Barack Obama from taking the podium at the Auraria campus this morning. During his address, he touted his jobs bill and a restructuring of student loans — a topic calculated to appeal to a crowd estimated at 4,000. Photographer Chip Kalback captured the…
As the weather hit thirty degrees and the season’s first snow closed in on Occupy Denver last night, members turned once more to tents as a refuge from the elements. Because this was the reason the state patrol raided the camp two weeks ago, the four new tents lasted only…
Occupy Denver has launched a call-to-action in advance of Barack Obama’s trip to Denver. The plan is for the president, here for a fundraiser and a jobs speech, to receive a bag of letters from the local 99 percent. Although the details of that plan are under wraps, the group…
At about 9:37 this morning, Matthew Messina Velasquez finds himself one half of a strange, if typical, conversation about the occupation. “So, what are you guys doing?” a stranger in a Yankees cap asks at Occupy Denver’s front desk. “Protesting.” “Protesting what? Are you for Bush?”…
Occupy Denver clashed with the Denver Police Department again last night over a recently built cardboard shelter in Civic Center Park. Later dubbed “the Thundercube” because of the symbol the Thunderdome has become regarding the group’s rights, the small, ceiling-free fort was built from about 25 cardboard boxes that had…
In the beginning, Chad Duffy was a cynic. He still is, especially during the particularly hectic moments of his morning shift at the Thunderdome. But the 23-year-old politely promoting hand sanitizer used to be much worse. Only five months after Duffy moved to Denver from Orlando, a 180-degree turn finds…
Update, 1 p.m. October 24: We now know the names of the four Occupy Denver participants arrested in a Denver Police Department raid on a squat over the weekend, and two of them were recently featured in this space: Amelia Nicol, who saw murder charges against her dropped earlier this…
Mayor Michael Hancock and several Denver City Council members are talking up a potential overnight camping ban in public places, including the 16th Street Mall. Given the brouhaha over camping by Occupy Denver, which has been joined by numerous homeless protesters, is this notion a preemptive strike against a possible…
Update, 11:20 p.m. October 22: The close of tonight’s Occupy Denver concert was a completely different scene from only one week ago. Although it ended with police presence, the number of cops left is the same 10 to 15 who stayed from last night until about 5 a.m. to monitor…
Concerns about public education and the need to improve communication between city officials and citizens about everything from parking to park usage were hot topics this morning at Mayor Michael Hancock’s first community forum. Comments such as “City personnel need to be more available” drew applause from the more than…
Update, 4:28 p.m. October 21: The Denver Police Department has released the cost incurred by the DPD and the Sheriff’s Department to monitor Occupy Denver, particularly over last weekend’s demonstrations: approximately $365,000. The number also includes the costs of other city agencies that provided assistance to the two…
The first time Mike heard about the Occupy Wall Street movement, he was in the hospital. Due in large part to a slow heart rate — only about twenty beats per minute — he had recently undergone surgery to insert a pacemaker. Two months after his surgery and three weeks…
Last week, No On 300 announced the release of the first television spot focusing on the Denver Paid Sick Leave Initiative. The video stars Mayor Michael Hancock and directs attention to the toll the ordinance could have on the city’s budget. In contrast, the clip from pro-300 Campaign For a…
Today, President Barack Obama, who’s due back in Denver next week after a visit late last month, announced the end of the Iraq war, more or less, with the vast majority of U.S. troops due out before 2011 bids adieu. Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet quickly released statements…
Last night’s 7 p.m. Occupy Denver general assembly proved to be an important one as the group further develops its own democratic system, but it was likely the movement’s most aggressive and divisive yet. In it, several issues about the group’s financial structure came to a head, with one member…
During the two days of police-attended demonstrations last weekend, the last thing most people at Occupy Denver were thinking about was their stuff. A week later, this has created confusion among many who lost their belongings, which were later collected by the Colorado State Patrol while officers worked to clean…
To hear him tell it, Chris Bidwell’s trench coat is a black wool guardian angel. Last year, it prevented third-degree burn from a firecracker gone off course. Today, it serves as both picnic blanket and protector against wet grass at Civic Center Park. Bidwell’s black, military-style boots weigh ten pounds…
Occupy Colorado Springs has become a burgeoning political force in its own right of late, and the group is aligned in solidarity with Occupy Denver. The groups have united online and at general assemblies, where reps have traveled to visit each other. Last night, the Colorado Springs group gathered for…
